Croke Park

Home of Irish Rugby In 2008

Capacity: 82,300

Croke Park Stadium, is the largest stadium in Ireland located on the north side of Dublin.

At the beginning of September 2004 John O'Donoghue, Irish Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, officially announced the re-development of Lansdowne Road into a 50,000 capacity all-seater stadium, due to be completed in 2009. In the interim whilst Lansdowne Road is being developed Croke Park will be used for International Rugby matches. Croke Park now has a capacity for 82,300 people and in 2007 over 2 million people are expected to visit the stadium.

In addition to Gaelic sports, Croke Park has played host to the best of Australia's AFL talent while Muhammad Ali fought there plus U2 and Tina Turner have performed there. Croke Park also played host to the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies of the Special Olympics World Summer Games in 2003, the first time these events were held outside the United States.

In 2008 the home of Gaelic Games is hosting three fixtures for the RBS 6 Nations Championship 2008 campaign when Ireland plays host to Wales, Scotland and Italy along with fixtures at the end of 2007 for Ireland’s Euro 2008 Qualifying campaign.

Croke Parks has impressive array of restaurants, bars and conference areas, all of which make Croke Park an ideal rugby union facility. The venue is situated on the airport route from the city centre and features over 5,000 square metres of conference and exhibition space along with meeting and private dining rooms.

The stadium is an inspirational venue for sports fans from Ireland and overseas, for event planners and conference delegates, for historians, architects and engineers. It is a theatre of dreams and a modern piece of history right in the heart of Dublin and in the hearts of all Ireland