Croke Park
Croke Park (Irish: Páirc an Chrócaigh) in Dublin, Ireland, is the largest sports stadium in Ireland and the principal stadium and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Ireland’s biggest sporting organisation. Since 1884 the site has been used primarily by the GAA to host Gaelic Games, most notably the annual finals of the All-Ireland Gaelic football championship and hurling championship. Music concerts by major international acts have also been held in “Croker,” as it is often called. During the refurbishment of Lansdowne Road the stadium will also host the Irish national rugby union and soccer teams. Following a redevelopment program started in the 1990s, Croke Park has a capacity of 82,500[1], making it the third largest stadium in the EU, the largest stadium in the 2007 Six Nations Championship and the largest owned by an amateur organisation.
It has a very interesting History too …
History
The area now known as Croke Park was originally an Athletics Course known variously as the City and Suburban Racecourse and ‘Jones Road’ Sportsground. It was originally owned by Maurice Butterly. From the foundation of the association in 1884 this sportsground was used by the organisation regularly for Gaelic Games and Athletics. In 1896 both All-Irelands were played in the ground signifying the growing importance of the suburban plot for the ever expanding GAA. Recognising the potential of the Jones Road sportsground a journalist and GAA member, Frank Dineen, borrowed much of the £3,250 asking price and bought the ground personally in 1908. Only in 1913 did the GAA come into exclusive ownership of the plot when they purchased it from Dineen for £3,500. Once bought, the ground became known as Croke Park in honour of Archbishop Thomas Croke, one of the GAA’s first patrons.In 1913 Croke Park had two stands on what is now known as the Hogan stand side and grassy banks all round. In 1917 the rubble from the Easter Rising in 1916 was used to construct a grassy hill on the railway end of Croke Park to afford patrons a better view of the pitch which by now hosted all major football and hurling matches. Immortalised as Hill 16 it is perhaps one of the most famous terraces in the world.
On November 21, 1920 Croke Park was the scene of a massacre by the Auxiliary Division. British police auxiliaries entered the ground, shooting indiscriminately into the crowd killing 13 during a Dublin-Tipperary football match. The dead included 12 spectators and one player, Michael Hogan. The latter, Tipperary’s captain, gave his name posthumously to the Hogan stand built four years later in 1924. These shootings, on the day which became known as Bloody Sunday, were a reprisal for the assassination of 12 or 13 British Intelligence officers, known as the Cairo Gang, by Michael Collins’ squad earlier that day.
The highest attendance ever recorded at an All-Ireland Senior Football Final was 90,556 at the 1961 Offaly v Down final. Following the introduction of seating to the Cusack stand in 1966, the largest crowd recorded since has been reduced to 82,516.
U2 even got a day or two out there!!
Now here’s a trophy worth winning a game for…
The ‘Sam Maguire’ Cup won by the Irish Gaelic Football Champions each year …
Croke Park Tops the World
Croke Park - Dublin V Tyrone - National Football League Round 1 - Sat 3rd Feb 07
Croke Park had the honour of having the biggest attendance at a sporting event anywhere in the world last weekend - 81,678.
6 Nations England V Scotland - Twickenham 80,943
6 Nations Wales V Ireland - Cardiff 74,239
Super Bowl, Colts V Chicago Bears - Miami 72,000
Real Madrid V Le Vante - La Liga 65,000
Borussia Dortmund V Stuttgart - Bundesliga 63,600
Marsele V PSG - Le Championnat 58,000
English Premiership, Everton and Liverpool 44,234
The highest attendance ever recorded at an All-Ireland Senior Football Final was 90,556 at the 1961 Offaly v Down final. Following the introduction of seating to the Cusack stand in 1966, the largest crowd recorded since has been reduced to 82,516.
There was 1997 American Football Bowl game played in Croke Park … between the Chicago Bears and the Pittsburgh Steelers
Incidently I think the Roman Colleseum is one of the sporting architectural wonders of the world, from what I can remember no stadium or structure of its capacity built since has been able to compete with the evacuation time of the stadium… it could clear all it’s seats in minutes.
