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When Lansdowne Road was being rebuilt into what is now the Aviva Stadium, Ireland decamped to the 80,000-seat Gaelic Games stadium Croke Park.

Rising up from the terraced streets of North Dublin, Croke Park echoes with the history of the troubles.

It was the scene of a tragedy in 1920, when British forces opened fire on players and spectators during a Gaelic football match, killing 14 people including Tipperary player Michael Hogan. Until 2007 the GAA had never allowed "foreign" sports to be played there. That changed with the arrival of the rugby side, who played England there that year.

The fixture inevitably revived memories of the strained political relations between the two countries given what had happened at the ground decades before, and the atmosphere before the game was febrile.

Protests before the game were made in attempts to prevent God Save the Queen to be played before the game. The anthem went ahead, but it was clear from the first whistle that Ireland, on this of all days, would not give England in inch. A 43-13 battering ensued.

Ireland’s move to the Aviva two years later seemed counter-intuitive following that short spell at Croker, a far bigger ground with such a special place in Irish sporting and social history.

Should the IRFU decide to bid for a future Rugby World Cup, Croke Park simply has to be on the list of venues.