Croke Park Rugby Pitch

Dempsey

What were the dimensions of Croke Park for the Rugby match today and what are the dimensions of Lansdowne Road?

Thanks in advance

GBX

according to RTE today, the dimensions were standard for rugby. GAA pitches are longer and wider than rugby.

Dempsey

I thought the pitch was narrower today than Lansdowne, hmmm

Flukey

No, it is just an illusion caused by the size of Croke Park, as stated.

leeroybrown

I think it was an optical illusion. The minimum width of a GAA pitch is 10m wider than the maximum width of a rugby pitch. The minimum length of a GAA pitch 'posts-to-posts' is 30m longer than the maximum length of a rugby pitch (obviously most of the difference could be taken up with in-goal areas). I think that Croke Park almost has a maximum sized GAA pitch which can add up to 10m extra in width and 15m extra in length.

marco_polo

Croker Pk Dimensions: 144.5 M X 88 M

Max Rugby Pitch size: 100M (GoalLine to Goal Line) X 69M

thegrunt

Was in Croke Park last Sunday and thought the pitch and stadium both looked brilliant. Having said that I reckon they can improve the actual pitch by doing a few things.

1 - Make the dead ball area bigger. Look at a match in Murrayfield and see the size of the ingoal area. There's a running track around that pitch which means that the crowd are no further away from the pitch than they are in Croke Park. The ingoal area, according to the rules, can be 22m deep and while that might look a little ridiculous if they made it a bit bigger, the amount of green space behind the dead ball line would be a lot smaller.

2 - Close the pitch in a bit better. On the Cusack stand side of Croke Park there were advertising hoardings a few metres away from the stand and then even smaller RBS signs between that and the sideline. On the other side there was just the small RBS signs which left a lot of green area between the sideline and the stand. I can imagine it's hard enough for the players to know exactly where they are on the pitch. What they should do is square the pitch off properly on both sidelines and behind the goals and I can imagine it would look a lot better.

3 - It did look ok as it was and I don't think there were any complaints from the players but there is certainly room for imrovement. That's understandable given that it was the first time and all but it would be a shame if they didn't sort out the few small issues

4 - Finally, while the atmosphere was good last Sunday, I really think a lot more colour could be introduced in to the stadium. Wouldn't it be brilliant if we could create something like what the Dubs do on Hill 16 with loads of flags and everyone wearing green. Maybe o2 or some of the sponsors could help by giving out flags and free tshirts beforehand. I wouldn't be promoting some of the antics that the Hill sometimes get up to but the vibrancy that they bring to the big GAA days would be unreal for a world sporting occasion