No need to choke at The Croker

Mar 8 2008 Carolyn Hitt, Western Mail

MY GREAT-great grandfather Murphy, who swapped Cork for Trealaw a very long time ago, would not have been impressed.

On once spying a sign outside a shamrock-decked pub in Majorca that said, “All Ireland Hurling Final, 3.00pm” we wondered if it was some kind of comedy Guinness-regurgitating contest. But, of course, it was a live relay of one of the great Irish sporting events, beamed from that impressive citadel of Gaelic games – Croke Park in Dublin.

Today, thousands of Welsh fans will add to their Six Nations history as they are welcomed into this 82,500-capacity stadium, affectionately known as “The Croker”.

So it’s goodbye Lansdowne Road for a few seasons, a place not without its quirks. There was the train line that rumbled beneath the stand and that funny little cottage in the corner. And I’ll always be grateful to the elderly member of stadium staff who met me at the gate and escorted me to my seat after a pickpocket stole the handbag containing my match ticket. As we ploughed through the crowds, he was in the mood for a citizen’s arrest, “Don’t worry my dear, if we find the b****r sitting in your place, we’ll nab him!”

Croke Park will add an entirely new dimension to the weekend. It’s in a rather fruitier area of town, not nearly so posh as Lansdowne Road’s sedate Ballsbridge environs. Then there’s the insight it affords into a unique sporting culture. The arena named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, one of the Gaelic Athletic Association’s early patrons, has history built into its fabric. Rubble from the Easter Rising of 1916 was used to construct a raised terrace at the stadium’s railway end – hence the name Hill 16.

The events of Bloody Sunday in 1920 still resonate in the name of the Hogan Stand. Michael Hogan was a Gaelic footballer, killed alongside 13 spectators during a Dublin v Tipperary match, as British soldiers carried out a revenge massacre for the assassination of 14 British intelligence officers.

Given that painful historical context, who’d have imagined Croke Park would ever host the “foreign” game of rugby and hear God Save the Queen resound not to derision but to a standing ovation for the visiting English team? Those who witnessed the remarkable Ireland v England game there last year likened its impact to rugby’s uniting role in the rainbow nation of world cup South Africa in 1995. Ireland continued the theme of history-making on the pitch – thumping England in a record 43-13 victory.

So already in its short dalliance with rugby union, the Gaelic games stadium has created a powerful emotional connection. It has established its cauldron credentials for Ireland – their only loss there has been an agonising defeat to France in the final seconds. But Jonathan Davies believes a change of Six Nations scenery will actually help Wales, “Such magnificent stadiums inspire other teams to play there. Ireland will start as favourites but with the self belief we have now, I think we can win it.”

There is no reason why Wales should choke at Croke. Let the fans be awestruck by this new cathedral on the Six Nations pilgrimage but let the players be inspired.

In a place where they have no history, this Welsh team has the momentum, confidence and talent to go out and make some.