Ireland Vs England 95 Documentry RTE Monday

[Neish]

There is a documentry (Monday RTE 1 7:30) about the infamous Ireland Vs England game in 1995 when the game was abandoned after a section of Engalnd fans started rioting.

[Thunderblaster]

Probably the worst ever handling of crowd disturbance by the police. There was a 40 minute wait before the riot squad with little truncheons moved in. Every other country would initiate a rapid response, but, as we saw in Ghana in 2001, that went over the top in the Hearts of Oak V Asante Kotoko game when the police fired tear gas into the crowd.

[theworm2345]

I have a small video with David Kelly's goal and the English riotting if anyone would like to see it
http://theworm2345.footballclips.net...ad%20Riot.mpeg

[Neish]

Probably the worst ever handling of crowd disturbance by the police. There was a 40 minute wait before the riot squad with little truncheons moved in.

They were sent to the wrong gate at the other end of the stadium and had to climb over some gates to get to the right area.

Whoever put the england fans above the Irish fans must of been a complete idiot. The englsih football intelligence had warned the Garda that known football holligans were travelling.

[stann]

I was at that game and to say there was an air of brewing trouble in the run-up to kick-off is putting it mildly. Even when one English lunatic (wittily enough in fairness) started conducting the garda band there was a sense that things might easily get out of hand, and they soon did.
I still remember the panic on the faces of the people surging towards us in the centre of the old stand, away from the trouble. One older guy really looked like he was having a coronary. That was a bit scary.
There were a few funny incidents though. Remember goin out under the stand stand past a minibus load of tooled up riot cops ready to bate some sassenach heads, and the van was labelled 'Community Care Unit' or something similar.
Also remember on the TV reports later seeing a steward (not a guard I don't think) who'd gotten hold of a baton or stick and was in the middle of the English fans with a six foot circle of empty space around him, and he'd make a manic swipe at anyone who stuck their head into the circle.
And, of course, in the pub later hearing that the furkers were beat all the way back to Dun Laoghaire!
Shouldn't laugh, I know, not big or clever, but...

Bloody hell, though, 12 years!

[Jerry The Saint]

Anyone remember being in a crowd walking across the pitch towards the East Stand when a shout goes up that the English had come down from the upper deck and were 'running' us - few people start legging it, vaulting over fences etc to get away before looking back to see that nothing of the sort was happening

Another moment I remember was the rumour on the night that the photgrapher that was stretched out hadn't been hit by something thrown from the Upper West Stand he himself had been thrown from the Upper West Stand!

David Platt attempting to calm the animals down by mistakenly thinking they'd have any respect for him before heading away as he realised he could easily get nailed by a seat himself.

Whatever happened to the guy that was running the FAI security that night...?

[Thunderblaster]

I watched the programme and, surprise surprise, that haunted, frightened looking face of James Eager popped up. Well, at least Mr. Eager is happy with himself now with his rock band but it is one image that would always be stuck on your mind from the riot. The sentences issued by the courts were totally lenient. Six months in jail plus a banning order for life from football matches and entering Ireland should have been issued. Mr. Eglington was a lucky man that night with the camera. The ineptude at the time was pretty glaring and what happened that evening should have never gone beyond the planning stages. The hooligans knew themselves that we would be a soft touch.

[stann]

The ineptude at the time was pretty glaring and what happened that evening should have never gone beyond the planning stages. The hooligans knew themselves that we would be a soft touch.

Hard to argue with that in many ways, Thunderblaster, but it is also an easy argument to make in hindsight. Despite it not sounding much of an excuse, the truth is it's very hard to prepare for something that we had absolutely no experience of over here, no matter how many times it was seen in other countries. By that I mean organised and determined Combat 18 style hooliganism, not the amateur hour stuff we had here in the seventies.
If the cops and the FAI were ready and had all those measures in place in that era we'd have been cribbing about draconian and totally over the top stewarding and policing.
It seems to be the way of things that proper preventative measures always seem excessive until you experience what they're trying to prevent, whether it be crowd control, health and safety at work, or whatever.
I'm kind of on the side of going through life looking over your shoulder as little as you can, not changing your ways to 'accomodate' these scum, even though this occasionally leaves you open to an organised attempt at c*ntery like that was.

[A face]

Whatever happened to the guy that was running the FAI security that night...?

Who was it ??

[Jamjar]

In fairness to the brits, at least they demolished Lansdowne quicker than the current builders.

[A face]

In fairness to the brits, at least they demolished Lansdowne quicker than the current builders.

Hah ha ... true for ya !!!

[soccerc]

Who was it ??

Bernard O'Byrne

[SÓC]

Six months in jail plus a banning order for life from football matches and entering Ireland should have been issued.

Problem was we had no such banning order law, nor did we have an agreement with the Birts at the time for offences in Ireland being included in their system.

The Judge sentencing them basically said that he was not happy to send these yobs to jail in Ireland for six months at the cost of £100 per day to the Irish tax payers. He noted how the British press had hounded many of the English hooligans and outted them in the national press. Most lost their jobs because of it. I think the expression he used was something like "You've shamed yourselves, your families and your flag"

The general agreement was that we need our own banning orders and increased regulation of football stadia by the Government...bt of course nothing was done