Lansdowne Road is a stadium situtated in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland. It touches the River Dodder and has many fine redbrick houses, mostly Victorian. The stadium is the traditional home of both football and rugby union in the Republic of Ireland, and has a capacity of 49,250.
In the IRFU grounds, Irish rugby and soccer international matches are played. The ground is also home to Wanderers and Lansdowne Rugby clubs and, as of the 2004-05 season, the Leinster provincial team. The grounds have also occasionally been used for music concerts. The stadium is set to be redeveloped by 2008 creating a 50,000 all-seater soccer and rugby stadium. The redevelopment of the stadium was finally announced in January 2004 at a cost of approximately €255 million; of this, €167 million will come from the Irish government, with the remainder paid by the Irish Rugby Football Union and the Football Association of Ireland.
It has been decided that soccer and rugby games will be played in Croke Park while it is being redeveloped. Croke Park is the only stadium big enough in all of Ireland, and it belongs to the Gaelic Athletic Association, whose constitution normally does not allow foreign games to be played on their grounds.
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