History of Croke Park
Croke Park is home to the Gaelic athletics association and has been in there ownership since 1913. Previous to this City and Suburban Racecourse and Amusements Grounds Ltd had owned the site and were leasing the grounds out for various sporting events, whippet racing as well as Gaelic games. The first finals were held in Croke Park in 1896 and Tipperary was involved in both codes beating both Kilkenny and Meath respectively. By 1906 City and Suburban Racecourse and Amusements Grounds Ltd were in financial difficulty and it was decided the land occupying Croke Park would be put up for auction. Frank Brazil Dineen purchased the grounds and by a deed dated 17th December 1908 he paid £3,250 for the grounds, Dineen purchased the grounds on a short term matter as the GAA were eventually going to buy the grounds.
The 1913 Croke Memorial Tournament was a massive success with 35,000 spectators going through the turnstiles to watch Kerry and Louth compete in the final which Kerry won after a replay. This tournament was organised to raise funds for a monument to honour the GAA’s first patron Archbishop Thomas Croke. The tournament was such a success and after purchasing the monument and paying for all the costs the organisation had made nearly £2,500 in profit. On the 27th of July 1913 the central council decided to buy the grounds from Dineen and rename it Croke Memorial Park a name that was never used. The organisation acquired the grounds for £3,500.
Initially the stadium was very primal with two stands which were known as the long stand and the other was just called the stand. 1917 was the first time any major work was done to the stadium. This is when they gathered rubble from O’Connell St. after the 1916 rising and used it to build Dineen-Hill 16 or Hill 16 as it’s more commonly known. Over the years there a vast amount of construction completed on Croke Park but during the 80’s there was a plan to completely over haul the stadium which...