Lessons from a night of shame for England.
“We didn’t f*cking start it, the f*cking Irish did.” So shouted an England supporter at me and others in the press box at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, on February 15, 1995 as rioting fans forced the friendly’s abandonment. He was talking nonsense, of course, a slur on the peaceful hosts, a reality confirmed when the thug tried to kick a police dog as he ran off. Missiles were thrown, and the Republic’s manager, Jack Charlton, an England legend, was assailed with chants of “Judas” by the travelling mob. It was a night of total shame for England.
The riot was caused by a large right-wing element of England fans, including Combat 18. The FA hardly covered itself in glory by failing to apologise swiftly to their gracious Irish hosts, who kept saying “don’t worry, it’s only a few idiots”. Sadly, it wasn’t. It was thousands of English hooligans - how weird it’s an Irish word after the fictional Irish Hooligan family based in London - inebriated on beer and right-wing dogma.
Tension had been building for 24 hours and some England fans came into the press hotel looking “for the Guardian”. Its reporter was a very mild-mannered man, a beautiful writer, but they just wanted to hammer anyone representing a viewpoint that ran counter to theirs.