Thomond Park

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Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick, Ireland. It is the home of Shannon RFC, UL Bohemian RFC and Munster Rugby. The stadium holds a special place in rugby due to its own unique history and atmosphere. It is at Thomond park that Munster celebrated their legendary 12-0 victory over the All Blacks in 1978. The Stadium is famed for its noise during play and the complete silence while home and away players are kicking for goal.It is also very intimidating for visiting teams, as Munster had never been beaten at home during the Heineken Cup since it was first played in 1995. This changed however when Leicester Tigers defeated them in a Heineken Cup match in the group stages on the 20th of January, 2007 with a score of 13-6.

Thomond Park has a capacity of about 13,500. In 1999 the IRFU spent several million pounds on floodlighting, terracing, toilets, medical facilities and a new pitch for the ground. In January 2006, the Munster Branch of the IRFU made offers to buy some adjacent houses for future expansion of the stadium. In March 2006 the IRFU and Munster Rugby announced that Thomond Park was unanimously selected for the site of the branch's new 26,000 all seater stadium. On 27 May 2006 Munster Rugby unveiled the design for the re-development of the rugby stadium at Thomond Park with work due to start in early 2007. Completion is anticipated in 18 months, for a scheduled re-opening in Autumn, 2008.

The principal elements of the project will see the erection of two new stands adjacent to the existing main pitch, offering a seating capacity for 15,000 and terrace capacity of 11,000, or 26,000 in all.

The highest official attendance in Thomond park came in 1992 when a local derby in the All-Ireland League between clubs Shannon and Garryowen saw 18,000 people cram into the old ground. It has been alleged that unofficial attendances for Heineken Cup home games involving Munster have been higher than this. There is also a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that 100,000 attended the historic defeat of the All Blacks 1978, a nod to the mythical status the game has ascended to in local folklore.

As it presently stands Thomond Park consists of two pitches, the main pitch and a training pitch. The main pitch is bounded on all sides by terracing with a stand located above the west terrace. The training pitch is located behind the west stand with the Shannon R.F.C. pavilion located in the southwest corner of the ground. The UL Bohemian R.F.C. pavilion is located within the west stand. Traditionally, the terracing and four sides of the pitch have had local nicknames, however they seem to have increasingly fallen out of local parlance after the redevelopment of the ground in 1999.

Most famous of these is the east terrace which is known amongst fans as the "Popular side", this sits opposite the "Stand side", joining the "City End" (South Terrace) with the "Ballynanty End" (North Terrace). The "Popular side" has gained notoriety in local rugby folklore for the colourful comments that can be heard emanating from local wags and alicadoos in the direction of the pitch, occasionally drawing reaction from players and officials, to the amusement of other attendants.