Irish football breaks new ground

Dublin is changing. Construction cranes dot the urban landscape, the city's evening newspaper publishes a weekly Polish-language supplement and now its state-of-the-art Croke Park stadium will host a first-ever football match.

Political football
Association football that is. The stadium is the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and home to Ireland's traditional sports, Gaelic football and hurling. The rival football codes have never been easy bedfellows. Given that the GAA was set up in 1884 as part of an Irish nationalist renaissance that eventually led to independence from Britain, with a remit to foster traditional Irish sports, it is hardly surprising that "foreign games" - in effect, games of British origin such as soccer, rugby and cricket - have been seen as a threat. The fact 14 people, including a Tipperary footballer Michael Hogan, after whom the stadium's flagship Hogan Stand is named, were killed by British forces during a Dublin v Tipperary Gaelic football match in 1920 has also made the stadium a shrine of Irish nationalism.

Rule 42
So while Croke Park staged a Chicago Bears v Pittsburgh Steelers American football fixture, a Muhammad Ali bout, and concerts by U2 and Robbie Williams, Rule 42 of the GAA constitution proscribed the use of GAA property for games with interests in conflict with those of the GAA, namely soccer, rugby and cricket. However, in 2005, the GAA Congress voted that Rule 42 could be temporarily lifted to allow soccer and rugby matches at the venue while redevelopment work took place at Lansdowne Road. Now, after the Irish rugby team hosted France and England this winter, the Republic's football team is ready to welcome Wales for Saturday's UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifier.

Doyle grateful
Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle spent most of his youth playing Gaelic football and was at Croke Park in 1996 to watch his native Wexford win the All-Ireland hurling final. He told uefa.com: "I have been to many Gaelic games here and there is a great atmosphere. It is a great place, it is a theatre really that you want to come and play in. There are probably going to be 70,000 at the game and I just can't wait to play and I think all the players are the same."

Giant arena
The stadium has been rebuilt over the past 13 years at a cost of €260m and boasts a capacity of 82,000, making it the fourth biggest ground in the European Union after the Camp Nou, the San Siro and the new Wembley. Unlike those iconic arenas, it remains largely unknown to the wider sporting public. Stadium manager Peter McKenna told uefa.com: "It really is a hidden jewel nestled here in north Dublin and we're tremendously proud of it."

Inspiring venue
Many of the 70,000 Ireland fans in attendance on Saturday will have been to the venue before as the two football codes, despite the historic rivalry, share many of the same supporters. One such fan is Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, an avid follower of the Dublin Gaelic football team as well as Manchester United FC. He said: "If ever there was an ingredient to turn things around, Croke Park is it. Two full houses at one of the most fantastic arenas in the world should be enough to inspire any team."