Republic of Ireland versus England, February 15 1995.
The disgraceful behavior at last night’s football international in Dublin must throw into grave doubt England’s role as hosts of next year’s European Championship. It was appalling enough that the pond life who purport to follow England should riot at all. But in Ireland of all places, at such a politically sensitive time, defies belief.
Today Newspaper Editorial, on the day following the riots.
I dug this match Programme out recently, and thought it would be of interest to some of our readers. Page 3, the notes from the manager, is signed. Sadly, it is addressed to Donal, and not eBay.
In all seriousness however, this encounter between the Republic of Ireland and England on February 15 1995 marked one of the worst moments for soccer in this country. Largely believed to be as a protest against the peace process in Ulster, and centering around a few fringe groups from London clubs, a small band of fascist supporters within the English away support brought the match to a halt amid scenes of flying chairs and wood. Ireland were 1 nil up in the encounter, before it was called off. Both National Anthems had been greeted poorly at the beginning of the match, and near constant chants of ‘Never surrender to the IRA’ can be heard in footage of the encounter. The damage done to the image of the game in Ireland was quite bad, and the UK tabloids seized the day too to make quite sweeping statements about English football supporters.
Many of the trouble makers had, almost laughably, purchased their tickets from Dublin. The Football Association of Ireland made a haims of the affair, and English fans were located in an area of the stadium one can only describe as madly short sighted in retrospect, with little to no screening of their support. Searchlight magazine told The Irish Times that its “spotters” had noticed a huge number of hooligans from right wing firms and political groupings in the North among the away support. The video footage from the moments following the calling off of the game is incredible, showing a clearly raging Jack Charlton, a man who won a World Cup medal with England in 1966.
There was little evidence of orchestration but many signs of the disturbing presence of the right-wing thugs who have attached themselves to club around the south east of London. Forearms bearing Union Jack tattoos jerked skywards in Nazi salutes. Several skinheads carried the legend “Made in the UK” in blue ink above their ears. There was some excited talk about “doing like the paras” and getting the “Fenian scum”, but for the most part the trouble was caused by dull young men looking for the rush that violence can provide
Tom Humphries writing in The Irish Times , February 18 1995
Interestingly, in 2008, John Delaney remarked to The Guardian that
At some stage, I would like to see England play in Lansdowne Road because there is a game owed. (…)Bringing them to the old Lansdowne Road would have been difficult, and bringing them to Croke Park wouldn’t have been correct given the history.
So, here is a selection of content from the match programme. Enjoy. League of Ireland fans should note the fantastic article on the first English visit to Dublin, an encounter at Dalymount Park.
I was in the middle of the rioters in the upper tier for this one, having got a ticket from the uk. The atmosphere was pretty nasty from the get go and I recall seeing english ‘fans’ coming in with noticable bumps under their clothing, no real effort even at concealing the fact that the were bringing in weapons. I also remember zipping up my jacket to cover my ireland jersey and legging it once the shit hit the fan. It could have been much worse. If the rioters had the brains to attack the Irish fans beside them in the upper tier rather than chucking stuff down on the (mostly) English fans below there would have been mayhem. Typically the cops arrived in about an hour later and battered the crap out of everyone, a number of Irish fans got caught up in it and were subsequently compensated. I recall an Irish fan kicking a cop car outside Lansdowne afterwards and berating their general uselessness.
AFA had a good write up of this at the time, if you can get your hands on it it would be worth putting up. At worst I reckon I have it in my folks gaff and will try to scan it next time I’m home.
I was sat beside them too in the best seats I have ever got at an international football match.
I was living on pembroke road at the time and saw a poor old man who had brought his grandson along to watch the game die on the pavement as the ambulance men tried to revive him.It happened right outside the Italian chipper near the bridge.
The kid about 7 or 8 was looking on and petrified.
I know a neducated boxer who was stewarding that night, he took great pleasure in showing les Angleszes how to behave that night. Hows the Plasterboard treating you Pat?
The November 1990 game was actually a lot more violent, with clashes all over town and a head-on collusion with a ‘free Dessie Ellis’ march on O’Connell Bridge. A van load of headcases, tooled up to the nines, and drunk beyond repair were arrested (Irish fans, down from Belfast). The English hooligans regarded it as a wild old time, which is why so many came in 1995 and succeeded in wrecking the game. There were dozens of clashes between themselves the night before with Man. Utd and Leeds fighting at Manchester Airport and Oldham and Leeds fighting in Parnell Street. A few of the English hoolie memoirs have given their side, there’s been very few realistic accounts from the Irish side. Suffice to say the atmosphere was mad and I remember tons of monkey chanting at Paul Ince from the ‘greatest fans in the world’.
BH, excellent contribution, thanks.
That’s shocking re: Paul Ince. I’ve heard that said once or twice before, I wonder if it was documented anywhere at the time?
Anti Fascist Action wrote about it at the time. Hundreds of people must have heard the chanting. If it had been the English fans the papers would have been full of it.
I was there at the Lansdowne Road end. So many memories. I remember on the way in as we crossed the DART line. Some real hard looking English skinheads were just standing at the turnstile giving the evil eye to the crowd passing by. One Irish bloke beside me, I reckon all his history and heart just welled up and out of him, cos he just saw them and went straight for one of the English skins. Yer English bloke must have been well on cos he barely moved and the Irish lad smacked him a nice right to the jaw. The cops just stood there. I normally don’t approve of that kind of behaviour but I was proud of our lad at the time. His mates ran over to him but they weren’t quick enough. When they rejoined the crowd, I heard: “Where’s Mickser?” “He got lagged.”
I was told by a neighbour of a well-known Finglas Shinner at the time – a witness in the Black Widow case, yer wan allegedly tried to procure him to do the evil deed – that he (the Shinner) was working on security for the FAI on the night. The next night the Herald had a photo of him bursting a poor Englishman which made said Shinner the toast of Finglas.
Reblogged this on seachranaidhe1.