History will view GAA’s vision well

Millions of people will tomorrow witness the culmination of an historic journey for the Gaelic Athletic Association, without realising the awesome significance attached to the advent of rugby onto the revered turf of Croke Park.

Tomorrow, the excitement and drama of the Six Nations match between Ireland and France at the Jones’s Road stadium, will cloak the trauma and anguish which that verdict entailed.

It will also showcase to a vast television audience the magnificent stadium that is Croke Park, one of Europe’s finest sporting arenas. This state-of-the-art facility has a capacity for 82,000 people, more than double that of Lansdowne Road, which it replaces while the latter is given a major facelift.