Come Here To Me!

This Irish Times photo shows Shamrock Rovers fans outside Milltown Road following the 1-1 draw in Dublin that saw Rovers knocked out of European football in 1984.

The visit of Belfast’s Linfield to Milltown Road to face Shamrock Rovers in a European Champions Cup clash in 1984 was one of the largest football related security operations in the history of the state. The two-leg draw between the Belfast and Dublin sides made headlines on both sides of the border before a ball had been kicked, with The Irish Times report on the drawing of the two clubs together noting that it was the “spectre of the collision of the Orange and Green” that marked the draw out.

Much of the fear around the class had come out of events in Dundalk in August 1979, when Linfield and Dundalk faced each other at Oriel Park. Almost 500 Gardaí were involved in policing that encounter, and journalist Peter Byrne wrote after the clash that “this was the night when the concept of All-Ireland club football was killed stone dead. Two hours of raw, naked tribalism on the terraces of Oriel Park convinced even the most reformist among us that the dark gospel of the paramilitaries has permeated Irish sport to the point where all attempts at reconciliation are futile.”

Prior to the first round clash at Windsor Park in Belfast, there had been violence at Dalymount Park during a clash between Bohs and the visiting Glasgow Rangers in the same week. Among the Rangers support was a healthy contingent of supporters from Northern Ireland. The clash in Windsor Park on September 20th 1984 was played out before a near silent crowd of 6000, with The Irish Times reporting that “In stark contrast to the turbulent scenes in Dalymount Park 24 hours earlier, there was never the hint of crowd violence. Only a few Union Jacks were in evidence to taunt the visitors and, almost inevitably, there was not one spectator sporting the emblem of Shamrock Rovers to be seen anywhere in the ground.” It ended a nil all draw.

Jim McLaughlin, Shamrock Rovers manager at the time of the fixtures with Linfield, had held the same position at the time of the ‘Linfield Riots’ in Dundalk. Prior to the Rovers games, he stated in the media that: “Some people will attempt to attach a dimension to this fixture that will have nothing to do with football. Relations between the two clubs are good and I can only hope that the fans will have learned from the experiences of Dundalk.”

On September 25th Linfield Supporters Clubs were told by the club that Shamrock Rovers were unwilling to sell them tickets. Newspaper reports suggested that a sizeable group intended to travel tickets or no tickets. This greatly worried the club, as Linfield had found themselves having to play games in Holland following the violence at the time of their trip to Dundalk. Initally, Rovers had offered 1,500 tickets to Linfield supporters, smaller than the away allocation in normal circumstances. The club withdrew this offered allocation, and club chairman Louis Kilcoyle issued a statement which read:

Shamrock Rovers Football Club have advised Linfield FC that there will be no allocation of tickets to Linfield for the second leg of the European Cup tie at Miltown on October 3rd.

This decision has been taken to ensure that the second leg game takes place without incident and in a atmosphere as prevailed as Belfast last Wednesday.

Newspaper build-up to the clash focused on off the pitch matters, and when the clash actually did occur Rovers went out to Linfield, owing to a one-all draw in Dublin. Inside the ground, one newspaper reporter counted sixteen tricolours, and three Union Jacks.

The Irish Times reported on the trip to Dublin undertaken by one Linfield Supporters Club. There were 200 Linfield supporters in Dublin, and as the paper noted it wasn’t until Linfield’s goal their presence was felt. Following the encounter, the sound of ‘The Sash’ could be heard from the travelling contingent, while it was noted Dermot Keely received some abuse from the visitors. “Keeley, you Fenian Bastard!” was shouted, to which he responded with two fingers.

Outside, there was little in the line of the ‘hooligan’ element expected (or hoped for!) by those in the media. Gardaí in riot gear were met by around 100 Shamrock Rovers fans who threw stones at Gardaí as they awaited the exit of Linfield’s travelling support from the stadium. A Garda sergeant was reported as saying “it was our own who were the gurriers today” following the match. Yet the few dozen youths throwing stones didn’t live up to the newspaper reporting in the lead-up to the clash. Certainly, the violence was not on par with some seen in Irish soccer grounds in the 1980s, for example the disgraceful scenes at Richmond Park in April of 1986 at an FAI Cup Semi-Final between Saint Patrick’s Athletic and Waterford United. The fixation with the Linfield clash no doubt centered around the broader context of north-south relations, and memories of events in Dundalk.

In 1989, Shamrock Rovers fanzine the ‘Glenmalure Gazette’ ran a tongue-in-cheek feature from ‘R.Anglelodge’ on why Linfield supporters were the best in Ireland. It joked that:

Louis Kilcoyne recognised that Linfield fans were the best in Ireland. He didn’t think twice about banning Rovers scumbags from going to the European Cup game in Belfast. He was absolutely correct to let us blues fans go to Milltown. Two weeks before the match we had helped the Huns to try and wreck Dublin. We deserved the chance to have another go at it!

From 'The Glenmalure Gazette' (March 1989)