THE BIG TURNAROUND:ABOUT 12 months ago FAl chief executive John Delaney gave his IRFU counterpart Philip Browne a heads up. With the Republic of Ireland being cautiously guided towards the World Cup play-offs there was a 50-50 chance Croke Park would be required today.
An 8pm kick-off against the French leaves only a 14-hour window before the turnstiles start clicking again for the rugby international against Australia.
There is no benchmark for a stadium being flipped from one international sport to another in such a tight timeframe. It is a mammoth logistical exercise for Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna and his team.
At approximately 10pm tonight the first half of the 150,000-plus expected spectators will shuffle out of Croke Park. “We need the weather with us,” said Mr McKenna. “Big downpours will make it intolerably hard but it is doable. We are extremely confidant on that.”
Chief groundsman Robert Ellis needs a dry night the most but Met Éireann has predicted otherwise. If the heavens open, the mowing of the surface and imprinting of IRFU sponsors will be postponed until morning, making an already gargantuan task more difficult.
Financially at least, the GAA can smile. They charge €1.35 million to rent out headquarters to rugby and soccer.
The extra U2 concert earlier this year brought its own valuable lessons in relaying the pitch for the GAA championship with just three days to spare. Now comes tonight’s operation of cleaning, re-branding and remarking the stadium ahead of Brian O’Driscoll’s Grand Slam champions making their first home appearance since that historic day in Cardiff last March.
Sky Sports must sling their hook by 11pm so the BBC can roll in as dawn breaks. French sports channel M6 have promised to shift their truck first thing in the morning. RTÉ get to stay for both parties. This is an example of the thousand little details that must be attended to by Croke Park event controller Séamus Ó Mídheach and operations manager Alan Gallagher.
“This has never been done before in the history of stadiums,” said Mr Gallagher. “Really, it is a 14-hour timeline from the end of the match until the corporate turnstiles open at 12.30 the next day. The intention is for the public arriving for the rugby to feel like the previous day never happened.”
Mr Gallagher served for 15 years in the Defence Forces, retiring with the rank of captain. There will be an army of people cleaning the stadium when the football ends. All told, 150 staff will be working through the night to ensure a seamless changeover.
The Croke Park team know what the job entails, having dealt with several international sports events over the last two years, as well as the Special Olympics opening ceremony in 2003.
The FAI and IRFU have worked well together throughout this process so they should be well prepared when this inevitably recurs at another venue that we are assured will be up and running come next August.
There was one slight quibble over the width of the pitch. The Croke Park suggestion was to have both games marked at 70 metres. Trapattoni and the FAI insisted on their usual 69 metres. All the pieces matter, it seems.
Preparation and protocol have been painstakingly adhered to. There was even time for some white-collar boxing in the Hogan Stand suites last night.
At about 7am tomorrow morning stadium safety officer Tony McGuinness hopes to sign off on everything so normal rugby international preparations can begin as if the soccer never happened.
