GAELIC GAMES:THE AMBASSADOR from Ethiopia was advised by his South African counterpart in Dublin that if he wanted a crash course in Irish history and its culture of its independence he should visit the GAA Museum in Croke Park.

Mark Dorman, appointed director of the museum two years ago this month, tells the story as an illustration of the impact the GAA and its history generally has on overseas visitors.

The ambassador visited and attended an All-Ireland hurling final and was impressed by the experience. He was one of a growing number of visitors from abroad who despite having little or no previous knowledge of the GAA, appreciate the window it offers into Irish life.

“It’s unusual for a stadium to have the historical resonance Croke Park has,” says Dorman. “Most are about clubs and teams but this is about a country’s history.”

Only recently this was reaffirmed with the latest in a series of history lectures organised by the museum, on this occasion marking the 90th anniversary of Bloody Sunday – the most iconic event of the GAA’s interface with the struggle for independence.

Thirteen years old next year, the museum has been around long enough to need its own revamping and earlier this year €1 million was spent on refurbishing and updating the museum, its exhibits and interactive features.

The numbers attending are climbing. In 2008 there were 69,000 visitors. The following 12 months coincided with the GAA’s 125 celebrations and that heightened profile helped the total up to 77,000. The good news for Croke Park is that there has been a further increase up to 84,000 this year.

“We recorded a big increase in clubs coming last year because of the 125 celebrations,” according to Dorman, “but this year we’ve seen a lot more foreign language tourists coming in. We had five Japanese visitors in on Monday. Now I know that the Storehouse (the Guinness centre that is the top tourist attraction in Ireland) might have had about 200, but that we managed to attract a group to come up here in the snow is proof that we’re getting the message out there.”

That message is insistently disseminated both to the membership, through the GAA’s monthly newsletters and to a broader audience. Efforts are ongoing to get the Dublin open-top bus tour to include Croke Park on its itinerary. The stadium’s isolation from the other stops on the route has so far presented an obstacle.

“We have a very strong emphasis on increased numbers every year,” says Dorman. “For instance, we began match day tours this year. Most stadia don’t do them because they’re too much trouble but we see them as an ideal way to draw in people, who are coming to the stadium anyway.”

Next May it is hoped to inaugurate a spectacular stadium-roof tour. A verdict on planning permission is expected soon and if granted, a structure one and a half metres above the roof will be built together with four viewing points. Visitors will wear a harness to enjoy a unique experience, albeit one that won’t appeal to everyone.

“If you suffer from vertigo on the upper deck of the Hogan,” says Dorman, “it won’t be for you.”

The notion of a museum being out-dated can appear amusing but Dorman flicks through some of the improvements made to the facility that opened in 1998, about half way through the redevelopment of the stadium.

“We didn’t want to lose sight of this being a sports museum and felt that previously the entrance had been a bit dark and subdued so we put in plasmas and visitors can immediately see the games. Match footage is right up to date.

On a Monday in the summer we’ll be screening a championship match that might have been played here the previous day or in Castlebar.

“The central atrium was developed to get a necessary sense of anticipation. There’s the octagonal display of trophies and all the county flags so that you get a sense of the counties and a sense of awe.

“There are about 40 plasma screens and originally quite a lot of them were about 18 or 20 inches, like the televisions of the time, but now people have ones at home that are 50 inches so we installed larger screens.

“Then there’s the section on breakthroughs. In the late 1990s when the museum opened there had been all the excitement of the hurling revolution years but then people from Tyrone, Armagh or Westmeath would feel, ‘where’s our breakthrough?’ so we brought that right up to date.”

Another installation that has been updated is the Team of the Millennium memorials on the lower level of the Cusack Stand. According to museum curator Joanne Clarke these had aged so badly that it had become an embarrassment showing them to relatives of those honoured.

Under the supervision of archivist Mark Reynolds the GAA archive was rebuilt in July of last year, now housing a growing collection of documents in a climate- and moisture-controlled environment. Minutes of Central Council meetings extending back to the 1890s are among the items preserved and the archive is open to those pursuing bona fide research projects, be they academic or family related.

That sense of belonging to the wider GAA is another theme of the museum, according to Dorman.

“We’re saying it’s your facility and it’s here. We’ve encouraged clubs to come in and hold medal presentations here, in the Ãrd Comhairle room. One of the projects during the refurbishment was the club wall. It was an initiative of Christy’s (Cooney, GAA president) because he wanted every club represented so that when they came into Croke Park there was something they could point to at the entrance.

“It was also great for us because it transformed the outside of the museum from something that was almost Stalinist, grey and concrete, into something bright and appealing. People come to it now and straight away look for their club or if they’re from overseas they can point out and be amazed to see that there are clubs in their country, city or region.”

The museum is also compiling a database of club profiles, featuring location, GPS co-ordinates, history, officials and images. In order to update its profile, a club has a PIN and can upload latest achievements and other material, which once monitored in the museum, goes up on the database the next day.

It’s a bit of a slog with e-mails having to be sent out every three months to remind those who have so far failed to respond including – according to Dorman – some very well known units but it’s a great resource and a source of pride for members when they visit.

“We’re on the road to being half way there,” he adds cheerfully, “and some of the entries are really impressive. Drumkeerin in Leitrim for instance is not a big club but the richness of their story and depth of information is striking. We’re continuing to push this.”

Word should be heard shortly from the Museum Standards Programme, to whom the Croke Park museum has applied for accreditation.Preserving and presenting the GAA’s heritage remains the central mission of the museum but even the past needs modernising from time to time.