SOCCER RETURNS TO Croke Park this week, as Leeds take on Manchester United in a pre-season friendly on Wednesday.

It will mark almost 20 years since the sport was first played in the historic stadium.

With Lansdowne Road under renovation, Steve Staunton’s Ireland played Wales in a Euro 2008 qualifier on 24 March 2007 on the GAA grounds for the first time.

Croke Park continued to host Ireland games into the Giovanni Trapattoni era, with the 1-0 play-off defeat by France in a 2010 World Cup playoff first leg the last time the Boys in Green lined out there.

While this week’s fixture is unlikely to attract much pushback, in the mid-00s, the decision to allow foreign games in Croke Park did not sit well with everyone.

Seán Kelly, who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2009, was GAA president between 2003 and 2006, and has been heavily involved in sport for much of his life, serving in various GAA administrative roles.

He remembers the first motion on soccer and rugby at Croke Park being submitted in the early 2000s.

“A motion for the opening of Croke Park was allowed, because they thought there’d be no support for it,” Kelly tells The 42.

“But those who were in favour of it saw an opportunity, so they said they would come back again. And they came back for a couple of years in succession.

“The motions were deemed out of order, so they didn’t get on the agenda. And then, when I became president, I said: ‘We have to vote on this. It’s a matter for Congress. And the members should decide, and we cannot be ruling it out of order every year.’”

Kelly had naively assumed getting people to agree on the issue would be straightforward, but it proved problematic.

In his first year as president, roughly six motions relating to the opening up of Croke Park were deemed ineligible.

“I argued with them. I got nowhere,” he recalls. “I had a showdown at Congress. Many people gave me a standing ovation, but many of the presidents stayed sitting with not very pleasant expressions on their faces.”

At a Special Congress later that year, Kelly changed the terms of the motions attributed to the past presidents.

“I said: if they decided that a motion was out of order, they should say why and we should be able to hand it back to the counties to adjust it and to put it in order.

“And that’s exactly what happened at the following Congress, where motions came in. The presidents deemed them all out of order, but because of the change, they had to say why and where and then go back to the counties to be put in order. So there was a great excitement around the country. Counties engaged solicitors and lawyers, you name it, to put the motions in order, and they came back in again.

“We had to have a second meeting because of the change of rule. And in 2005, I think we got six of the 14 motions that came in after all the turning and the twisting and the abridging were deemed in order, so that went to Congress.”

Sean Kelly was President of the GAA between 2003 and 2006. Andrew Paton / INPHO Andrew Paton / INPHO / INPHO

The matter was eventually debated and put to the floor. It was a secret rather than an open vote, which Kelly felt might work against those who wanted Croke Park opened up, but in the end, it passed by the necessary two-thirds majority.

“I think actually the secret vote worked in our favour, because there were people who saw the logic of what we were trying to do, but would have been afraid to put their hands up because they might get lynched in public, whereas in a secret ballot, they were able to escape any identification.”

A deal also had to be passed at management level, and it was eventually, after “a few hiccups”, and an initial vote that was narrowly defeated.

Negotiations with the FAI and IRFU were less taxing and generally constructive.

And it was rugby rather than soccer that was first hosted by Croke Park.

The momentous event was initially an anticlimax, as Eddie O’Sullivan’s side suffered a 20-17 defeat to France in the Six Nations on 11 February 2007.

Two weeks later, though, the Irish team delivered a much more memorable and emphatic 43-13 victory over England.

“I wanted to have a rugby game first rather than a soccer game, because I knew it would be less contentious,” Kelly says. “Rugby was a 32-county team, so they wouldn’t be able to be flying the Irish flag and saying, ‘This is not on,’ and blah, blah, blah.

“So there was no hassle, and in particular, the game with England was iconic, especially when nobody in the entire crowd booed when the English national anthem was being played. I think that was one of the proudest moments of my life, because all it required was just one person to boo or shout and it would travel all over the stadium.

“Most people remember it for John Hayes and Jerry Flannery and others, tears coming down their eyes with the Irish national anthem being played.  

“And in terms of the English, they were perfect guests. They understood its significance, and respected everything relating to it. And I’d like to say the same in relation to the rugby team. I remember Brian O’Driscoll coming up and thanking me. It really was a fantastic occasion, and we haven’t turned back since. And I remember at the time saying: ‘We should open it temporarily, because if we open it temporarily, it will become permanent in no time.’ And that’s exactly what has happened.

“Now we have games, not just in Croke Park, but in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. So any of the big intercounty grounds can be available from time to time for games other than GAA.”

Kelly continues: “Thankfully, the first game was the French game, not the English game.

“I think if the English game went first, there would be an emotional opposition to it. We needed basically to round up opposition to it, but the French were always good friends.”

Brian O'Driscoll and John Hayes during the national anthem for the 2007 clash against England. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

Not that there weren’t any complaints, of course.

“There were protests, but they weren’t that big. I remember one of them carried a placard while wearing a Celtic jersey [that read]: ‘No foreign games in Croke Park.’ Another one carried a jersey saying, Seán ‘Judas’ Kelly.

“I think most people accepted it. But to this day, some do not. And even at Congress this year, I went up to two fellas I hadn’t seen for a while. I had forgotten who they were. One of them shook hands with me. And the one guy said: ‘I don’t shake hands with you, you let the Brits into Croke Park. I haven’t shaken hands with you since and I won’t ever.’ And I said: ‘That’s grand, thanks very much.’”

Kelly remembers considerable pressure to get the deal over the line. There was a looming deadline, as the venue for the upcoming rugby and soccer fixtures needed to be confirmed.

“We had to put the big effort in, mobilise the troops, and try to assuage those who had reservations, telling them that it wasn’t going to open the floodgates, it wasn’t going to damage the GAA.

“But those were the kinds of things being said. They were the emotional things – you can see why people would be concerned. But at the same time, thankfully, the bigger picture prevailed.

“They would [otherwise] have had to go to Twickenham or Stade de France. There was no other venue in Ireland capable of taking it. So that would have been the decision. That was a valuable psychological point to make: I don’t want to see Irish teams wearing the Irish jersey and having to play their home games in England when they have one venue capable of hosting them.  

“One person actually summarised it up well. He said: ‘This is only temporary. If your neighbour’s house burned down and you had a spare room while the house was being refurbished, wouldn’t you let them in?’

“So that whole temporary as opposed to permanent, even though we all knew it would become permanent, was important. It was taking one step at a time rather than trying to take every step together.”

Stephen Ireland scores the first-ever soccer goal at Croke Park against Wales in 2007. Tom Honan / INPHO Tom Honan / INPHO / INPHO

Despite some members’ concerns, Kelly feels the arrangement benefited the GAA.

“Some people voted for it and came to me and said they voted for it, even though they were against it. They said they used to sell lottery tickets in their own club, and the week or two before the vote in Croke Park, there would have been delegates to Congress. They were told: if you vote against the opening of Croke Park, don’t come to us anymore for your lottery tickets.

“So I think that would have been a big backlash against the GAA. I think GAA people are practical and sensible enough to know what’s going on, on the ground. And then, of course, we made a [financial] packet out of it. It was divided between each county. A lot of grounds were developed as a result of it.

“But I think the biggest winner from the GAA point of view was goodwill. The image of the GAA changed. Before that, a lot of people looked at them with suspicion as a kind of a neo-nationalist organisation with little to offer outside of just playing games.

“I think the image completely changed. Croke Park was seen worldwide; many people couldn’t believe that an amateur organisation could have such a fine stadium. So all that enhanced the image of the GAA and, more importantly, in terms of bringing cooperation, understanding and securing peace in Northern Ireland, I know many unionists came down to the rugby matches, and we would have guests at some of the boxes and in the premium seats.

“And they would have come up to me afterwards. Some of them even said: ‘This is my first time in Dublin. This is my first time in Croke Park.’ And they said: ‘We can’t believe the fantastic facilities you have, we can’t believe how well we have been treated, and we will have a different approach in future.’

“So it all helped tremendously. And I think anybody involved in it, not just me, but all those who worked for it and voted for it, can take pride in that. The Queen came to Croke Park; subsequently, that’s probably the best example of it, that would never have happened if Croke Park wasn’t opened.”