Croke Park: A+ for atmosphere but an F for entry and service.

Peter Burke

It was going to be a hugely special occasion, a European Cup Semi final, a sell out in under 4 hours, in the magnificent arena of Croke Park. The atmosphere was electric, the stadium glowed in all its glory, it was meticulously prepared to welcome the fans and the teams to enjoy this incredible sporting event.

The match itself was a good one from a Leinster point of view for about 60 mins and then it was squeaky bum time as the Saints came right back at Leinster to make the finish a nervy one for the Blues.

However the match day experience was not to a lot of peoples liking and below are just some of what was expressed in various ‘Fan Groups’ on Facebook.

“If Croke Park is going to be used for the next couple years, they really need to improve on a few things, especially their services. There were extremely long delays getting served food and drinks. I queued for over 30 mins with about 20 people ahead of me. Very poor for such a great venue”.

“Entry was poor, q’d alot, match delayed due to slow entry. Not a great experience. But once in, it was grand”.

“Main issue seemed to be that EPCR issued tickets through ticketmaster didn’t have a barcode and are contactless tap tickets whereas croke park is set up for scanning paper tickets so not enough contactless scanners.

Also majority of crowd hadn’t a clue where they were going in the stadium so lots of people arriving at the wrong turnstiles due to lack of signage showing which entrances were for which”.

“Have to say, Irish rail are a joke

Took 2.5 hours to get back to Donabate & when finally got on the Dundalk train (after changing in Howth junction & Malahide) the train was jammers

Never see this in any other major city in Europe when going to matches or concerts”.

“In Croke Park, Stadium is spectacular however hospitality is rubbish”.

“The refreshment kiosks were terrible. It was like that has never seen a crowd before. Imagine if they had to pour a Guinness nevermind a lager”.

“Brought my 9yo daughter, all she wanted was a hotdog, went up to the bar before the game and nothing, was told by the lad at the till they’d no chips either. Then watched them put up more, they just were ridiculously slow making them. Queues at HT were a joke nothing ready”.

“Have to admit it wasn’t great service no disrespect now but Croke Park lost a lot of money today in food and drink sales. Very slow and ran out of food”. 

“Toilets were filthy. Not enough stewards or bar staff and that was in the Premium Level.”

All we can say is the Stadium looked fantastic and the atmosphere was electric but maybe some improvements are needed.