Ireland v England 1995

depechemode wrote: We Defo had a chance to win euro 92. We were robbed in qualification but jammy lineaker and England always did enough. Isn't it sad to see how far we have dropped now. I was at Wembley in 91 and will never forget that miss by Houghton that would have won it. Beating England at Wembley would have been huge for Jack Great memories all the same

Still it was some night all the same

We Defo had a chance to win euro 92. We were robbed in qualification but jammy lineaker and England always did enough. Isn't it sad to see how far we have dropped now.
I was at Wembley in 91 and will never forget that miss by Houghton that would have won it. Beating England at Wembley would have been huge for Jack
Great memories all the same

George Zip wrote: Alright lads first time posting but a long time lurker on the forum. I was on the North Terrace in 1990 and I remember the Mars bars etc being thrown at Gazza. Also does anyone remember the old lad in the top hat and tails who followed England all over the world? Somebody milled him with an apple or an orange from the north terrace. I wasn't in town after the game but lads I worked with at the time told me it was fairly dodgy. Didn't the English attack pubs in Kilburn in 1991 prior to the return fixture at Wembley in revenge? Was on the south terrace in 1995 and it was a venomous atmosphere, both anthems booed, Paul Ince getting monkey chants. Was brilliant though giving the brits the fingers in the West Upper when Kelly scored! The Guards should have been better prepared though because there was trouble between rival english firms in Abbey street and Marlborough street the night before the game. The London Irish fanzine "On the One Road" had decent articles after both games.

Only seeing this post now. Don't remember any monkey chants at Ince but I guess it's possible disgrace if true.

Re the trouble in Kilburn, I don't know about 91 but I was living in London in 90 and there was trouble after the 1 all draw, gang of English lads came down looking for Irish fans and battering a few lads caught on their own, remember one lad got f**ked through a plate glass window of a laundrette...

The Huntacha wrote: Shedite wrote: Junior wrote: Sham157 wrote: Junior wrote: Was it not Dessie Ellis getting extradited that day? 14th Nov 1990 was Dessie's extradition day, havent cheked if the dates coincide Yeah it was alright. www.youtube.com/watch?v=frUEfTtY0BY I feel drunk watching that That crowd

From the Spanish game in 89 through to the end of the euro 92 campaign Lansdowne was something else for home games. Think we actually had a 94 qualifier before Euro 92 (Albania I think) which was the last qualifier before the bucket seats came in and put the capacity down 20k and killed the atmosphere to a large degree. That Albania qualifier was weird as the back pass rule hadn't come in yet but was in for the rest of the campaign. The atmosphere in the Euro 88 campaign wasn't great as we'd had 2 fairly uninspiring nil all draws v Belgium and Scotland and had also gone one down at home to Luxembourg before coming back to win 2-1. Tickets were still easy to come by back then as well, we only got 17k for the game v Brazil halfway through the campaign on a Saturday evening for example.

But post the Euros the crowds had come back and the atmosphere at the likes of the Spain and NI games were savage. But that England game was something else, Lansdowne was a real fortress by then and even after Platt scored we never really thought we'd lose. Was on the usual spot on the South for that one and you can see the mayhem when Cas equalised, bedlam on the terrace and then everyone to a man turns to the west upper and a huge chant of "YOU'LL NEVER BEAT THE IRISH!!" rang out as a shower of coins and lighters rained down, very different times. Euro 92 was the peak of that team, still gutted we blew qualification away to Poland, really think we'd a good shot at winning the tournament had we gone, we were easily the equal of Denmark as shown in the world cup qualifiers for 94, chance missed.

Edited by Drumcondra 69er - 22 Jan 2015 at 6:47pm

Junior wrote: Cabra Hoop wrote: Just looked at the RTE 9 O'Clock News from the night of the game on youtube, a 60 year old man died at the match from a Heart Attack and an English fella was stabbed.    The '95 game? If so, I stand corrected, didnt realise there were any casualties as such on the night. English Fella stabbed at the ground or in the town?

Did'nt say but she was talking about events in LR....have a look yourself.

I was at the '91 game with my Dad but was in the Irish section so it was grand. I remeber going to the U21 match the night before in Brentford. England beat us 3-0, I think Roy Keane was the captain that night. Anyway, we got some hassle on the bus that night off a couple of arseholes. I was only 8 years old, there must have been some hatred for peolple to start abusing a man going to a football match with his 8 year old son.

Just looked at the RTE 9 O'Clock News from the night of the game on youtube, a 60 year old man died at the match from a Heart Attack and an English fella was stabbed.

Drumcondra 69er wrote: t_rAndy wrote: Was on the north terrace. No trouble my way but learned later there was a crush as people made their way for the exit and how it was lucky no one was seriously injured or worse I couldn't get a south terrace ticket that night so was on the north. Cabra Hoop touches on what happened underneath but it rarely gets reported as the main trouble was obviously down the other end. What happened was that the English had a limited number of terrace tickets and had been housed in the old schoolboy pen on the north terrace over to the right as you look out to the pitch. The place was hopping that night, we were flying at the time and England hadn't yet had a competitive game since 93 and hadn't really found their feet under Vemables. Atmosphere was a proper old school football atmosphere that might walking up to the ground, bit of an edge despite it being a friendly but really good, everyone well up for it and very confident. Anyway game started and we were right on it, dominating the game, McGrath absolutely bossing Shearer and we were well worth the lead, place erupted when Kelly scored. Then they broke and had a goal rightly disallowed for offside, think it was Platt. They'd been waiting for a spark in the East Upper and that was it, next thing all hell broke loose, seats ripped up etc. We'd seen scenes like that involving England over the years although never over here but still thought the Gardai would sort it out and the game would resume even after the players went off but they were woefully undermanned and ill prepared. People always talk about the English being put in the East Upper as being an idiotic idea but that oversimplifies it. They were there for the Euro qualifier in 90 as well and other than a shower of lighters and coins on us in the south terrace there was no trouble in the ground because that section had a ring of uniformed Guards around them and as soon as anyone acted up they either had a quiet word in their ear or were collared. Difference in 95 was that, due to the peace process and ongoing IRA ceasefire, a decision was made to have a lower key police presence so while I believe there were plenty of plain clothes Guards in there, that was no deterrent to anyone so things escalated very quickly beyond those who had come to start it. Anyway, we were waiting on the North for the Guards to regain control but it soon became clear this wouldn't happen. Next thing there's an announcement for Ireland fans to leave the stadium as the game was being abandoned. When the stewards started unlocking gates one of them opened the gate to the schoolboy pen by mistake and the English in there burst out and ran around under the terrace to the exit people were leaving through that also led to the pitch. There were Irish lads on the top of the terrace could see over the wall and saw these English rushing through the crowd swinging boots and digs under the terrace and started shouting "Get back, get back!!" at us. We were close to the exit at the stage and next thing there's a huge surge back and a gang of English burst through screaming "ENGLAND, ENGLAND!" still swinging and kicking, they ran onto the pitch and straight down to where the trouble was. I was literally picked off my feet in the surge and moved back about 10 feet or more, hard to tell. Was lucky no one went over or it could have been a lot worse. Total buzz kill on the night though, reckon we'd have beaten them 2 or 3 that night. 90 was different, nothing in the ground but mayhem on O'Connell St after, ended up holed up in the Daniel O'Connell beside the bridge till closing, tried to leave between 6 and 7 and was stopped doing so so settled in for the evening!

Junior wrote: Drumcondra 69er wrote: t_rAndy wrote: Was on the north terrace. No trouble my way but learned later there was a crush as people made their way for the exit and how it was lucky no one was seriously injured or worse I couldn't get a south terrace ticket that night so was on the north. Cabra Hoop touches on what happened underneath but it rarely gets reported as the main trouble was obviously down the other end. What happened was that the English had a limited number of terrace tickets and had been housed in the old schoolboy pen on the north terrace over to the right as you look out to the pitch. The place was hopping that night, we were flying at the time and England hadn't yet had a competitive game since 93 and hadn't really found their feet under Vemables. Atmosphere was a proper old school football atmosphere that might walking up to the ground, bit of an edge despite it being a friendly but really good, everyone well up for it and very confident. Anyway game started and we were right on it, dominating the game, McGrath absolutely bossing Shearer and we were well worth the lead, place erupted when Kelly scored. Then they broke and had a goal rightly disallowed for offside, think it was Platt. They'd been waiting for a spark in the East Upper and that was it, next thing all hell broke loose, seats ripped up etc. We'd seen scenes like that involving England over the years although never over here but still thought the Gardai would sort it out and the game would resume even after the players went off but they were woefully undermanned and ill prepared. People always talk about the English being put in the East Upper as being an idiotic idea but that oversimplifies it. They were there for the Euro qualifier in 90 as well and other than a shower of lighters and coins on us in the south terrace there was no trouble in the ground because that section had a ring of uniformed Guards around them and as soon as anyone acted up they either had a quiet word in their ear or were collared. Difference in 95 was that, due to the peace process and ongoing IRA ceasefire, a decision was made to have a lower key police presence so while I believe there were plenty of plain clothes Guards in there, that was no deterrent to anyone so things escalated very quickly beyond those who had come to start it. Anyway, we were waiting on the North for the Guards to regain control but it soon became clear this wouldn't happen. Next thing there's an announcement for Ireland fans to leave the stadium as the game was being abandoned. When the stewards started unlocking gates one of them opened the gate to the schoolboy pen by mistake and the English in there burst out and ran around under the terrace to the exit people were leaving through that also led to the pitch. There were Irish lads on the top of the terrace could see over the wall and saw these English rushing through the crowd swinging boots and digs under the terrace and started shouting "Get back, get back!!" at us. We were close to the exit at the stage and next thing there's a huge surge back and a gang of English burst through screaming "ENGLAND, ENGLAND!" still swinging and kicking, they ran onto the pitch and straight down to where the trouble was. I was literally picked off my feet in the surge and moved back about 10 feet or more, hard to tell. Was lucky no one went over or it could have been a lot worse. Total buzz kill on the night though, reckon we'd have beaten them 2 or 3 that night. 90 was different, nothing in the ground but mayhem on O'Connell St after, ended up holed up in the Daniel O'Connell beside the bridge till closing, tried to leave between 6 and 7 and was stopped doing so so settled in for the evening! You paint a vivid picture D69. Very scary I'd imagine. I'd be going to games about 2 years at that point from Manchester and although I desperately wanted to get over for the game in '95, myself and my mate decided to give it a miss so that we could go to the qualifier the following month against the Nordies (1-1 game). I was only earning about £50 a week at the time and as it was I was subbing off my ma and da left right and centre to get to the home games, so squeezing in another friendly wasn't really an option. As horrible as those scenes were, I'd be lying if I didn't say a part of me wishes I had made it over to the game. Its part of Irish footballing history and will be talked of forever more. Probably went to 90% of home and away games in the next 10 years so it just feels a bit odd, that I didn't get to it. Still. its in the record books as a 1-0 win (afaik?) and thankfully no one was permanently injured or worse.

I think it was the beginning of the end for Jack's team, we had a great 1-0 home victory against Portugal the following month and thought the bandwagon was rolling again but then laboured to a 1-1 draw at home to the nordies before the Lichtenstein debacle and the Austria farce. I'd gone to Australia on a year's working holiday visa not long after the draw with the north so I'd have done my year and would be back in time to stop off in England for the Euros on the way home in Summer 96 but was only over there a matter of months and the whole campaign had fallen apart. Best laid plans and all that!

Edited by Drumcondra 69er - 22 Jan 2015 at 10:56am