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Queen Elizabeth to visit Croke Park stadium

Headquarters of Irish Gaelic sports to host monarch

CATHAL DERVAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Monday, April 4, 2011, 7:26 AM

Updated Monday, April 4, 2011, 10:06 AM

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HRH Queen Elizabeth II

Photo by Getty Images

The Queen is to visit Croke Park next month to watch exhibition hurling and football matches at the home of the GAA.

Queen Elizabeth will be guest of honor at the very ground where British troops shot 14 innocent players and spectators dead at the match in 1920.

Dublin schoolchildren will play in hurling and football matches in front of the Queen during her Royal visit in May, the first by any British monarch in a hundred years.

Croke Park is on a preliminary agenda for the visit currently being considered by Irish government and Buckingham Palace officials.

Historian Tim Pat Coogan believes the appearance of the English monarch at the home of the GAA will be hugely symbolic.

He told the Sunday Times: “They are obviously trying to make as friendly an overtone as possible.

“It is a visit drawn up in the era of John Major, Tony Blair and current Prime Minister David Cameron.

“They have apologized for the Famine and accepted responsibility for Bloody Sunday so they are trying to keep it on that level.

“With Croke Park, she would have been confronting Irish history head-on had the English rugby team not come in the meantime.

“That defanged the issue. I take it she won’t be throwing the ball in or showing how they play shinty at Balmoral.”

The Sunday Times reveals a number of potential destinations for Queen Elizabeth when she follows in the footsteps of her grandfather King George V who visited Ireland in 1911.

Senior government sources have hinted that the Queen will visit Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance, a memorial to those who died in the cause of Irish freedom, and the Islandbridge Gardens dedicated to the 49,000 Irish soldiers who died in the first World War.

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DanOLoingsigh | Apr 07, 2011, 04:08 PM EDT

ddinning, so you can’t understand the peoples of Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Jordan et al. How hard have you tried? Maybe they can’t understand you? Many of them speak English very well…

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ddinning | Apr 06, 2011, 10:22 PM EDT

Don’t understand the mentality of a people that would have a Queen, or why Ireland would want her there.

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EireinAmerica | Apr 06, 2011, 11:19 AM EDT

Ronnie,..thank you!!!! What a grand smack in the face this is!! This is a sacrilege! Lizzie the Hun can stay where she belongs with the rest of this rubbish!

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ronnie4u2o | Apr 05, 2011, 02:32 PM EDT

Good God in Heaven who needs the Queen here in Ireland .Let her stay in her old dark dank musty Castle . Can she bring back our loved ones killed by the Crown or the women & Children who starved to death while England watched !!!!! Queenie stay in Bloody Old Enland where you belong !!!

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JBRAFTREE | Apr 05, 2011, 12:25 PM EDT

For Antoman 10:58 AM Post- I'm home alone. I'll bet my next door neighbor heard me laugh. That's the funniest post I've read in a long time.

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Trealach | Apr 05, 2011, 10:04 AM EDT

@drTrelawney - an 'off-the-cuff' comment at a commemoration ceremony by Tony Blair does not constitute an apology - but then what would a fake Irishman know. Póg mo thion agus have a nice day.

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DanOLoingsigh | Apr 05, 2011, 07:26 AM EDT

Amazed and awed at the prophetic gifts of some of the posters on this topic. Not only an insight into ‘judgement day’, but also instinctively know what the ‘Irish People’ will or will not accept in relation to apologies. Pity they know nothing about how constitutional monarchies, or even titular presidencies, work. The Head of State will do and say exactly what the politicians and speechwriters want him or her to do and say…it will be nuanced and calculated…and that’s why if she has to shake hands with one of the guys who ordered the murder of her uncle, she’ll do it, and if they want her to make an apology, she’ll make one. That’s the job they do.

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antoman | Apr 04, 2011, 05:59 PM EDT

@Irishphotograph-"Recognise a false Irish man below! drTrealawney".Thats nothing new.Check out the comments below the Samantha Power article.Its like Mossad decided to gather there and get drunk.

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Irishphotograph | Apr 04, 2011, 05:39 PM EDT

Recognise a false Irish man below! 'drTrealawney'... An Apology from the Queen of England will ever be the only Apology accepted by the Irish People!..The only Apology that carries weight!

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DrTrelawney | Apr 04, 2011, 04:54 PM EDT

What does Trealach mean "NO apology has ever been offered or received for the genocide caused by the Famine"? Tony Blair offered just such an apology in 1997 when, while broadcasting to a Famine commemoration, he blamed "those who governed in London". Clearly, nothing will keep nuts like this happy.

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barneyjo | Apr 04, 2011, 03:28 PM EDT

@Trealach - it seems you have been out-voted. I hope she does go to Croke Park so that she can see at first hand what an aspiring grass-roots community movement can aspire to. Who knows, there may even be another apology forthcoming!!

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jerrydonovan | Apr 04, 2011, 01:36 PM EDT

For God's sake move to the future.During the Irish "civil"war numerous atrocities were committed by both sides,did they ever apologize to each other?I agree with CitizenWhy.

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antoman | Apr 04, 2011, 12:44 PM EDT

I see a business opportunity for Sirpeter and I on St.Patricks Bridge requiring just potatoes and toothpicks.Hey Sirpeter we'll make Sir Walter Raleigh potatoe heads and charge punters 3-4 euros for each figurine we knock out.What ya think biy? :)

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Celtica43 | Apr 04, 2011, 12:40 PM EDT

I'm thinking she must be really worried about her job!

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nicgearailt | Apr 04, 2011, 12:08 PM EDT

It all sounds good...as she may go to Cork..why not a quick trip to a lovely pub ,near Ballygarrett,where she could relax with a nice drink,talk more GAA and listen to the owner serenade her with a lovely Irish song..."Because I love you so..." ..that would be unique.. I must contact Enda...

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