A youngster is shielded from missiles during a clash between Saint Patrick’s Athletic and Waterford United at Richmond Park, April 14 1986.
Writing in the Irish Press in 1972, one sports journalist asked with tongue firmly in cheek why was it that “Irish footballers are not able to emulate English footballers to some small degree, when their supporters have no trouble in successfully aping the cross-Channel hooligan element.” While football violence in Ireland never reached the level of that in the U.K, the media was awash with stories of the hooligan threat to the Irish game in the 1970s and 1980s. This brief article will look at one Dublin stadium, Richmond Park in Inchicore, and see when ‘hooliganism’ was reported on in the ground during the period.
Much of the Irish media coverage of soccer hooliganism in the 1970s centered around violence in British football. The Irish Times for example quoted Magistrate Grahame Hands in March 1974 when he demanded “labour camps for soccer hooligans.” Considerable space was given to reporting the antics of ‘firms’ at some of Britain’s leading clubs.
Clashes between Shamrock Rovers and Saint Patrick’s Athletic fans in March 1972 brought the issue of soccer hooliganism in Dublin out of the sports pages and into the national news section of the mainstream media, with a youngster stabbed during a terrace fracas. Disturbances at Richmond Park between both sets of fans, the second example in weeks, brought The Irish Times to note that “the FAI can do very little about these occurrences once they do not interfere with the actual match”. The Irish Press would write that “Shamrock Rovers, like their great Glasgow contemporaries Rangers and Celtic, should declare WAR on the hooligans who are dragging their club’s name down to gutter-level.”
The stabbing of a youth in Inchicore put real pressure on Shamrock Rovers, who pledged to stop those banned from Miltown Road attending away games as supporters of the club:
Violence in Irish football in the 1970’s and 1980’s was not confined to Shamrock Rovers, or indeed Dublin. Clubs like Sligo Rovers, Bohemian FC, Linfield, Dundalk and others had witnessed clashes and violence, with the August 1979 clashes between Linfield and Dundalk fans entering Irish football folklore for their viciousness. Journalist Peter Byrne wrote of those clashes, when he stated 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.
Richmond Park found itself on the front of national newspapers in January 1977, following clashes on the football pitch which would see two footballers hospitalised. Pats goalkeeper Mick O’Brien and Home Farm left-winger Terry Eviston sustained injuries following assaults on them by fans, and the referee had to be taken off the pitch. Dozens of fans made their way onto the pitch, and St.Pat’s manager Barry Bridges pleaded with angry supporters over the P.A system not to attack match officials or players. The game finished in a 2-1 victory to the Saints.
Richmond Park witnessed little in the line of football violence in the 1980s, but some incidents of note did occur. In February 1980 it was reported that Shamrock Rovers supporters “chanted slogans of a political nature”, and chanted their support for Celtic, during a Dublin derby encounter. Reports of a brief fracas between both supporters featured in coverage of what sounded like a thrilling game on the pitch.
25 February 1980 (Irish Independent)
Perhaps the most serious violence the stadium has ever witnessed though was to come later in the decade, on a day that proved embarrassing for club officials and the Football Association of Ireland, and sparked a media frenzy. On 13 April 1986, Saint Patrick’s Athletic welcomed Waterford United to Inchicore. The clash was a FAI Cup tie, yet it would make the front page of the following days newspapers for all the wrong reasons. Violence on the Inchicore terraces marred the clash, which was to be the first defeat inflicted on the saints in 20 outings. The game was a crucial FAI Cup semi-final, and the two sides went into the game at 1-1. It ended with a 4-2 win to the visitors on aggregate.
The clash between Waterford United and Saint Patrick’s Athletic supporters was by no means the beginning of a hooligan problem in Irish football. None the less, the scenes were ugly and demanded attention. The Irish Times noted in their match report that:
Richmond Park, so often an oasis in the turbulence of modern football, has never seen anything like it as the thug element in the crowd of 4,000 chose to ignore the days main attraction and involved themselves in a stone-throwing exercise that left several in urgent need of attention.
For a period, the players risked injury as the missiles, coming off the terraces, rained about them but eventually the referee, John Spillane, took the ultimate action of leading the team into the dressing rooms with the game in progress for just 19 minutes.
In the midst of the media coverage, it was almost forgotten a match had been played! (Irish Independent)
The blame for the hooliganism rested with the visiting supporters, as minutes before the unruly scenes the Saints had taken the lead in a match they would ultimately throw away. Paddy Dillon scored the goal for the Saints, and almost scored soon after the restart. Waterford came back into the game with a spring in their step however, and proved an unstoppable force. The blame-game began immediately after the clash, and it was reported in The Irish Times that “in another era, Jim Brannigan and his storm troopers might have dealt with the situation with some alacrity but in the modern concept of policing, it was decided on a containing operation.”
Interestingly, in Pats folklore the blame for this violence has often been rested with bikers from Waterford, a gang who had traveled to the fixture intent on causing trouble. This gang have been mentioned on several occasions by those who attended the clash.
The violence in the stadium attracted so much attention that the issue was raised in the Dáil by the late Tomás Mac Giolla, local T.D and veteran socialist. Mac Giolla asked Minister Alan Dukes ” if he is satisfied that sufficient gardaí were on duty at the recent FAI Cup semi-final at Richmond Park on April 13 when there was a serious outbreak of violence between sections of the crowd; and if the gardaí are planning any new moves to curb violence at football matches; and if he will make a statement on the matter.”
The late Tomás Mac Giolla of The Workers Party.
In the end, a very heavily policed Dalymount Park was the setting for a Cup Final which saw Shamrock Rovers defeat Waterford 2-0.
Of course, media coverage of football violence is often sensationalist. Anyone who can remember the visit of Linfield to Inchicore in 2008 will know how the media can make a paragraph out of the smallest detail in the interest of a good story. Still, coverage of football violence in Dublin in the 1970s and 1980s is interesting as much from the point of view of studying the media itself as learning the actions of football fans. Violent scenes in League of Ireland grounds are rare incidents these days, but interestingly when such scenes are witnessed, it is still the influence of British fan culture the media tend to turn to for blame.
Were you at any of these games, or can you remember violence at other football clashes in Dublin at the time? If so, we’d love to hear from you in the comment section.
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Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
No al calcio vecchio
I was at the ’86 final. We were under the flagpole at the corner that’s been turned into a carpark. Waterford were at the town end – Rovers always took the shed at Dalymount so we were on the edge of the Rovers’ contingent. My memories are hot day, dull game, no trouble – I don’t remember noticing a heavy Garda presence; I’m not disputing that there was one, it just didn’t register.
’78 Cup Final – Sligo v Shamrock, that was a day that the bootboys and skinheads were out in force. Older readers will remember the terrace that ran along the front of what’s now The Jodi. We were in there, the roof didn’t cover that stretch and the terrace was one of them where you’re actually stood below pitch level. The fences went all around the pitch but after the game ended the shed emptied onto the pitch to see the reggae loving Mr Giles take the cup up in the stand behind us.
It had rained all day long and we were soaked through. Above us the horizon shortened and darkened as the entire shed started to climb their second fence of the afternoon to sing the glories of Johnny G. For anyone curious about terrace fashion – it was wall to wall DMs, half-mast flared Wranglers, and too-tight denim jackets.
There was always a few mods knocking about at Milltown, you’d see the mohair suits and loafers. It always looked like there was a crossover with Milltown and the TV Club when The Blades were on the go – The ’84 semi and replay v Shels was chocka with the flight jacket/skin brigade. We were at the other end for those games and there were loads of Rovers around there too but again I didn’t see any trouble. That year’s final was against UCD with the replay in Tolka on the Friday. UCD won courtesy of one of the worst decisions I’ve seen at a game but even that didn’t raise a gallop on the terraces.
I was at that pats waterford game in 86, worst trouble i had probably seen up to that stage and i’d seen a bit. For some reason a gang of bikers came with the waterford fans and they ran amok, they bashed all round them I can remember them throw blue bangor slates into the main stand at women kids families etc, think there was two coppers in the ground hopelessly lost. been to a million loi games but that lives in the memory for that reason. needless to say being a peace loving shels neutral fan on the day, i was traumatized!!!
I remember the front of the Irish Independent or herald the next day was all about it, picture of a Pats supporter with blood all over his face after being hit by a rock. I remember the chap but not his name, a nicer guy you couldn’t meet he just happened to get hit by a rock. He had nothing to do with it and the next day he was on the front of the paper and branded a hooligan. For years he got the mick taken by the lads on the turnstiles telling him he was banned!. The Waterford lads arrived off their buses plastered, piddling up against the walls everywhere and anywhere. They started throwing rocks during the match in the general direction of anybody else, some Pat’s supporters sent them back and so began a match of rock tennis for a good few minutes while everybody with half a brain scarpered. The match the previous week (it was a two legged semi) in Kilcohan saw the pats supporters pegged in begin wire fences, security guards and a batch of alsatian dogs. At the time hooliganism was rampant and particularly so in England.
The Waterford bikers might have been the Freewheelers. They were taken on as security at the Lisdoonvarna festival (1981?)- started bullying people and sparked off mayhem by all accounts. Some older heads might be able to fill you in.
[…] was a lot of interest in a post earlier this week looking at football hooliganism at Richmond Park in the 1970s and 1980s. Outside the scope and timeframe of that article was the UEFA Cup Clash […]
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard mention of the Waterford bikers. The Lisdoonvarna Festival Brian refers to was 1983. He’s right about the mayhem they caused – I think that was the last time they had the festival and as far as I recall the violence was the main reason behind it being discontinued. My cousin is from round there and I saw him a couple of weeks after it. He said the Waterford mob went on an unchecked rampage for a couple of days.
This was all understandably overlooked because it was the same weekend that had the terrible tragedy of all the young lads thta had gone to Lisdoon(eight?) drowning there when they were caught on sandbanks by a fast incoming tide.
It was the August bank holiday weekend – I was camping down in the Wicklow Mountains with mates. We knew nothing about it and came back to this blanket coverage of the deaths and funerals and like I say it was only when I spoke to my cousin after that I heard there was this whole other story going on. He said that up until the young lads died all anyone in the area was talking about was the fighting at the festival, that it was on a far greater scale than had ever happened before.
a couple of things.there was plenty aggro even as far back as the late ’60’s in the league of ireland.check throught the swathe of newspapers in the national library and you’ll see the markets field,milltown,the showgrounds,and lourdes stadium mentioned. frank o neill the skinhead who sang with punk band complete chaos was one of the leaders of the early ’80’s shamrock rovers hooplas,the srfc mob.joe morris the guitarist is still a decent skin/punk and is dublin bus driver.was at slf gig a while back.the limerick mob was called THE BLACK DRAGONS,their graffiti was outside the markets field,and pubs around galvone,corbally,southill etc.surely someone remembers them.there are great pieces on limericks skinheads and hooligan aggro in the limerick leader which is easily accessable.it includes pictures and includes captions such as gardai looking for youths in short thair wearing sheepskin coats!!!!!!skins or what!!!the infamous 1975 league cup riot whan sligo hooligans ran riot,and the rampage that followed is covered.the waterford gang was the freewheelers but these so called hardmen learned the hard way at one of the festivals,think it was lisdoonvarna when they tackled a large mob of well battle hardened republicans and got their heads kicked in,patches ripped from their backs and burned,and then had a number of their prized harleys,nortons,and indian bikes bonfired.does anyone remember that,i do,as we were there and as punks clashed with them..limerick and waterford also clashed during the ’80’s…in cup and league games and a picture showed two skinheads in donkey jackets fighting.I was at the infamous bohs v limerick cup semi final in which a limerick mob of about 70 attacked bohs fans in the shed end after a fake handshake set up by the leader of the lims mob.the sligo rovers v bohs final riot needs little mention.i also saw waterford united skinheads in dalymount for a semi final v dundalk during which more than a few punks and skins were spotted.i have some clippings from the ’80’s regarding bohs and rovers fans fights,and aggro in monaghan,dundalk,limerick etc.cork celtic and hibs fans often clashed and indeed the limerick leader website again has articles involving limerick skinheads and their various cork counterparts rioting and being baton charged in the early ’70’s.the sligo champion also has plenty articles on the feared red alert mob and seamie o boyle.the semi final of the league cup between bohs and dundalk in the eighties also had lilywhites fans fighting,as they did during a semi final fai cup defeat to rovers.i also remember waterfor utd fans smashing up naas,newbridge,and muine beag and it being reported in the papers,after an fai cup game in dublin.
Great comment, cheers!
The bikers story is a myth. The problem was drunkenness and boredom. There were Waterford fans (kids) around Inchicore from early morning. They were hanging around for hours with nothing to do and they were drinking. I recall that during the time when the game was suspended I said to a guy beside me that I’d seen them earlier and felt that there would be trouble. (Mind you, I didn’t predict the seriousness of what happened.) He told me that a bus company had left the fans in Inchicore far too early and he opined that they probably had another bus job on in the interim before taking the fans back to Waterford.
Rod
I remember in the 80s traveling down to limerick with shamrock rovers fans for a cup match at the markets field savage fighting went on during the game , not sure if anyone was stabbed but I defo saw a knife with one of the rovers lads,we had to fight our way back to the train station running battles all the way.we were on the inside of the railings fighting for our life’s against limerick fans, you name it and it was thrown.i got arrested and put in a squad car but my mates got me out and took the keys only for me to be nicked again , a few of us brought to station after a while they released us and told us to run for the train which we did. We had no way of knowing that the lads on the train were pulling the cord every time the train pulled out we got to the station expecting to see empty platform as this was 50minutes after departure time but the train was a few hundred yards further along, we got a great cheer as we boarded for home great times great mates .the journey home was another story I will tell that again.koh
i think that book “What Have They Done To Our Game” covers the rise and fallof league of ireland football including the aggro in the 70’s and 80’s,hooligans,etc etc,at least so I was told.
Rovers fans I know have told me about a particularly hairy match in Limerick where some of the locals arrived on horseback – they describe it as the world’s only-ever incidence of football hooligans mounting a cavalry charge
Lads. Just a note to say that I’m not writing any book or indeed anything at all on Sligo Rovers and hooliganism. I’ve seen this said a few times on the net and it’s simply not true. Some guy has written about the subject and circulated some pages but it’s nothing to do with me.
Come Here to Me is a great site by the way but if you could set the record straight on this I’d be pleased.
The Freewheelers at the St.Pat’s game was no myth. I got on the train to Dublin at Kilkenny with two other Waterford supporting fans from Kilkenny. It became very obvious quickly that many on the train were not regular Waterford supporters. We were incredulous of the numbers on the train of a certain age group and they were really wired. We knew Waterford did have a mob, but it was nowhere on this scale. We were told it was going to “kick off” in Dublin and that the Freewheelers, as well as other Waterford gangs were on board. Over the course of the journey, we saw several “fans” with Freewheeler “colours.” It was certainly a very shameful day to be a Waterford fan and left a sickness in the stomach.. The horrifying attack on St. Pats fans left us with no taste for the final, which we missed. To this day, we have no explanation as to what might have stirred such organised animosity in Waterford.
[…] Come Here To Me: “Some examples of football violence in Richmond Park, Inchicore (1972- 1986)” […]
Loads of big rucks in the Markets Field back in the 70s and 80s usually involving Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk, Sligo Rovers or Waterford.
Also remember Southampton coming over for a UEFA Cup tie in 1981. They brought a small crew who thought it would be a walk in the park and ended up getting run all over the place.
Limerick also had a good tight away crew.
limerick big crowds in 60’s and 10-12000 not uncommon in ealy 1980s.mob known as Black Dragons well known down there with graffiti on more than a few walls relatng to them.Check battles with Sligo Rovers fans in League Cup game and league.Sligo mob called Red Alert.
I was in Richmond Park the day of Waterford v Pats and it was bad. If I’m honest, there was a lot more Waterford fans involved than just the biker gang. Waterford had a big following that day. The worst violence I’ve seen was a Waterford v Limerick cup match in the Markets Field around the early 80’s. It was a running battle for most of the match behind one goal. I was with a couple of lads for the match and we got away as stones were flying in all directions. I actually remember coming home that night and it seemed every pub in Clonmel had doors locked as the Waterford buses were returning through the town. It was pretty rough those times.