In the 1870’s, Croke Park was owned by a man called Maurice Butterly and was known as Butterly’s Amusement Park, later to become known as the City and Suburban Racecourse. The GAA used the ground at this time and the All-Ireland finals of 1895 were the first to be played at the venue.
The GAA bought the Stadium in 1913 for £3,500, that’s about €4,500.
The GAA named it Croke Park in honour of the GAA’s first patron, Archbishop Croke of Cashel.
Croke Park has changed a lot since then and is now one of the coolest and most modern stadiums in Europe if not in the world. Work on making Croke Park what it is today began in the mid 90’s with the building of the new Cusack Stand followed by the Canal End and then the Hogan Stand, giving it, its now distinctive horseshoe shape. The stadium was completed in 2006 with the addition of the new Hill 16 and a state of the art media centre.
Work on making Croke Park what it is today began in the mid 90’s with the building of the new Cusack Stand followed by the Canal End and then the Hogan Stand, giving it, it’s now distinctive horseshoe shape.
The impressive new stadium has a capacity of 82,300 making it the fourth largest stadium in Europe. 1.6 million people visited Croke Park in 2005 and this is expected to increase to over 2 million in 2006.
It is the perfect stage to host the finals of the greatest games in the world and it is the centre of attention for Irish people all over the world when September comes around each year.
The GAA named
Croke Park in honour
of the GAA's first
patron, Archbishop
Croke of Cashel.
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