Day Seven: 83,000 Hurling Fans Can't Be Wrong

Every Wednesday, our program has scheduled day trips. Over the course of five weeks, we’ll go to several exotic locales in and around Dublin, presumably to learn more about the culture. As this was the first week anyone was in the country, we started with a brief walking tour of the city. We met at the front gates of Trinity College, and we were told to be there by “10 am sharp.” Needless to say, we’re college students, so we still had people straggling in as late as 10:20. After some obligatory group photos in front of Ireland’s oldest college, we split into our tour groups.

My tour was led by my film professor, Seamus. Seamus is a Trinity College grad himself, and delighted us all with tales of his school days, and explained exactly what the differences are between college in America and in Ireland. Not much, as it turns out, although public universities like Trinity College and University College Dublin (Also known as UCD. Go Ags.) are free. Yes, the top two colleges in all of Ireland are free if you pass their entrance exams. The only money you have to pay is a registration fee, to the tune of €1200. Let’s all move to Ireland!

After Trinity College, Seamus took us to the Bank of Ireland, which used to house the Irish parliament until they voted themselves out of existence in 1800, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Now, the building is home to Ireland’s largest bank, and while the building was once secure enough to fend off angry Catholics, it is currently quite susceptible to frequent bank heists. Recently, some thieves were able to make off with over €8 million from the bank. We, being Americans, were instantly impressed, and I’m sure more than one of us started imagining what the Irish Danny Ocean would be like.

From there, we went into the hip new part of Dublin called Temple Bar (where Seamus once met Bono) and then to O’Connell Street (where Seamus once met Bill Clinton). The end of our tour was the General Post Office, the site of the 1916 Rising, where Irish nationalists started their 1916 revolt for independence from Britain. Apparently, you can still see bullet holes in the side of the building, but I was unable to find any upon closer examination. I think it’s another Irish trick, so they can make fun of gullible Americans staring intently at a concrete wall.

After a quick lunch break, we were whisked away to the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Museum, located not far from the city center. The GAA Museum is located in the shadow of the national GAA stadium, Croke Park, which is a mecca for fans of sports like hurling, rounders, handball, and Gaelic football. If you don’t understand what those sports are, I highly suggest clicking around on their names above, as they will give you a clear sense of how far the Irish are willing to go to distinguish themselves from the English. All four sports (Gaelic football and hurling are also played by women) slightly resemble something from England, but have been blended with a large dose of good old-fashioned insanity. Gaelic football is basically Calvinball, and hurling is Gaelic football with sticks. And yet the Irish are so proud of these sports that they’ve always had a sold-out crowd for the All Ireland Championships, even when Croke Park expanded to 83,000 seats in 2007.

We got to see the interior of Croke Park, even walking down of field level (although not on the field, as no one is allowed on the pitch besides players and groundskeepers). I’ve been in some pretty big stadiums, some bigger than Croke Park, but its scale and design makes it feel much larger than anywhere else I’ve been. It’s an amazing place, with some pretty expansive history. One of the sections of the stadium is named for a player who was shot and killed by British troops when they stormed the stadium following Michael Collins’ organized assassinations of some British leadership. I defy you to find any football stadium with any back story that intense.

The actual GAA Museum is quite small, but extremely informative. Did you know, for instance, that it is damn near impossible to hit a ball with a hurling stick? I only know this because part of the museum involves actually trying to do so. The grip on the stick is supposed to be the opposite of baseball, with the dominant hand below the non-dominant hand. While this may sound like madness, it turns out that hurling is the fastest field sport in the world, with balls speeds of almost 160 kph. The key feature of the GAA Museum, and the crown jewel of the collection, is the Sam Maguire Cup. It’s presented in a small case, sort of nondescript, but this is the very trophy that was presented to winners of the All-Ireland Championship winners in Gaelic football from the 1890s to the mid 1980s. It’s like the Stanley Cup, but with even more history. And I got to stand in its glory.