A whole new ball game

THE devil is in the detail. Ask Croke Park operations manager Alan Gallagher. Just as staff in Jones Road put one little issue to bed, another pops up.

“At today’s meeting the flags were brought up,” says Gallagher.

“Someone pointed out that the GAA flag flying in the stadium is six foot by three foot, and the other flags are all smaller. So we’re going to have to get flags that are all the same size.”

Gallagher is having a long week, as are event controller Seamas Ó Midheach and chief steward John Leonard. The oddest events have a knock-on effect as the countdown to the Six Nations continues – the threat of sleet isn’t that ominous when you have undersoil heating, but it means the company detailed to paint the RBS Six Nations logo on the Croke Park pitch has to hold off until Saturday.

Also, the avian flu outbreak in Britain is being taken very seriously in Croke Park, and the gardaí won’t have a sense of humour if any French fans try to smuggle in cockerels.

After all that there’s the crowd itself. You can expect a fairly blue tinge to the Hill, even if the jerseys are more Le Coq Sportif than Arnotts.

“A lot of the French are on the Hill,” says John Leonard.

“There’s a fair few in the Lower Cusack as well, and then you’ll have the people who get tickets here and there scattered around the stadium.

“It’s going to be different insofar as a lot of people won’t know the area.

A certain percentage aren’t going to know where to go, as distinct from when Cork GAA fans come up, say. They’re coming up here all the time, so they know where to go if they’re in the Hogan or the Cusack.”

The stewards are completely voluntary, and on average they work 22 fixtures a year. Leonard, a native of Caltra in Galway, has been a steward since 1965 and took over as chief steward in 1984. Last night he had some welcome visitors, when a dozen senior Lansdowne Road stewards called to Croke Park to chat about Sunday.

“They’re used to dealing with rugby, obviously,” says Leonard, “But they’ll be paired with our supervisory stewards, so they’ll meet each other so they’ll know who they’re paired with on Sunday.

“We’re not preparing French phrases, not officially anyway! A few of our stewards would have French, but inspecting the tickets is the key, that’ll be fairly self-explanatory.”

Leonard is looking forward to the game.

“I never thought I’d see foreign sports, as we used to call them, in Croke Park, but I have to say the rapport we have with the IRFU and FAI stewards has been terrific. A lot of them were here last Saturday night for Dublin-Tyrone, working with us, but they were also around for the latter stages of last year’s championship and the Compromise Rules series last October.

“That meant they were able to ask their questions on the ground, which was very handy. There’s a good bond there with them, and I’m looking forward to working with them.”

The stewards start work at 12.40 on Sunday and the stiles open at 1pm. GAA aficionados will notice one crucial difference to the big summer occasions.

“The fact that there’s no minor match, as you’d put in GAA terms, may affect the crowd,” says Leonard. “From that point of view you’d be expecting a good few people to be coming in early. However, we’re hoping that people will also come early just out of curiosity – for instance, last Saturday we had no crush at five to seven, because people wanted to come in see the stadium under lights.

“We’re hoping it’s the same on Sunday, that they’ll want to come in and see the place, and see the players warming up and so on. People were wondering who’d score the first point under floodlights last Saturday, so hopefully they’ll be early on Sunday for the same reason.”

Event controller Seamus Ó Midheach is even more blunt: “Get here early.

‘‘The last thing we want is people pouring in at half-two or quarter to three, even though we have 25% more turnstiles than we’d have normally. We have bars on-site so people can have a drink here, and there are 100 LCD screens throughout the stadium, so they can watch what they like.

“There’s good signage throughout the stadium but for people who are unfamiliar with the place, it’s as well to get here well before the game.”

It’s nearly ready. The posts are in place, the pitch is lined, and today the teams arrive for a session. The floodlights are ready, and they’ll be switched on at 2pm on Sunday. When it’s all over, punters would do well to remember Alan Gallagher’s warning: “People will have to head out the way they came in – if you came into the Cusack that’s where you’ll have to exit, you won’t be able to stroll around under the stands to have a look at the Hogan.”

That’s not the only place that’s off limits, by the way. Don’t consider a stroll on the field itself, as there’ll be a strong stewarding presence around the perimeter.

“Pitch invasions aren’t really a feature here apart from the odd presentation day,” says Leonard. “We’re not really anticipating that this weekend. That’s not the rugby fans’ background, anyway.”

Any take-home point for the Croke Park newcomer? “Follow the directions of the stewards and the gardaí on Sunday,” stresses Gallagher. “It went well last Saturday and we want the same this weekend.”

And back they go to work. A long week, and it’s not over yet.