Glasgow Celtic have given the FAI a helping hand as the association attempts to turn Lansdowne Road into a match day "fortress".
FAI chief executive Fran Rooney was so overwhelmed by the travelling Celtic faithful in Seville at the UEFA Cup final he attended last month that he met Celtic officials last week to swap ideas on developing fan involvement in the game.
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Rooney will meet brothers Tony and Mike Hamilton, match event producers at Celtic Park, tomorrow to "learn from their experiences" in helping to improve the match day package.
However, it was supporters of home-based eircom League clubs that first approached Rooney with their ideas, a move the Dubliner has embraced.
"We want to plug into the tremendous enthusiasm of these fans to raise the temperature for the international matches," he said today.
"Like most eircom League fans, I've experienced the colour and noise which now exists at domestic matches every week and the challenge now is to actively help these supporters to create a fever-pitch atmosphere at Landsdowne Road".
Manager Brian Kerr himself made a plea to supporters to generate more fanfare from the terraces prior to his home debut in April. But as one Shamrock Rovers fan observed at today's press conference: "Lansdowne has a bad atmosphere, it's more fun going to an eircom League game".
Similar sentiments expressed by fans over recent weeks spurred Rooney into action and the association have drawn up the following initiatives to spark Lansdowne Road into life ahead of Saturday's Euro 2004 qualifier with Albania and the meeting of Georgia on Wednesday week.
The FAI will:
- Make available 1,500 north terrace tickets for eircom League supporters.
- Provide 22 large Ireland tricolours, one for each eircom League club.
- Distribute 50 extra Ireland flags to eircom League supporters.
- Provide 40,000 green cards to supporters to create more colour.
- Unfurl a giant three-piece tricolour donated by the City of Izumo at last year's World Cup finals.
- Develop a new programme of music.
Further measures include a fans' forum in the hope of establishing better contact between the FAI and eircom League clubs. There are also suggestions of forming a fans' band.