Editing Bloody Sunday (1920) (section)

===Afternoon: Croke Park massacre===
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title      = Croke Park massacre
| image      =Military (6393759933) (retouched).jpg
| caption    =British soldiers and relatives of the victims outside [[Jervis Street Hospital]] during the military inquiry into the Croke Park massacre
| location   = [[Croke Park]], Dublin
| coordinates=
| date       = 21 November 1920
| time       = 15:25
| timezone   = GMT
| type       = [[Mass shooting]]
| fatalities = 14 civilians
| injuries   = 80 civilians<ref name="O'Halpin Croke Park">Eunan O'Halpin & Daithí Ó Corráin. ''The Dead of the Irish Revolution''. Yale University Press, 2020. pp. 227–228</ref>
| perp       = [[Royal Irish Constabulary]]<br/>[[Auxiliary Division]]
| susperp    =
| weapons    = Rifles, [[revolver]]s and an [[Armored car (military)|armoured car]]
| numparts   =
| dfens      =
}}
The [[Dublin GAA|Dublin]] [[Gaelic football]] team was scheduled to play the [[Tipperary GAA|Tipperary]] team later the same day in Croke Park, the [[Gaelic Athletic Association]]'s major football ground. Money raised from ticket sales would go to the Republican Prisoners' Dependents' Fund.<ref name="O'Halpin Croke Park"/> Despite the general unease in Dublin as news broke of the assassinations, a war-weary populace continued with life. At least 5,000 spectators went to Croke Park for the match, which began thirty minutes late, at 3:15&nbsp;p.m.{{sfn|Leeson|2003|p=49}}

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the crowd, British forces were approaching and preparing to raid the match. A convoy of troops in trucks and three [[Peerless armoured car|armoured cars]] drove in from the north and halted along Clonliffe Road. A convoy of RIC police drove in from the southwest, along Russell Street–Jones's Road. It comprised twelve trucks of [[Black and Tans]] in front and six trucks of [[Auxiliary Division|Auxiliaries]] behind. Several plain-clothes Auxiliaries also rode in front with the Black and Tans. Their orders were to surround Croke Park, guard the exits, and search every man. The authorities later stated that their intention was to announce by megaphone that all males leaving the grounds would be searched and that anyone leaving by other means would be shot. However, for some reason, shots were fired by police as soon as they reached the southwest gate at the [[Royal Canal]] end of Croke Park, at 3:25&nbsp;pm.{{sfn|Leeson|2003|p=50}}

Some of the police later claimed they were fired on first as they arrived outside Croke Park,{{sfn|Dwyer|2005|p=187}} allegedly by IRA sentries; but other police at the front of the convoy did not corroborate this,{{sfn|Leeson|2003|pp=58–59}} and there is no convincing evidence for it.<ref name="O'Halpin Croke Park"/> Civilian witnesses all agreed that the RIC opened fire without provocation as they ran into the grounds.<ref name="O'Halpin Croke Park"/> Two [[Dublin Metropolitan Police]] (DMP) constables on duty near the Canal gate did not report the RIC being fired on. Another DMP constable testified that an RIC group also arrived at the Main gate and began firing in the air.{{sfn|Dwyer|2005|p=191}} Correspondents for the ''[[The Guardian|Manchester Guardian]]'' and Britain's ''[[Daily News (London)|Daily News]]'' interviewed witnesses, and concluded that the "IRA sentries" were actually ticket-sellers: <blockquote>It is the custom at this football ground for tickets to be sold outside the gates by recognised ticket-sellers, who would probably present the appearance of [[Picket (military)|pickets]], and would naturally run inside at the approach of a dozen military lorries. No man exposes himself needlessly in Ireland when a military lorry passes by.{{sfn|Leeson|2003|p=52}}</blockquote> The police in the convoy's leading trucks appear to have jumped out, run down the passage to the Canal end gate, forced their way through the turnstiles, and started firing rapidly with rifles and revolvers. Ireland's ''[[Freeman's Journal]]'' reported that <blockquote>The spectators were startled by a volley of shots fired from inside the turnstile entrances. Armed and uniformed men were seen entering the field, and immediately after the firing broke out scenes of the wildest confusion took place. The spectators made a rush for the far side of Croke Park and shots were fired over their heads and into the crowd.{{sfn|Leeson|2003|p=53}}</blockquote>

The police kept shooting for about ninety seconds. Their commander, Major Mills, later admitted that his men were "excited and out of hand".{{sfn|Leeson|2003|p=57}} Some police fired into the fleeing crowd from the pitch, while others, outside the grounds, opened fire from the Canal Bridge at spectators who climbed over the Canal Wall trying to escape. At the other side of the Park, soldiers on Clonliffe Road were startled first by the sound of the fusillade, then by the sight of panicked people fleeing the grounds. As the spectators streamed out, an armoured car on St James Avenue fired its machine guns over the heads of the crowd, trying to halt them.{{sfn|Leeson|2003|p=53}}

By the time Major Mills got his men back under control, the police had fired 114 rounds of rifle ammunition, while fifty rounds were fired from the armoured car outside the Park.{{sfn|Leeson|2003|p=58}} Seven people had been shot to death, and five more had been shot and wounded so badly that they later died; another two people had died in the [[crowd crush]]. The dead included Jane Boyle, the only woman killed, who had gone to the match with her fiancé and was due to be married five days later. Two boys aged ten and eleven were shot dead. Two football players, [[Michael Hogan (sportsman)|Michael Hogan]] and Jim Egan, had been shot; Egan survived but Hogan was killed, the only player fatality. There were dozens of other wounded and injured. The police raiding party suffered no casualties.{{sfn|Leeson|2003|p=51}}

Once the firing stopped, the security forces searched the remaining men in the crowd before letting them go. The military raiding party recovered one revolver: a local householder testified that a fleeing spectator had thrown it away in his garden. The British authorities stated that 30–40 discarded revolvers were found in the grounds.<ref>W. H. Kautt. ''Ground Truths''. {{ISBN|978-0-7165-3220-0}} p. 100</ref><ref>William Sheehan. ''British Voices from the Irish War of Independence''. {{ISBN|978-1-905172-37-5}} p. 90</ref><ref>Belfast Telegraph archive 27 November 1920</ref><ref>{{Cite Hansard|house=House of Commons |title=Murder Conspiracy. |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/nov/22/murder-conspiracy |date=22 November 1920 |volume=135 |column=41 |speaker=[[Lieutenant Colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant Colonel]] [[Sir Hamar Greenwood]] |position=[[Chief Secretary of Ireland]] |quote=Thirty revolvers and other firearms were found on the field.}}</ref> However, Major Mills stated that no weapons were found on the spectators or in the grounds.{{sfn|Leeson|2003|p=63}}

The actions of the police were officially unauthorised and were greeted with horror by the British authorities at Dublin Castle. In an effort to cover up the nature of the behaviour by British forces, a press release was issued which claimed:<blockquote>A number of men came to Dublin on Saturday under the guise of asking to attend a football match between Tipperary and Dublin. But their real intention was to take part in the series of murderous outrages which took place in Dublin that morning. Learning on Saturday that a number of these gunmen were present in Croke Park, the Crown forces went to raid the field. It was the original intention that an officer would go to the centre of the field and speaking from a megaphone, invite the assassins to come forward. But on their approach, armed pickets gave warning. Shots were fired to warn the wanted men, who caused a stampede and escaped in the confusion.{{sfn|Eldridge|2017}}</blockquote>

''[[The Times]]'', which during the war was a pro-[[Unionists (Ireland)|Unionist]] publication, ridiculed Dublin Castle's version of events,{{sfn|Eldridge|2017}} as did a [[Labour Party (UK)|British Labour Party]] delegation visiting Ireland at the time. British Brigadier [[Frank Percy Crozier]], overall commander of the Auxiliary Division, later resigned over what he believed was the official condoning of the unjustified actions of the Auxiliaries in Croke Park. One of his officers told him that "Black and Tans fired into the crowd without any provocation whatsoever".{{sfn|Dwyer|2005|p=192}} Major Mills stated: "I did not see any need for any firing at all".<ref name="O'Halpin Croke Park"/>

'''List of the Croke Park victims'''<ref>{{cite web|title=Ceremony to mark grave of Bloody Sunday victim|url=http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=259444|website=hoganstand.com|access-date=13 August 2016|archive-date=13 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813130245/http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=259444|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Jane Boyle (26), Dublin
*James Burke (44), Dublin
*Daniel Carroll (31), Tipperary (died 23 November)
*Michael Feery (40), Dublin
*Michael 'Mick' Hogan (24), Tipperary
*Tom Hogan (19), Limerick (died 26 November)
*James Matthews (38), Dublin
*Patrick O'Dowd (57), Dublin
*Jerome O'Leary (10), Dublin
*William Robinson (11), Dublin (died 22 November)
*Tom Ryan (27), Wexford
*John William Scott (14), Dublin
*James Teehan (26), Tipperary
*Joe Traynor (21), Dublin