Croker opening ran like clockwork, officials say

MANAGEMENT at Croke Park were happy yesterday with the smooth running of the first rugby international at GAA headquarters –— apart from the result.

Alan Gallagher, Operations Manager at Croke Park, said the day had gone “like clockwork”.

“We were happy with how the day went — the only downside was the result, but apart from that it was a great day out for everyone.

“We gave Ireland the lucky dressing-room, but on this occasion the luck was against us!

One worry staff at Croke Park had before the game was the possibility of people coming onto the playing area. However the game’s dramatic conclusion may have deterred Irish fans from encroaching.

“In our plans we had given the IRFU stewards a lot of training. The important thing for us was to prevent people coming onto the pitch, particularly at this time of the year. The French team did a lap of honour, and that was great for the French followers, having come over here.”

“If people come on the field the team can’t do that. I’m sure they had a ball, while I’d say a lot of Irish fans were so stunned it took a while for the result to sink in.”

The playing surface stood up well to its first scrums and rucks, but as Gallagher points out, with another international on Saturday week, the ground staff are taking no chances.

“The groundsmen will repair any damage that was done to the surface on Sunday to have it ready for two weeks’ time. There wasn’t that much damage done. It held up well, but the ground staff will let it settle for a couple of days. Then they’ll aerate it, work the drainage and roll it, and it’ll be back to the condition it was in.”

In administrative terms the Croke Park management team met on Sunday evening after the game for their post-event meeting and in the next few days they’ll meet the other agencies to plan for England’s visit. The countdown then begins in earnest at the start of next week.

“We’ll carry out any tweaking of the plan that’s needed after the game last Sunday, and next Monday morning we’ll start all over again.”

There won’t be increased security for the England game, Gallagher explains.

“The England game is a Category A game, with the same security as an All-Ireland final. We’ll obviously liaise closely with the gardaí and react to anything they pass on, but it’ll be treated the same as the French game in terms of security.”

And lastly, the cockerels. A couple of French chickens ended their days deep in Croke Park on Sunday afternoon without ever making it onto the field, the only French visitors who didn’t enjoy their first visit to the stadium.

“I know it’s a tradition with the French,” says Gallagher, “But we had to take it seriously with the avian flu outbreak in Britain. The contingencies we had in place worked well. You just have to cast your mind back to the foot and mouth outbreak a few years ago — we all managed to keep the country safe that time and this is the same scenario.”