Pearse Park is a GAA stadium in

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

County Longford County Longford ( gle, Contae an Longfoirt) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 46,6 ...

, Republic of Ireland. It is the main grounds of

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

and

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

teams. In 2012, the stadium was renamed Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, due to sponsorship with Glennon Brothers, a local timber firm. The ground originally had a capacity of 18,000, however in November 2011, this was cut to 8,000 for health and safety reasons.

History

The grounds were formerly named Longford Park. Longford first started playing at Longford Park in 1937. The ground was later renamed Pearse Park after Patrick Pearse who had been executed during the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...

. On 4 June 2006, Dublin defeated Longford by two points at Pearse Park, the last time Dublin have played a Championship match away from Croke Park until they played Laois in Nowlan Park in 2016. Also in 2006, a new West Stand was built. However ten years later, it was discovered to be suffering from subsidence and would have to be demolished and rebuilt. The West Stand was closed from 2015 to 2018. The East Stand also suffered subsidence with a €2 million cost to fix it. As a result, Longford considered plans to leave Pearse Park after GAA officials removed their home advantage for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship on health and safety grounds. In 2017, Longford made plans to redevelop Pearse Park. However there was a planning objection by local resident and former Longford GAA goalkeeper Liam Madden. Madden stated he would drop his opposition if Longford met his demands. He requested that he be made county captain of Longford and be able to lead the team out to the theme of the television series ''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...

''. He also requested that Longford change their county colours to red and black to match

Longford Town F.C. Longford Town Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Bhaile Longfort) is an Irish football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club, founded in 1924 and elected to the league in 1984, is based in Longford, County Longford and pl ...

's and that the Gaelic Athletic Association give him an Irish language apology for banning him from GAA as a result of him watching an association football match in 1969 under

Rule 27 Rule 27 of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), also known as "the Ban", was a rule in force from 1905 to 1971 that banned members of the GAA from playing or watching other sports such as rugby, soccer or hockey. The rule The text of Rule 27

(which was abolished in 1971).

Longford County Council Longford County Council ( ga, Comhairle Chontae an Longfoirt) is the authority responsible for local government in County Longford, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for ...

approved the €2.5 million redevelopment, with Madden originally planning to appeal to

An Bord Pleanála (; meaning "The Planning Board"; ABP) is an independent, statutory, quasi-judicial body that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2007, An Bord Pleanála directly decided major ...

but dropped his appeal after receiving a hand written apology in Irish from the GAA and €100 in compensation. The development was completed in 2018 and the first match held was a Leinster Senior Football Championship game against Meath, with a reduced capacity of 6,000.

References

{{Longford GAA Gaelic games grounds in the Republic of Ireland Longford GAA Sport in Longford (town) Sports venues in County Longford

History

See also

References