Croke Park 1920: Remembering the victims of 'Bloody Sunday' during Irish War of Independence

'Bloody Sunday' is a date that many associate with the events in Derry on January 30, 1972. On that day the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association called a protest in Derry. At that peaceful demonstration British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians killing fourteen people. This was not the only ‘Bloody Sunday’ in 20th century Irish History. This year marks the centenary of forces under British control opening fire on the crowd at a Gaelic football match in Dublin.

On the afternoon of Sunday November 21st 1920 members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) a quasi-military police force which was under the authority of the British administration in Ireland from 1822 until 1922. Aided by the Black and Tans and Auxiliary Division, a paramilitary unit of the RIC, they indiscriminately opened fire on the crowd at a Gaelic football match in Croke Park, killing or fatally wounding fourteen civilians and wounding at least sixty others. They had entered Croke Park in Dublin where the Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary was scheduled to take place. 

Earlier that day, under the direction of Michael Collins (Irish: Mícheál Ó Coileáin; 16 October 1890 – 22 August 1922) a leading figure in the struggle for Irish independence, an IRA operation was undertaken against a group of Dublin-based British intelligence agents. In various locations around Dublin city centre, they shot 19 of them. The operation dealt a serious blow to Britain’s efforts to quell the military campaign for Irish independence. That night three republican prisoners, Peadar Clancy, Dick McKee and Conor Clune, were murdered in Dublin Castle, supposedly, “while trying to escape”. 

The attack on civilians at Croke Park was a reprisal for the IRA operation and was designed to instill fear in the population. Instead it increased support for the struggle for Irish freedom at home and abroad. This year the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael (CLG))  Museum at Croke Park will commemorate the centenary of Bloody Sunday 'Remembering Bloody Sunday' with a series of events that will run from August to November 2020.

Image above: Ticket for 1920 Croke Park GAA match.

Image below: Michael Hogan (1896–1920) Gaelic footballer, and one-time Captain of the Tipperary GAA team a victim of 'Bloody Sunday'.

Croke Park murder victims:

Jane Boyle (26) Dublin

James Burke (44) Dublin

Daniel Carroll (30) Tipperary

Michael Feery (40) Dublin

Michael ‘Mick’ Hogan (24) Tipperary

Tom Hogan (19) Limerick

James Matthews (38) Dublin

Patrick O’Dowd (57) Dublin

Jerome O’Leary (10) Dublin

William Robinson (11) Dublin

Tom Ryan (27) Wexford

John William Scott (14) Dublin

James Teehan (26) Tipperary

Joe Traynor (21) Dublin