Croke Park Pitch dimensions:Regular patrons of Croke Park who attend next Sunday's historic first rugby international at GAA headquarters will find themselves noticeably farther from the action than usual.

The Gaelic games pitch at the venue measures 144 metres long and 86 metres wide, which significantly exceeds the dimensions of rugby (100 x 70) and soccer (104 x 69 - these measurements can be adjusted within a certain tolerance by the home manager, but a decision on that won't be made until nearer the Wales soccer international).

This means that at the Ireland-France international the crowd at either end of the ground on the Hill 16 terrace or in the Davin Stand will be over 20 metres more distant from the goalposts than they would have been last Saturday night at the Dublin-Tyrone NFL fixture.

Although there is this extra distance behind the goals, the in-goal area is just 10 metres from either set of goalposts with another 10 metres between the crowd and the dead-ball line.

Stadium director Peter McKenna says that the distances involved - there will be an additional eight metres on either side of the field as well - won't significantly affect the spectator's sight lines or player perspectives.

"There won't, for instance, be anything like the visual distortion you get at the big Australian grounds where the pitch is being floated on an oval field usually used for cricket or Australian Rules. We're simply placing rectangular fields inside a bigger one. There are no issues involved on the basis of crowd distance from pitch.

"There is greater distance in some of the bigger grounds in Europe, where the elevation of the stands is so great that, for spectators looking down, the pitch is a considerable distance back. This will apply to a lesser extent even in the proposed Lansdowne Road redesign.

"And although the nearer set of goalposts is 20 metres more distant, the farther posts are 20 metres closer than in a football or hurling match."

Pitch-side advertising will also be moved in to an appropriate distance from the new sidelines and will frame the playing area as it would in any other stadium.

One issue that will vary is the type of seat from which views will be blocked.

"There's more seat kills (seats that can't be used) in soccer because of advertising and team dugouts, which give it a different kind of configuration."