New thread as the last thread seems to be broken.
Were you at the Ireland England match in 95 ?
Stick them behind nets like the Irish fans were in Hungary or tell the guards to actually do their jobs and police away fans rather than just showing up for the overtime so they can get paid to watch a match.
An investigation after the riots showed things could have been prevented if the guards didn't do such a subpar job leading up to the game which included refusing the help of the National Criminal Intelligence Service in Britain and failed to act on information about Combat 18 travelling to Ireland to cause violence at the match.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/irish-police-did-not-accept-help-1614349.html
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/25/england-ireland-1995-rioting-international
It's more than likely this. When the policing plan is put together for these things its all about safety first. The guards dont give a monkeys about vibes in the stadium; they're focus is keeping people safe.
The FAI just need to change their set of requirements when talking to the guards next time. I doubt it will happen in time for the play offs.
if you put the away section beside the home section you have to kill seats. Killing seats mean less revenue. FAI need revenue. Doubt anything will change
Doesn't having away fans in a prominent place actually add to the atmosphere, no ?
When your team are struggling against opposition they should be beating, and you look down one end of the Aviva and their fans are singing wildly and having a great time, it tends to kill the atmosphere somewhat. We've been in that situation a fair bit in recent years.
In recent years at Lansdowne/Aviva, I've found that it's what's happening on the pitch that kills the atmosphere, not what's happening off it.
It's been a few days since we've had a repost of Parrot's goal so here's one that Facebook suggested to me. Sorry, can't find it anywhere else.
Very impressive jump by Scales in slo-mo. The deftness of the header. As soon as he's glanced it, watching Parrot to see if he's getting on it. The tension on the keeper's face coming out, the foot coming up, the team's release afterwards…
https://www.facebook.com/reel/831595492981435
Great to see things going well for connolly. Looking very lively and confident from the bits I've seen. No reason he shouldn't get a call up either. Wales have league 1 players in their squad.
Aaron drinan top scorer in league 2 also
he has a skill set that’s not hugely visible in our other players.
So its Group A?
Yeah. Mexico, South Korea and South Africa. Decent group and extra incentive although I assume our group games will be in Mexico now.
It's coming home 🇮🇪
first game vs South Korea
V Mexico will be in Florida I'd assume, midday kickoff too with white baseball caps for any redheads ala Stan in 1994
We can get 4 points between South Korea and South Africa. Write off the game against Mexico.
It's time to get ahead of ourselves.
I'm calling it…
Czechia 0 Ireland 0 (Ireland win 4-5 on pens) Ireland 1 Denmark 0 South Korea 1 Ireland 1 Mexico 2 Ireland 1 South Africa 0 Ireland 1 That works for me.
There's always one who makes mad predictions like this.
It'll be 5 points
Yes, let's go nuts.
Ireland Argentina final and a great half time show
Johnny and Donny will have to change the KO time for that game v Argentina because it will clash with the Hurling final.
Two would be in Mexico, according to Wikipedia. The 1st and the 3rd. 2nd is in Atlanta, Georgia.
Last multi-country WC was the last one Ireland qualified for (lucky omen?). Ireland's group games were all in Japan. Path D Winner v. South Africa would be the only game in that group to be held in the U.S. . Just another entry in the book of logistical fckups that should be written about the 2026 World Cup.
Feck it I'm starting to believe!
Ireland V Portugal final and Ronnie gets sent off again.
2 outdoor games in Mexico in mid summer is bad for us. Will be worse than Orlando and you'll also have altitude. Also wont have the 'home' support you"d expect in e.g. NY or Boston.
Would orefer to play in Canada or NE USA.
Playing Mexico at the Azteca in a World Cup is the stuff of dreams but we would need minimum of 4 points going into it given the home and altitude advantage the Mexicans would have. It's not the heat it's the altitude that concerns me. Guadalajara slightly better but still at a high altitude.
...a massive help would be if they closed the roof in Atlanta.
Sure 3pts would get us through, maybe even 2 as 8/12 3rd place teams will get through.
Just on the altitude thing, we would probably base ourselves in a high altitude training camp and be well acclimated by the time the game rolls around. It's not like we would be flying in for a day or two and actually might benefit us later.
I don’t see a scenario where Ronaldo gets a red in any game in the World Cup. If you were a VAR official you would be sh*tting it if there was a decision to be made or reviewed. Probably have Infantino over your shoulder in some capacity.
It’s bad when they don’t even try to hide the corruption. As others have said , it felt like the end of blatter would lead to better , who’d of thought a different kind of gangster clown would take over.
We need to get there first, which is a tall order, before worrying about heat and altitude.
3 points would probarbly be enough I'd guess.
True. I put up a smartass post about a Portugal US final. That was obviously a joke. Seeing the love in between Trump and Infantino got me thinking about the Korea V Italy match in 2002 when Italy were completely robbed. I don't want to sound like conspiracy stuff but I wouldn't be surprised if the US went very far in the WC and some poor ref decisions in their favour.
