100 YEARS AGO today, the Central Council of the GAA officially purchased the grounds at Jones Road, Dublin 3 for £3,500 and renamed the venue Croke Memorial Park.
The move to the iconic venue very nearly didn’t happen though as seven of the 15 members of the Central Council voted in favour of a move to Elm Park near the modern day St Vincent’s Hospital at a meeting on October 4 1913.
However, the vote went through and the purchase was made with the help of GAA Trustee JJ Hogan, pictured in the centre below:
The moves to purchase a permanent home first began in February 1913 when the GAA staged the Croke Memorial Tournaments with a view to raising funds for the first patron of the organisation, Archbishop Thomas Croke, who had died 11 years previously.
The tournaments raised £2,365, well in excess of of the GAA’s expectations and so they were able to purchase and officially name the grounds exactly 100 years ago today.
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