University of Limerick - Ireland's Sporting Campus

Ireland's Sporting Campus

University Arena

The University Arena, located on campus, is Ireland's largest indoor sports complex.

Open since 2002, it consists of the National 50m Swimming Pool which is the only water facility in Ireland which has the approval of FINA, the international swimming body, and is the first in the country to be built to Olympic standards.

The Arena's Indoor Sports Hall comprises 3,600 square metres laid out with four wood-sprung courts, catering for a variety of sports, a sprint track, an international 400m athletics track, and a 200m three-lane suspended jogging track. The facility also has a state-of-the-art cardiovascular and strength training centre, a weight-training room, team rooms, an aerobics studio and classroom areas. The Arena is often used by the Munster rugby team.

The €28m development was made possible through Government grant assistance of €7.6m, donations through the University of Limerick Foundation amounting to €6.9m, some €4m in contributions from students and significant commercial funding. Each year it caters for over 500,000 customers along with many international sports athletes and teams.

The University Arena hosted the 2010 Special Olympics Ireland Games. The Games took place over four days from Thursday, June 9 to Sunday June 13. In what was one of the largest sporting events to take place in Ireland in 2010, 1,900 Special Olympics athletes from throughout the island of Ireland participated in the games.

All Weather Sports Complex

UL’s reputation as Ireland’s Sporting Campus was further enhanced with the development of a state-of-the-art, all-weather sports complex on the Clare Campus of the University. The new €9 million facility is the largest all-weather sports field complex in Europe. This multi-purpose, fully floodlit synthetic grass park contains third generation pitches including two soccer, one rugby and one GAA pitch. Third generation all-weather surfaces plays like natural grass and are designed for full contact. Each full-size pitch can be sub-divided to create smaller-sized playing areas for various sports. This is the largest artificial grass development in Ireland to date designed to IRB, GAA and FIFA specifications. Training and especially matches can now be accommodated in all weathers and at all times on the University of Limerick’s latest state of the art Sports facility.

Player comfort is a priority and this synthetic surface is unlike most others as it reduces the risk of injuries caused by other hard or uneven surfaces. In addition to new playing fields, the Sports Pavilion Building contains changing rooms, squad rooms and coaching rooms, together with bar, restaurant and conference facilities. The development which cost €9million, is being funded from a number of sources including income raised from the operation of the facility and from funding generated by campus based commercial activities.

The playing pitches opened in July 2011 with the Sports Pavilion expected to open in November 2011. This exciting new facility is available to the general public as well as the campus community. In addition to these developments, conventional playing fields; tennis courts; an astro-turf pitch, an outdoor athletics track, and the University Boathouse are situated on the Limerick side of the river. The boathouse facility includes Ireland's only indoor rowing tank, which can accommodate up to 8 rowers at a time. This unique feature has the capacity to simulate various water conditions providing varied training opportunities for rowers in order to achieve international standards. The building also includes a launch jetty to the river Shannon, pontoon and a café area.