Croke Park

Croke Park is a sports stadium in Dublin. With its modernity, it can be seen as a symbol of Ireland’s recent economic success, but as the headquarters of the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) it is also a cultural and historical symbol. Many great matches and concerts have been held here…

History of Croke Park Stadium

The GAA bought Croke Park in 1913 to promote Gaelic sport.

Although the site was known as “City and Suburban Racecourse” in the 1870s, the association was one of its most frequent users, purchasing the site in 1913 (at the time for £3,500). It was then renamed Croke Park, in honor of Archbishop Croke of Cashel, one of the association’s first patrons. The stadium was gradually developed as funds became available. The Hill16 grandstand was built from the ruins left in Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) after the 1916 uprising.

This was followed by the Hogan stand in 1924 (named after Michael Hogan, who was killed during an assault by English troops in the middle of a match in 1920), the Cusak stand in 1937 (named after Michael Cusak, one of the founders of the association), the Canal stand in 1949 and the Nally stand in 1952. The structure of the time gave rise to the famous attendance record of 90,556 for the Offaly-Down final in 1961.

1980: Stadium modernization work begins

The idea of redeveloping the stadium has been on the minds of GAA management since the 1980s. In 1991, the design was finalized, and work began shortly afterwards. The total cost of the project is around 165 million euros. The stadium’s capacity increases as construction progresses, with completion scheduled for 2005. It is now a modern 82500-seat arena, which also houses the association’s museum and a conference center. For the foreseeable future, the Hill 16 stand should remain in its current 13,000-seat configuration (see photo during the anthem). There’s a strong desire to make it the equivalent of the grandstand facing it (see first photo), but this comes up against two difficulties: the train line and the houses just behind it. If expansion takes place in the future, it could add over 6,000 seats to the stadium, which already ranks 5th in Europe, behind Barcelona’s Nou Camp, Milan’s San Siro, Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium and Kiev’s Olympic Stadium.

Croke Park opens up to Rugby and Gaelic Football

While concerts have been held in the stadium in the past, such as those by U2 (1985, 1987, 2005), from a sporting point of view, rule 42 of the GAA constitution stipulates that “foreign” (i.e. non-Gaelic) games may not be played on association-owned land. In the 90s, the interpretation of the rule was relaxed, and now only applies to soccer, rugby and cricket (i.e. sports of British origin), allowing two American soccer matches to be played at Croke Park. Every two years, the stadium also hosts matches between Ireland and Australia, played under hybrid Gaelic-Australian rules.

Following the announcement of work on Lansdowne Road, the debate on Rule 42 was reignited. On April 16, 2005, the GAA Central Council passed a motion authorizing negotiations for the use of Croke Park for soccer and rugby. The final tally was 227 votes in favor, 97 against, just 11 more than the required two-thirds.

In 2007, the stadium will play host to two matches in the Six Nations Rugby Tournament (Ireland-France and Ireland-England), and several matches for the Irish national soccer team, including qualifiers for the European Championship.

The most visible consequence of this opening up to rugby and soccer was the installation of powerful floodlights. Since Gaelic sports matches traditionally take place in the afternoon, there was no need for artificial lighting. It has now been installed, and the GAA inaugurated it on February 3, 2007 by moving the Dublin-Tyrone match to the evening. The pitch remains unchanged, retaining the combination of natural and synthetic grass installed in 2002, which has since given full satisfaction.

This type of pitch is also used by the Liverpool soccer team, for example. The excellent performance of this surface is further enhanced by the use since 2006 of the “SGL Concept” system, which ensures optimum growth even in winter, by controlling factors such as light, temperature, CO2 levels, humidity and nutrient supply.