There's been a good bit of talk about the Aviva Stadium this week and its three-quarters bowl design. Sam Warburton and Danny Care poked fun at the quirky design and ranked it as the fifth best stadium in the Six Nations.
Stephen Ferris was with Balls.ie on The Buildup in association with Ladbrokes and recalled Ireland's first game at the Stadium against South Africa in 2010 and reminisced about the old Lansdowne Road.
I played in the opening of the Aviva Stadium which was against South Africa, we had these horrible mossy green shirts and two or three of them ripped as well during the game, we had to get changed. We didn't play well I think Eoin Reddan gave an intercept to Juan Smith who went the length and scored.
So yeah, it wasn't a good day but the actually stadium itself was brilliant because the old Lansdowne Road, it was so dated, old changing rooms, proper red brick walls, with the showers you were waiting for someone to get finished before you could get in and then all of the sudden you have a state of the art facility that's opened up.
6 November 2010; David Wallace, left, and Stephen Ferris, Ireland. Autumn Internationals, Ireland v South Africa, Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
Ferris also spoke about how it's nice for the players to have the luxury of the new stadium and its brilliant facilities but the lack of a full fourth stand hinders the atmosphere greatly. Overall he agreed with some parts of Care's and Warburton's assessment of the stadium.
We loved it, we very much appreciated it as we were very much used to the old, grim days at the old Lansdowne Road. But with those old grim days came an unbelievable atmosphere, great memories for so many people and probably a better atmosphere.
I played in the last game at the old Lansdowne Road and it did feel like the crowd was more on top of you, obviously there was a bit of standing in it as well and this new Aviva Stadium, it has all the modifications, looks amazing but there's always going to be a bit when you have one stand behind the post that has ten rows of seats
I sort of agree, well I disagree that it's the fifth best stadium but iIcan agree with some of the comments that a few of the ex-players have made about the Aviva Stadium because of that end.
Stephen Ferris even mentioned how it could be harder for himself as a player to play towards the small stand.
Like imagine if that end was like the other end, it will be a real cauldron, a real bowl, there would be a better atmosphere rebounding off the stands, it sort of seems to all flow out that way. And even when I played, I much preferred to play the other end, it felt like you were bringing it home rather than the other.
However odd and un-atmospheric the Aviva Stadium may be for some, you can't forget the many great days Ireland have had there.
See Also: Ireland's 2007 Six Nations Grand Slam U20s Team: Where Are They Now?
