Croke Park

So yesterday we went to Croke Park for a History Trip to learn about the History of Croke Park.

I loved that trip, mainly because I adore watching G.A.A. I am a Dublin girl and I have been to Croke Park many times for matches. The tour was brilliant. We started off in the briefing room and our tour guide, Tom, brought us all the way around the stadium via the service tunnel which runs around 3 sides of the stadium. It was really cool.

After that we went into the players lounge, and it was amazing. Because G.A.A players don't get paid for what they do, they get to have certain privileges, the players lounge was one of them. My favourite thing about the players lounge was the huge chandelier in the middle of the room. It was made up entirely of 32 glass Gaelic Footballs, one for every county in Ireland, and about 70 glass Slioters. They changed colours and Tom told us that they could change the colours to the 2 teams using the lounge that day. I really likes that.

Next we went to one of the Dressing Rooms. I loved that because all around the room there were the Jerseys of the 32 Counties and the Jerseys of London Gaelic Team and the New York Jersey who also play in the Hurling and Gaelic Championships. While in there we went into the room where the players practice taking shots at the goal by hitting them off a solid wall.

After that we went to my all-time favourite part of the Stadium. The Pitch. We weren't allowed walk or stand on the pitch because it was being cut at that time. We came out of the tunnel where all the players come out when the match is about to start. It was amazing. The view was amazing. The Hill looked fabulous. We were told when we were in the Players Lounge that the Hill was built made from rubble from the 1916 rising and that is why it's called Hill 16.

After that we were brought up to the top tier of the Stadium. I didn't really enjoy that part because I am absolutely terrified of heights. I was going to stay at the bottom half of the top tier, by the stairs, but Siobhan persuaded me to go to the near top. I was terrified. When I sat down I clung to the chair and didn't look down. I just closed my eyes and tried to listen to what Tom was saying. I didn't hear a word because I was chanting to myself not to look down and that it's not that high up.

I was glad when we were going back down, but we had to get on escalators to get back down and I was a little scared because to me, they didn't look that stable, but Siobhan was terrified. I went last with her because she couldn't get on if someone was behind her. We were going down because we were going to the Ulster Bank's Directors Box, which costs €240,000 for 10 year. You get 24 seats with that.

That was the end of the tour and we went down to the Museum section of the building. There were fun sections of it. Like the quick reaction time hurling game, the balance game and the catch a Gaelic ball game.



I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to everyone to go and visit.

Blog again soon

Kellie xx