Croke Park - The Home Of The GAA

Croke Park is a GAA stadium located in Dublin.  The site has been used mainly for Gaelic Games for a long time .  Croke Park holds a capacity of 82,300 people which is pretty impressive.  The pitch is viewed as one of the best in the world.  Games that have been held in croke park include Gaelic games, Soccer, International Rules and Rugby.  The pitch hosts nearly 90 games per year and also holds tournaments for underage footballers.  It also hosts concerts a few times per year.  The pitch is nearly twice the size of a soccer pitch at 15000m squared.  The view from almost every part of the stadium is top class.  Croke Park consists of the Hogan stand, the Cusack stand, the Davin stand, Hill 16 and the Nally.  There is no smoking permitted in Croke Park except in designated areas.  The pitch sizes are GAA 144m x 86m., Soccer 140m x 70m and Rugby 100m x 70m and the 10m behind each goalpost.  The GAA purchased the stadium in 1913 and in 1922 the Hogan Stand was purchased after the GAA received a €10000 grant from the Irish government.  The Hogan Stand was named after Michael Hogan the Tipperary player who died on Bloody Sunday which was a day of violence in Dublin during the Irish war of independence where 31 people were killed.  In 1934 the GAA decided to build the Cusack stand which was then opened in 1938.  By 1949 the Canal End was developed which was a terrace with an estimated capacity of about 12000 people.  IN 1952 the Nally Stand was built onto the Hogan Stand and Long stand which was on the Jones Road side of the stadium.  In 1959 a new developed Hogan stand was opened and had a seating capacity of an estimated 16000 people.  This new Hogan stand replaced the old Hogan Stand and Long stand.  This now meant that the capacity of Croke Park was 82000 people (23000 seats and room for 62000 people standing).  Two years later 90556 people attended the 1961 All-Ireland Football Final between Down and Offaly which is a record that still stands today.  All throughout the 1970's and 1980's areas were downsized in capacity for safety reasons and the new stadium capacity was 60000 people, much less than it was before.  The need to develop the stadium was clear and by 1987 Hill 16 was redeveloped but that still was not enough, so by 1991 plans for redeveloping the facility in full were underway with the provision of identical facilities on three sides of the ground.  1n 1993 the Cusack Stand was replaced with one of the most modern stands in the world but it was still called the Cusack stand.  The replacement of the Canal end terrace with the Davin stand was finished by the year 2000, and the new Hogan stand opened in 2003.  To complete the job in 2005 the Nally Terrace was opened and Hill 16 was redeveloped.  Croke Park is a fantastic stadium.