National Forum

Croke Park expansion

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Replying To Viking66:  "I haven't been to a rugby game in over 20 years. I go to over 200 hurling and football games a year. While I support the Ireland and Irish provincial rugby teams some of the supporters would just be very irritating. Especially the new bandwagon types. So I watch the games at home. Same as Millwalls and Cliftonvilles soccer games these days, which I watch if they are on tv.
My children, who I either bring to games, or play in the games I watch, only play Hurling and Football, they don't play soccer and rugby. So why would I bring them to a soccer or rugby game?"
Exactly. I feel that rugby does have a certain amount of followers who just love the whole idea of rugby but dont necessarily know the rules . Its become so popular now in good part to how its marketed on TV a trick the Gaa continually seem to miss and ignore despite repeated warnings. If we look at grassroots rugby v grassroots gaa and what the latter does for almost every single parish in Ireland vs what rugby does well theres really only 1 show in town. At county level the Gaa even trumps rugby as there are well over 100 county teams competing just at senior level yet rugby with its small handful of teams is marketed like gold and fair play to them. Its great to see how a talent David Cliiford is allowed to perform to his potential under new rules and how he swung favour with the Kerry Supporters mid championship. The Gaa is the life and soul of tge parish. Let's treasure it.

Dothesimplethingswell (Sligo) - Posts: 57 - 10/12/2025 14:41:47    2647833

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Croke park will be hosting man utd v Leeds this summer. Will the hill be empty because of regulations?

Kew (Galway) - Posts: 297 - 02/04/2026 11:11:56    2664379

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Replying To Kew:  "Croke park will be hosting man utd v Leeds this summer. Will the hill be empty because of regulations?"
Don't know, but it's just a friendly. I'd expect the usual regulations for seating/standing areas wouldn't apply.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3464 - 02/04/2026 13:04:27    2664402

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Replying To KillingFields:  "Saying a lot of the rugby players went to boarding schools isnt true."
Privately funded or fee paying schools is probably what they meant.

I read online that in average over 90% of Ireland's Rugby players come through a list of such schools like Blackrock, Belvedere, St Michaels, Castleroy, PBC Cork, CBC Cork, Rockwell etc

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1698 - 02/04/2026 13:14:05    2664404

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Replying To Kew:  "Croke park will be hosting man utd v Leeds this summer. Will the hill be empty because of regulations?"
No way this should be taking place, And at a very time when the GAA has left the national media to its rivals, not least of which is the EPL.

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 4137 - 02/04/2026 14:17:51    2664415

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Replying To Kew:  "Croke park will be hosting man utd v Leeds this summer. Will the hill be empty because of regulations?"
So what if it is? As long as the rent money is paid over who cares?

Square_B (Leitrim) - Posts: 1912 - 02/04/2026 14:26:03    2664417

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Croke Park, home of the GAA, except that is for our Minor and U 20/21 teams. Open for prayer, American football with the shoulder pads and now soccer friendlies.

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2606 - 02/04/2026 15:23:55    2664438

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Replying To Square_B:  "So what if it is? As long as the rent money is paid over who cares?"
Exactly !
Hopefully €15 per head to the GAA.
Meanwhile there will be thousands of championship gaelic games played that week.

Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 443 - 02/04/2026 15:35:14    2664444

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Replying To Saynothing:  "Croke Park, home of the GAA, except that is for our Minor and U 20/21 teams. Open for prayer, American football with the shoulder pads and now soccer friendlies."
Don't forget hurling. Mostly demoted to provincial grounds now.

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 4377 - 02/04/2026 19:20:42    2664485

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Replying To Saynothing:  "Croke Park, home of the GAA, except that is for our Minor and U 20/21 teams. Open for prayer, American football with the shoulder pads and now soccer friendlies."
Imagine... utilising the asset that sits idle for over 6 months of the year. Do you think the organisation runs on fresh air? Maybe if the GAA didn't have carry the debt of places like PUC or MacHale Park and the debt of GAA counties & clubs up and down the country, there'd be less of a need to rent out the place for other events.

Square_B (Leitrim) - Posts: 1912 - 02/04/2026 20:57:41    2664497

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Replying To Doylerwex:  "Don't forget hurling. Mostly demoted to provincial grounds now."
Where the hurling followers live!

Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 443 - 02/04/2026 23:02:52    2664515

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Replying To Saynothing:  "Croke Park, home of the GAA, except that is for our Minor and U 20/21 teams. Open for prayer, American football with the shoulder pads and now soccer friendlies."
It's not clashing with anything though….so what's the problem? Croke Park is an events centre as much as a GAA one. All profits made go back into the GAA anyway. I remember when Mayo were thrown down to Limerick in 2014 to play Kerry because of college football many saying so what get on with it.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 12006 - 02/04/2026 23:18:05    2664520

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Replying To yew_tree:  "It's not clashing with anything though….so what's the problem? Croke Park is an events centre as much as a GAA one. All profits made go back into the GAA anyway. I remember when Mayo were thrown down to Limerick in 2014 to play Kerry because of college football many saying so what get on with it."
There is nothing in our constitution or in the founding objectives of the association about us supplying "event centres" to foreign sports and foreign sports teams. Quite the opposite.

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 4137 - 03/04/2026 08:09:39    2664533

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