Saturday 6 June 2015 11:19, UK
Irish Police expect a “party atmosphere” in Dublin as up to 5,000 England supporters arrive for the first time since 1995.
England travel to the Republic of Ireland, two decades after serious crowd trouble, involving away fans, forced the game to be abandoned.
Police officers say there are no specific threats of trouble as travelling supporters join traditional weekend stag and hen parties in the city’s busiest streets.
“It is a significant operation.” Garda Síochána Chief Superintendent Francis Clerkin told Sky Sports News HQ on the eve of the international. “Our officers on the streets will be backed up by specialist units including plain clothed people working on surveillance with football spotters from the UK. They will work in the city centre to identity anyone who has the potential to cause trouble. But this is a friendly game and I have nothing to indicate it will be anything other than that.”
The Football Association has urged England fans to ‘show respect’ to rival supporters after FIFA expressed concerns about anti-IRA chanting in recent internationals.
Police have held talks with stadium officials and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) about the issue.
“We are concerned about it.” said Clerkin. “There’s absolutely no need to do it. I would encourage rivals fans to have singing competitions, rather than chanting. If it becomes problematic, I have a number of options available to me. We have been in discussions with the Aviva Stadium and the FAI, who also have a number of options available to them, but I don’t think it is appropriate to discuss them on camera.”
Garda Síochána never discloses a specific number of police officers involved in any football operation, and senior officers remain confident that no known troublemakers will travel for the game.
Members of the FA-run England Supporters Travel Club are the only visiting fans able to purchase tickets, and will be required to collect them in Dublin with valid photo ID.
“There is absolutely no intelligence to indicate there is any hint of any organised violence surrounding this match.” said Clerkin. “I’m not concerned there will be any organised trouble. Obviously, with a match of this size, there may be incidents. But I am quite happy we have significant numbers of uniformed guards who can deal with any incident that may arise.”
UK police have provided intelligence on England fans, with officers monitoring lists of passengers travelling by air and sea.
5,000 England fans are expected in Dublin this weekend, including 2,000 supporters who do not have match tickets.
“I would advise them not to come to the stadium, or get close, without a ticket.” warned Clerkin. “They should come and enjoy the city, but watch the game in a pub, or bar, and enjoy it. Our strategy will be soft to begin with but we can harden it up quite quickly should we need to. But I don’t see why we would need to.”
In 1995, seats were ripped up, missiles thrown and supporters battled with police.
Fans fled onto the pitch as police and stewards struggled to control the violence.
Forty arrests were made, and it emerged the violence had been orchestrated by a specific group.
“There have been lots of lessons learned.” explained Clerkin. “The political situation has changed, and our policing methods have improved beyond recognition, as they have across Europe since the 1990s. We are far better trained, far better equipped and, dare I say, far more tolerant and better able to deal with situations such as those that arose at Lansdowne Road. The dynamic of stadium allocation has changed totally, so (travelling) fans won’t be overlooking other fans.”
England drew 1-1 with the Republic of Ireland at Wembley stadium, in May 2013, without any major incident.
