Munster Rugby have applied for funding to turn the natural grass surface of Irish Independent park to an artificial 4G surface

To fund this project, Munster have applied for a sports capital grant with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. This grant would go towards the first phase of the stadium upgrade of changing the playing surface.

Musgrave park is renowned for its immaculate surface but If this project is to go ahead they would be following the likes of Saracens Allianz Park and Glasgow’s Scotstoun stadium in completely changing the surface to an all weather artificial one.

As part of the second phase of the ground’s upgrade, a new gym is hoped to be built to cater for underage Munster teams in the area. Head of finance and operations with the province, Phillip Quinn believes they will have a reply on the application before the end of the summer.

Speaking on Munsters state of play update Quinn remarked:

“In terms of the long-term strategy here in Cork, the first thing to note is that Cork is huge… it’s vital in the overall success of Munster Rugby,” 

“We have opened the High Performance Centre in Limerick so we have to remain engaged here in Cork. We are looking at a long-term project for a potential upgrade of the stadium again.

“Phase one of that would be the installation of a 4G pitch on the main pitch. The second part is to then look at building a gym here. We need to service our underage structures here in the province.” 

Munster reopened the redeveloped Musgrave Park in 2015 with a new 3,500 seater stand along with covered terracing which increased the overall capacity of the stadium to an impressive 9,500.

Due to financial constraints and the need to finance the rebuilding of Thomond Park, Quinn said that most of Munster’s games will stay in Limerick.