Dublin to continue using Croke Park for league games

Dublin intend to continue staging league matches at Croke Park despite the county footballers getting relegated at the weekend. For the first time since 2008, they will be playing in Division Two of the AFL.

There had been speculation that if they took the drop their matches would have to move out of the headquarters venue, as their league schedule would definitely be lower-profile and less ‘box office’.

The county board have confirmed however that fixtures – which will be finalised later in the year – will continue to be played in the stadium.

This was based on the reasoning that the purpose of such events is promotional and the need to promote the team in a lower division will be all the more urgent. It would also solve a problem for the GAA for whom the Dublin matches, originally called the ‘Spring Series’, provide a Gaelic games presence from early in each year.

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Were the county to withdraw to Parnell Park, their actual home ground which has a capacity of 9,000, it would leave Croke Park empty for all but four months of the year – apart from club finals and perhaps schools finals, some of which were played there this year on St Patrick’s Day.

In terms of mass-appeal attendances, the situation has been exacerbated by the condensing of the GAA championship, which now occupies a footprint little bigger than three months.

Removing the Dublin matches would mean that after All-Ireland finals in July, there would be no further activity in Croke Park until January unless the International Rules made a comeback and even then that’s just one or at most two events between July and January.

Leinster Council staged some club championship matches there last December but that was specific to last year and the need to get matches played in the absence of any room to manoeuvre on postponements. It’s not certain that those fixtures would continue to be staged in the stadium.

Consistent presence

With Dublin involved, it adds three months of activity to the calendar and even if that accounts for just three or four matches a consistent presence is maintained.

There is also the argument that, depending on the fixture list, there may be home matches against opponents who have already played Dublin in Croke Park in Division One matches over the past 11 years, for instance Cork, Derry and Kildare and the ground would have novelty value for the other three counties in the division, Clare, Limerick and Louth.

The very first event in the spring series, in February 2011, was actually against Cork on a double bill with Dublin’s hurlers against Tipperary – and indeed, half-time musical act, Jedward – and drew a crowd of 35,081.

This year’s attendances with Dublin struggling have been lower, a total of 62,249 for matches against Armagh, Mayo and Donegal, averaging just under 21,000.

Before the redevelopment of Parnell Park in 1994, most of Dublin’s home matches in the league were played at Croke Park. A home match with Meath in 2020 was also staged there because of the ‘behind closed doors’ policy necessitated by the pandemic.