By John Harrington

GAA is all about community, even on the biggest match-days of all like Sunday’s All-Ireland Senior Football Final.

82,300 will not just stream into Croke Park, they’ll also pass through the local community surrounding the stadium.

To make sure that happens as smoothly as possible, the Croke Park Community Team will be very visible on the ground outside the stadium as they assist both local residents and match-day supporters in whatever way they possibly can.

The team is made up entirely of local residents, and their day will begin as soon as the Garda Cordon goes up around the approach routes to the ground at 10.30am.

“They're out and about on the street making sure everything is as it should be, all the barriers are in place, that there's no illegal parking in the area, and that the bins are out and so on so that everything is in place for a good afternoon and to try to limit any impact on the neigbourhood,” says Croke Park Community Officer, Julianne Savage.

“And then as soon as the crowd starts to fill up, they have two roles. First of all to look after the area and the neighbours and to make sure people can come and go from their houses and if they need any assistance we can provide that. It can be as simple as getting a taxi up the road or helping someone with suitcases coming home from their holidays or helping someone with their shopping.

“Or sometimes it could be just a case of taking litter out of a garden that has been thrown in. You'd also be telling people what time matches are on, what time roads are closed, and the best routes to take.

“Second of all, they’d also help people who are coming into the area to watch the match. They’re a welcome wagon, essentially. They know the quickest way to get from A to B. They know the best places in the area to go and have a pint or a bite to eat beforehand. So they’re there to help our visitors as well.

“We work with the Gardai and Dublin City Council just to be extra eyes and ears. We have a free-phone number and an e-mail so anyone that needs our assistance can get in touch with us and we'll go and help them. That's essentially how the team works. We're patrolling around, but if people need our help we can go to them.”

Ita McTigue will be one of the community team members on the ground this Sunday.

She lives in Drumcondra, but is from Kilmaine in South Mayo originally, so this All-Ireland Final has special significance. The way she sees it, being a member of the Community team gives her the chance to be a part of the occasion in a way few other people can be.

“I really enjoy it, I must say,” she says. “You're outside all the time, moving around, and you get totally into the atmosphere of it. You meet all the people and we're probably more in the thick of it than anyone really, apart from the guys on the pitch.

“Because we're there as a team, people know that if there's a problem then there's someone there they can talk to. People are much more comfortable coming forward with an issue if they know there's someone they can talk to.

“People are getting to know us more around the area now, and people are very friendly towards us. That's huge, just to have that presence.

“There are very few incidents of any note apart from maybe people parking in the wrong place or urinating in a laneway.

“Really, when you think about it, there will be over 82,000 people there on Sunday, and there was the same again for the All-Ireland Hurling Final and the Dublin-Kerry semi-final. And despite those numbers, there are really no serious incidents, just a few little inconveniences.

“I think that says an awful lot about us as a people, and certainly as a GAA community that it all goes so smoothly. It's quite extraordinary really, I don't think you'd find it anywhere else. I don't think we give ourselves enough credit for the type of people we are, really.”

The Community Team has been working on stadium event days since February 2014, but even before then Croke Park was making a big effort to improve relations with residents in the local area.

In 2009 they established the Croke Park Community Fund that provides an annual fund of €100,000 which is used to support projects in the immediate area around the stadium.

“The fund goes from strength to strength,” says Julianne Savage. “We've just had our final closing date for 2016 and it's been our busiest year to date. It literally goes from strength to strength, year on year.

“We've allocated now nearly three quarters of a million euro which is phenomenal. We'll reach that figure later this year, we're already just over the €700,000 mark, so that's an extraordinary amount of money to contribute.

“And these are real grass-roots organisations and local community groups coming together and doing positive things. The beauty of the fund is that it supports such a wide variety of projects from sporting groups to arts and crafts to senior citizen and youth projects. It's pretty much limitless, which is great.”

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For more information on the Croke Park Community go to https://crokepark.ie/stadium/community.