Republic of Ireland V England - Sunday 7th June 2015 - Friendly

**Stuttgart88** · 02/04/2015, 6:19 PM

Fair play to Hodgson

**DannyInvincible** · 03/04/2015, 1:25 AM

I agree. Fair play to Hodgson. Just to clarify, I've not remotely suggested he or anyone who points out the chanting is over-reacting. There's a big difference between Hodgson condemning the chanting due to its potentially offensive nature to Irish people generally (he's right to do so) and the Independent exploiting it to spread alarm with vague claims of "fears growing" as a result. Fears of what are growing exactly? I can only assume they were hinting at fears of trouble or violence, as they don't go into any great detail. I don't envisage there to be any trouble. There was no trouble at the Wembley meeting, security will be tight and there was no trouble when England played Scotland recently either. I think the FA have worked hard to stamp out the active and hardcore hooligan element that followed England.

**Gather round** · 03/04/2015, 8:46 AM

Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

the Independent exploiting it to spread alarm with vague claims of "fears growing" as a result. Fears of what are growing exactly? I can only assume they were hinting at fears of trouble or violence, as they don't go into any great detail. I don't envisage there to be any trouble

The Indy are puffing up a pretty small beer story.

I agree, there's little likelihood of a riot. The 'fear' is more of embarrassment. The English tab media know that some of their fans will try to provoke, as they did in Scotland and Italy. So they'll encourage them, and at the same time present it as anti-IRA England fans respond to pro-IRA FAI chief, or similar

**Stuttgart88** · 03/04/2015, 8:50 AM

Those Polish neo-nazis were scary. Then I woke up.

**Eminence Grise** · 03/04/2015, 11:00 AM

The Indo is little more than a tabloid rag masquerading as a newspaper. They were the only source bleating about hooligan trouble at the Poland game - a story so short they had to link it to English hooligans and even the Landsdowne riot. If you were ever in doubt, their coverage of this story compared with RTE and the Irish Times would tell you how low they'll stoop to scaremonger. (In fairness, this would have been a tough editorial call - should they have a go at the public service worker, and keep up their proud DOB-inspired tradition, or go for the scumbag?)

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-31115506.html
http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0403/691...ter-car-theft/
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime...ital-1.2163386

**BonnieShels** · 03/04/2015, 11:25 AM

Store St/Railway Road?

Was he driving to the cop shop or what? Madness.

But yeah, Info is a rag and a half.

**TheOneWhoKnocks** · 13/05/2015, 11:11 PM

Hopefully this will learn them...

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-31219670.html

Any association whose supporters are found guilty of such behaviour faces sanctions that range from a fine of �20,000 all the way up to disqualification from a competition.

Many of the 2,000 England fans in Turin in March sang the anti-IRA chants during their 1-1 draw with Italy, a particular concern with England playing in Dublin on June 7 for the first time since a Lansdowne Road friendly was abandoned following a riot organised by right-wing England fans here in 1995.

**DannyInvincible** · 13/05/2015, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by Independent.ie

England could face 2018 World Cup ban for fans' anti-IRA chant

That sounds like an insanely sensationalist headline. What regulation/initiative are they referring to?

**tetsujin1979** · 21/05/2015, 11:34 AM

England squad announced: http://www.thefa.com/news/england/20...eland-slovenia

Goalkeepers
Robert Green (Queens Park Rangers), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Tom Heaton (Burnley)

Defenders
Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Chris Smalling (Manchester United)

Midfielders
Ross Barkley (Everton), Fabian Delph (Aston Villa), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), Ryan Mason (Tottenham Hotspur), James Milner (Manchester City), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Andros Townsend (Tottenham Hotspur), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

Forwards
Charlie Austin (Queens Park Rangers), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Jamie Vardy (Leicester City), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal)

**Stuttgart88** · 21/05/2015, 12:25 PM

No Grealish?

Sorry, I'll give myself a voluntary ban.

**nigel-harps1954** · 21/05/2015, 1:23 PM

Couple of unexpected omissions there. Danny Rose, Michael Carrick and Stewart Downing would probably have expected a place in the squad with a couple of players missing through injury and under-21 squad.

**DeLorean** · 21/05/2015, 1:48 PM

Carrick is injured himself.

**zero** · 21/05/2015, 8:20 PM

i don't know what other people think but i'd prefer we didn't have this game. because it's england and because of what happened the last time the came over there's a bit more to it than a normal friendly. it's a distraction we could do without. i sort of feel there's an element that would place this above the scotland game in importance - i hope i'm wrong.

**IsMiseSean** · 21/05/2015, 9:08 PM

Anyone who places this game above the Scotland game I wouldn't consider them a fan. I agree with being a distraction, I'd prefer if we were having a warm up against someone with a lesser reputation

**DeLorean** · 21/05/2015, 9:52 PM

Yeah it's a strange one. Maybe Scotland did it the right way by having it the other way around. That said, maybe a friendly match with an automatic intensity is the perfect preparation for the Scotland game, especially given the usual going through the motions feel to games this time of year. Obviously anybody with the slightest appreciation for the bigger picture will realise the Scotland game absolutely dwarfs it in terms of importance and the players and management certainly will, which is all that matters really.

**DannyInvincible** · 22/05/2015, 1:50 AM

Originally Posted by zero

i sort of feel there's an element that would place this above the scotland game in importance - i hope i'm wrong.

Some people's priorities are utterly warped.

It's the NI training match for which I'm on the edge of my seat!

**Gather round** · 22/05/2015, 7:30 AM

Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

Some people's priorities are utterly warped.

It's the NI training match for which I'm on the edge of my seat!

Josh 'Captain Caveman' Magennis warms up for the fray:

"Qatar? The Free State? Romania? All on the list, but first I have to beat up my team-mates!"

**jbyrne** · 22/05/2015, 9:19 AM

Originally Posted by IsMiseSean

I'd prefer if we were having a warm up against someone with a lesser reputation

don't agree. many of our players wont have kicked a ball in weeks before the two upcoming matches. in that case there is no point playing a half paced friendly that would inevitably happen against most of the countries willing to play us. the fact that its England we are playing might make it a bit more competitive and therefore more useful with Scotland the week after