Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Ireland v England, Croke Park

An edited excerpt from a letter published in the English Times referring to the upcoming Ireland vs. England Rugby match being played in Croke Park this Saturday:

Ireland may well be missing BOD and O'Gara on Saturday and don't have the resources in depth to overcome such losses. However neither will England have the armoured cars and machine guns they had the last time they entered Croke Park!


-Frank, Co. Wicklow

Kudos to the editor of the English times who had the stones to let Frank's letter go to print.

For those of you historically challenged (or from a far-off foreign land), Frank is referring to an infamous massacre during the Irish War Of Independence by the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary (a British force) of 13 spectators and a football player at Croke Park in Dublin in 1920. These shootings, on the day which became known as Bloody Sunday, (not to be confused with the 1972 Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland - What is it with the Brits and shooting unarmed folk on this island?) were a reprisal for the assassination of a dozen British Intelligence officers by Michael Collins' Squad earlier that day.

Historically, any 'garrison games', or those believed to have stemmed from British rule, were banned from the stadium by the ground's owners the Gaelic Athletic Associations (GAA), until a groundbreaking vote allowed rugby and football matches to be held there while Lansdowne Road stadium undergoes renovation.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The startling truth: Rugby is a game played by men with odd-shaped balls.

Major General Creedon said...

I really was waiting for you to say that.

Anonymous said...

Glad to be of service!