Historic Moment for Croke Park in Ireland

Within the realm of a specific place, it is common for historical events and engrained cultural mindsets to overwhelm modern social norms. Within international sporting arenas, the notion of nationalism and patriotism often take limelight position. A place with a history as violent and controversial as Croke Park, past prejudices are often re-born in present time.
Recently, I came across an article in the UK newspaper called The Guardian. It discussed a recent international rugby match that was played at Dublin’s Croke Park between England and Ireland. With interest in preserving Irish national identity in the realm of sport, Croke Park is strictly reserved for GAA events, primarily hurling and Gaelic football. However, Ireland’s home stadium Landsdowne Road is amidst extensive renovation and was unavailable for use on the date of the match: February 24th, 2007. In a highly controversial decision, the game was scheduled to be played at Croke Park. This is a stadium with aviolent history as the infamous first Bloody Sunday occurred there on November 21, 1920. This was a date immortalized for the violent English militia's slaughter of Irish spectators and athletes. Over 80 years have passed since ‘God save the Queen’ was sung in Croke Park and for many proud Irish citizens, February 24th, 2007 (the date of the game) was no time to make an exception. Pride is a complicated notion as it often maintains old prejudices despite successful efforts made to alleviate historic discrimination. If a riot had broken out during ‘God save the Queen’, it would have proven that narrow-mindedness and bitter resentment are still a large part of Ireland’s national identity. However, on that intense February evening in Croke Park, over eighty thousand Irish spectators politely applauded the English anthem and proceeded to sing the most passionate rendition of ‘Amhrán na bhFiann’ (The Irish Anthem) in recent history. Despite the crowd's mature and paciful reception to the anthem, certain other events speak of the place's lasting contoversies.
After the playing of the anthem, relatives of Bloody Sunday's victims showed their protest by removing their parent's trophies from Croke Park and denouncing the GAA as 'hypocritical'. The notion of the Irish homeland, as predicted by Tuan, denotes suppression by the English, and some people cannot forget this past hatred. In the case of Croke Park, it becomes apparent that an international sports arena can become a hotbed for controversy if rival nations collide on soil tainted with the blood of Irish ancestors.