That afternoon, Crown Forces went to Croke Park, where Dublin were playing Tipperary in a Gaelic football match. They broke into the stadium, firing shots into the crowd, and onto the field, without giving any warning. Fourteen people, who had gone to watch a football match, were killed, including two boys aged 10 and 11, and one player, Michael Hogan, captain of the Tipperary team. It is one of the most shameful atrocities, though certainly not the last, carried out by British forces on innocent civilians in Ireland. 'Bloody Sunday', as it became known, made world headlines, and helped further alienate the Irish people from the British Crown.
After the establishment of an Irish Republic, it was decreed that no 'foreign' games (effectively referring to soccer or rugby) would be played at Croke Park. Times have moved on sufficiently to allow the Irish rugby team to play the 2007 Six Nations campaign at Croke Park, but that did not diminish the significance of hearing 'God Save the Queen' played today on the very pitch where Crown Forces opened fire on civilians eighty six years ago. Watching the opening ceremony, though, I have never seen a team so physically moved on hearing their own national anthem- literally, there were tears in the eyes of some of that team.
They played one of the finest games any Irish team has played, including the scoring of one try as sublime as any goal scored by the great Kerry Gaelic teams of the 1980s. The result, 43-13, was by far the biggest ever victory by an Irish team over England. The fans in the Michael Hogan Stand in particular, must have felt the chill of history- the result was an outstanding performance and achievement.
