REPRESENTATIVES OF the Dáil were beaten 4-1 by their English counterparts in a football match which took place in north London in June 1978.
The Irish team, who wore white socks, white shorts and green jerseys, were flown over and stayed at the Tara Hotel at the expense of the British foreign office.
The team included three rising stars of Irish political life, a future taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, future minister for foreign affairs Michael O'Kennedy and future Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny.
The match was organised by Senator Trevor West, a professor of mathematics at Trinity College Dublin and his friend, Bernard Donoughue, senior policy adviser to the British prime minister.
The match was tightly contested until the Irish tired in the second half. Donoughue has since described how he marked Ahern. "You marked me for life!", Ahern told him, when they met years later.
There was some consternation among the players when a drinks party at the Irish Embassy ended at 8pm. However the teams returned to the Tara and stayed up drinking until the early hours of the following morning. It was a highlight in a difficult year for Anglo-Irish relations.
JOHN BEW