Floodlights set for formal unveiling

With over 30,000 tickets already sold for the opening National Football League meeting between Dublin and Tyrone the GAA continue to put the finishing touches to what will be the stadium's baptism as a floodlight venue.

While the installation of the lighting system is complete that's been only part of the preparations for the groundbreaking occasion in less than three weeks time - Saturday, February 3rd.

The pitch growth lighting system has been increased to ensure the best possible playing surface for the opening game of the football league, but also the two rugby internationals that follow on February 11th and 24th, and the two soccer internationals in March. The GAA are also planning a number of events around the opening night, including a formal ceremony for the first "switching-on" of the lights.

"Right now the floodlighting system is already fully operational," explains stadium director Peter McKenna. "The installation proved very successful and the lights have been on and tested on a number of occasions over the past few weeks. The only thing left to do is complete some final focusing of the lighting on to the pitch, but they have been very well designed, and we're very, very confident of how things will look on the night.

"And this is going to be a very special occasion, a whole new era for the stadium, and a very exciting era. So we want to make the most of the opportunity and we're looking at pulling together various other forms of entertainment on the night."

The cost of installing the lights was just over €5 million, with the Government last month allocating a €3.65 million grant towards the project given its importance in the immediate future of soccer and rugby internationals.

With around 32,000 tickets already sold it's certain the Dublin-Tyrone game will produce a record league attendance - eclipsing the 53,000 that showed up at Croke Park for the 2003 league meeting between Dublin and Armagh. Although it's unlikely to attract an 82,500 sell-out, a crowd of around 70,000 is expected and for that reason alone nothing is being left to chance.

"We will be bringing in some players in the weeks ahead to give the lights a final test," adds McKenna. "But this is certainly not finger in the air stuff. The lighting system is run off a number of generators, so the only thing that would cause a problem there would be a total power failure."

Given the time of year the other main concern on the night will be inclement weather. Croke Park's under-soil heating system can deal with snow and ice, so any potential postponement won't be caused by the pitch condition but the condition and safety of the stairwells and other public access areas.

In the meantime, every effort is being made to ensure the best possible playing surface: "We've been using the growth lighting system for the past two and a half years, but what we've done in recent months is increase the number of those lights, effectively to cover the entire pitch area. We have a series of matches coming up in the weeks ahead which we haven't had before, and we had to look at stimulating growth as much as possible.

"Because of the dimensions of Croke Park large sections of the stadium just don't get any sun at this time of the year, because it's so low in the sky. What the lights ensure is grass growth that otherwise just wouldn't occur at this time of the year. It's an expensive process but a necessary expense."

Other changes to the pitch surface include sockets for the construction of the rugby and soccer posts. However, despite the recent suggestion from GAA director general Liam Mulvihill a retractable stadium roof would have completed the Croke Park redevelopment had they pursued it at the time there's now little chance of that ever happening.

The estimated cost of such a project is between €300-400 million, with the length of the stadium - around 180 metres - making any installation process particularly difficult.

Croke Park is the fourth largest stadium in Europe after the Nou Camp in Barcelona, the San Siro in Milan and the Olympic Stadium in Kiev. The San Siro has a partial roof covering extending over the pitch.