| GAA should be proud of English visit
to Croker SO the day is almost upon us. If Ireland’s
Six Nations rugby match against France was truly an historic occasion
as the national side stepped out onto the Croke Park turf for the very
first time then imagine the emotions this weekend when England visit.
There will be some who will still find it difficult to hear the strains
of God Save The Queen rising out over the GAA’s spiritual home.
A number although how many it is hard to tell will see it as a betrayal
of the very soul of Gaelic games.
But the vast majority will view it as another defining moment in the
history of the GAA an example of how the organisation has embraced modernism
and is prepared to stand confidently alongside other sports in the 21st
century.
The fear that allowing so called foreign sports into Croke Park could
somehow erode the GAA’s fan base can be firmly dismissed Gaelic
games are too popular and too intertwined with Ireland’s history
and culture for their appeal to ever fade.
To allow the England rugby team into Croke park to play Ireland merely
underlines the GAA hierarchy’s confidence in that fact.
So after that first bit of history is made this weekend let’s
keep our fingers crossed for a second the Irish rugby team’s first
victory at their temporary new home.
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