The 1995 riot at Lansdowne Road marked the end of a short, glorious era in Irish soccer when victories – actual or moral – over England were almost routine. It had started in Stuttgart seven years earlier with a famous 1-0 win. After that came three 1-1 draws in quick succession: at Italia 90, then home and away during the 1992 Euro qualifiers.
In all three drawn games Ireland came from behind to snatch parity, which made it feel like winning. This was the period that spawned the chant “You’ll never beat the Irish”: perhaps the only song in international football history to celebrate the avoidance of defeat.
For the 27 minutes the 1995 game lasted, however, it looked like being a return to the glory of Stuttgart, albeit that this was a mere friendly. Before the match unsung Irish striker David Kelly had backed himself to score (not many others did) at 9-1. He duly obliged and Ireland were deservedly in front when a section of the visiting supporters decreed that the game wouldn't finish.
Flying piece of chair
Trouble simmered for a while following the goal. Then from a section of the Upper West Stand bits of ripped-out stadium furniture started raining onto the pitch. Five minutes after he scored Kelly was almost hit by a flying piece of chair.
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In the chaos at least 50 people were injured, more than 20 of them needing hospital treatment. A Daily Star photographer was among those hit on the head. A Waterford man in his 60s made it out of the stadium safely but then suffered a heart attack and died.
Whether the progress of the match had any influence on the events was very debatable. In a public row later gardaí said they had passed on British police intelligence to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), warning that members of the National Front were travelling to Dublin intent on trouble. The FAI said it had heard this only minutes before the game.
The “serious information gap” was exacerbated by a failure to segregate fans. Yet both FAI and Garda could point to the 1990 Euro qualifier between the teams in Dublin which was well-behaved. This and a recent waning of English hooliganism might have created a sense of security.
Innocent English fans were caught up in the violence too. One man told reporters he had foreseen trouble when the treatment he and his fellow travellers were by then used to – being escorted straight from the airport or ferry terminal to the ground and back again – didn’t happen on their arrival here.
“You don’t like [that], but it stops the animals,” he said. “Today our fans were all over town. Drinking and having fun. We saw some fights in Dublin. We walked out here. There were blokes drunk all over. We couldn’t believe it ...”
The hands-off approach to policing did not survive the match and gardaí in riot gear more than made up for it afterwards. Some Irish fans sang Come on you boys in blue as the troublemakers were belatedly dealt with outside the stadium.
There were a few skirmishes later at the ferry port in Dún Laoghaire. And in a bizarre postscript to the night's events, a reporter with the Daily Mirror claimed to have been bitten on the nose by the then Wimbledon footballer Vinnie Jones during post-match drinks at a Dublin hotel. But by 10.30pm most English fans had already been escorted out of the city.
Hosting rights
While the Garda and FAI exchanged blame for the debacle, questions were also raised about whether England should retain hosting rights for the 1996 European Championships. Writing in this paper, Mark Lawrenson was among those who argued they should not. In the event, the tournament did go ahead in England without major problems.
There were no big consequences for the FAI either except that lucrative challenge games against England were off the menu.
It would take 18 years, including a peace process, Northern powersharing, rugby in Croke Par, and reciprocal visits by the President and queen, before it was deemed safe for Ireland to resume playing soccer friendlies against the old enemy.
