'Put Robbie in full forward' - Croker pitch prepared for Take That concert

The hallowed turf of Jones’s Rd was peeled up in anticipation of the boy band’s arrival in Dublin.

TWO TAKE THAT concerts, scheduled for 18 and 19 June, are set to force the Croke Park surface to be re-laid.

Describing the move as “unavoidable”, GAA officials assured fans that the new pitch would be ready in time for the next Championship games on 26 June.

A similar situation occurred in August 2009, when the Croke Park pitch had to be temporarily removed and re-laid for a U2 concert. On that occasion, though they experienced difficulties, the pitch was ultimately ready in time.

GAA president, Christy Cooney, said that the playing surface would not be affected as a result of this decision and predicted that the operation would be less complex this time: “It’s not anything like we had to do for the U2 concert, when we did a massive job, this is just taking off the top layer.”

Here’s what happened earlier:

'Put Robbie in full forward' - Croker pitch prepared for Take That concert

Previous 1 / 8Next