Amazing yarns from fans at Italia 90
JIMMY O’TOOLE was minding his own business at work in Aughrim on Friday, June 29, 1990. It was four days after Ireland had dramatically beaten Romania to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Italy that summer, and he and his colleagues were more than likely debating where they would be spending their day watching Jack Charlton’s Green Army go toe to toe against the host nation in the quarter-finals the next day. Before any decisions could be made, however, he received a call from his wife, Marie, who broke the news that she had obtained a ticket for the match for him.
One quick drive home to Arklow later, and the then-28-year-old was waiting on the northbound platform at Arklow railway station, awaiting a train to take him to Dublin Airport and then, Milan.
Four days previously, as Packie Bonner was diving down to his right to deny Daniel Timofte and set-up David O’Leary for the potentially history-sealing penalty-kick against Romania, Joe Lawless was positioned high up behind the goal in Genoa, bearing live witness to a moment that would echo throughout the Irish footballing zeitgeist 30 years down the road.
Meanwhile, Vincent Kirwan, a frequent flyer when it came to major soccer tournaments involving the Republic of Ireland alongside his wife, Anne, was watching the dramatics unfold inside a packed to the rafters pub on Quinsborough Road, Bray. He had returned home from being at the tournament for Ireland’s three group stage matches, featuring a draw against England on matchday one, a game that Vincent and Anne very nearly did not get to.
The above are mere summations of the many, many stories and memories shared by those who were able to witness Ireland’s first-ever World Cup; they qualified for their first major competition two years earlier, at the 1988 European Championships in Germany.
The camaraderie between the Irish football fans and those of other nations at major competitions has become somewhat of a running theme whenever the Boys in Green qualify for these tournaments. So much so that, following Euro 2016, the Mayor of Paris at the time, Anne Hidalgo, planned on presenting the city of Paris medal to the collective fanbase, such was the atmosphere that they had created that summer.
That is not a new thing. All the way back in 1990, Irish fans were enjoying the festivities alongside the native supporters, as well as those from the Netherlands, Austria, and other countries.
‘When we were going to the Dutch game, we stopped off halfway at one of these garages that sell food and all of this sort of thing. A load of Dutch buses arrived at the same time and next thing you know, the cops were all called. They thought that we were going to start trouble, but we got along great with the Dutch. At the match, there was no segregation. we were all mixed in with the Dutch,’ Joe Lawless, who was 30 at the time, remembers.
There was similar chemistry shared between the Irish and Italian fans during and after their quarter-final, best summed up by Jimmy O’Toole, who said that, while he was waiting on a bus to take him and some other supporters to the airport following the game, he traded scarves with Italian supporters, while also having to politely tell them they couldn’t take a 20ft banner that had been given to him by Jimmy Doyle, a banner that read, ‘Harbour Bar on tour’, owing to the owner being part of the Bray establishment.
‘There were Mexican Waves goingaroundandallsortsgoing around, and I remember, when Schillaci scored the goal for Italy, we were a bit deflated. The Italian fans tried to start a Mexican Wave, but we wouldn’t take part in it. We were stuck in our seats. After the fourth try, we obliged and the whole place erupted,’ O’Toole recounts fondly.
Jimmy’s entire World Cup adventure is especially remarkable. After getting that call from Marie, and after collecting the ticket, the Arklow resident went directly to the train station, where he was greeted by Jimmy Doyle, who gave him the banner. From there, he flew out to Milan on a delayed flight, meaning that he arrived there, alongside other Irish fans, early on the Saturday morning.
From there, he travelled nine hours from Milan to Rome, disembarking at a station nearby to the Stadio Olimpico in the Italian capital a couple of hours before the biggest game in Irish soccer history was due to kick-off. He was sat in the same corner of the ground into which Schillaci celebrated after scoring that heart-breaking goal, not far from where Joe Lawless was sat behind the nets.
Instead of the quarter-final, it was getting home that typified his entire experience. After the original buses, hired to take him to the airport, never turned up, the police eventually arranged for an alternative bus. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of his issues.
‘We were meant to fly out that night after the game, but whatever arrangements were made, the planes they had booked were Romanian planes and the Italians wouldn’t let them into their airspace, or something like that. We ended up going back to the smaller airport in Rome and there were no planes for us, so we had to wait. We were stranded there,’
Amongst the chaos, the responsibility for getting them all home rested on the shoulders of an unlucky travel representative from Club Travel. That person was none other than the late Veronica Guerin, a few months before she would begin a journalism career that led to her time with the Sunday Independent which permanently altered the path of the criminal justice system in Ireland.
It was Guerin who ultimately arranged for the supporters to stay in a nearby hotel once it became clear that a flight home was not going to be made available on the Saturday night. They came back the next day but had to wait until that night before a flight became available. Although it was unfortunate, there was a silver lining to the ordeal.
‘While we were stuck at the second airport, the (Ireland) team came through. We got pictures with Big Jack. I have a picture with him, and I got an autograph from Kevin Moran and Mick McCarthy. They were on their way home to the celebrations in Ireland while we were stuck in Rome. We were on the RTÉ News for being stranded. It was unreal. from start to finish.’
Fortunately, O’Toole did eventually get home on Monday morning and, compared to what Vincent Kirwan went through, a few delays seem relatively tame. Vincent went to Italy with his wife, Anne, as the latest in a long-line of major tournaments that they would attend, starting with Euro ’88 in Germany, and including the 1994 World Cup in the USA, Euro 2012 in Poland, and Euro 2016 in France.
He and Anne were based in Palermo during their stay for the group stage of Italia ’90. For Ireland’s first game, against England, they needed to take a catamaran over to Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia, alongside many other Irish supporters. It was a mode of transport that almost spelled disaster for everybody involved.
‘There was a doubt whether the boat would go there. It was a catamaran and it was quite a big crowd on it. There was a doubt whether it would go or not. On the day, the sea was so rough. we were bouncing all over the place, hitting our heads all over the place. We thought we were going down at one stage, and we heard after that there were lifeboats ready to head out to sea, it was that bad.
‘I sent a picture to Jim McLaughlin of the Wicklow League recently of him and Harry Griffiths, who was also in Italy, and he said: ‘oh, my God, don’t remind me of that boat trip’. That’s what was brought to his mind, as well.
‘The match was on the island of Sardinia. we weren’t on mainland Italy, at all. The England match was intentionally held in Cagliari because it was in the middle of f***ing nowhere, and to keep the England fans at bay somewhat.
All England’s (group) matches were there, while Ireland had two matches in Palermo and one in Cagliari.’
The mention of England supporters is an interesting dimension to the Italia ’90 conversation. When Joe Lawless – who was staying on the other side of the island of Sardinia to the English base, to avoid any potential clashes – was entering the Stadio Sant’Elia for the opening game of Group F, he remembers how security was turned up to 11, with robust searches conducted before they even entered the stadium. This focus on safety went counter, somewhat, to what was going on in the ground, with venders serving drinks in glasses, a practice that is unheard of these days, although he claims that the beer that they were drinking was non-alcoholic, much to his amusement when his friends were relentlessly consuming pints; he went over with 150 fellow civil servants.
Despite the perceived tension that he claimed the English supporters permeated at times, the enjoyment of the match itself did not change, neither for Joe, nor Vincent, who was also at the game.
‘We were searched about five times by these fellas with machine guns. We weren’t able to bring anything in. They were taking bodhrans and everything,’ Joe says.
‘The security there was amazing, they were keeping us well away from the English fans. I do remember that. Then, there was thunder and lightning during the match and when (Kevin) Sheedy scored, some Irish fella whom I had never met before, picked me up and I banged my head off the cement roof,’ he remembers specifically.
‘It was very tense with the English at the English match. They were acting the eejit, but the cops were beating the head off of them. When we were getting the bus outside, the English were really pissed off. They were giving us the finger and stuff. It was like we had beaten them.’
Vincent’s memories of being at the England game are far more optimistic, and he said that being there to witness it live stands out to him when looking back on being at the tournament.
‘The atmosphere, when you are playing England, is always good, anyway. You don’t need anything to make it good. The Dutch were brilliant. Egypt was different. They don’t seem to mix as much as other fans do. There were never any problems with them, but we didn’t engage with them as much.’
That game against England fell on June 11, and kickstarted a remarkable run in the competition. Following further draws against Egypt at Stadio La Favorita, in Palermo on June 17, and Holland at the same venue on June 21, Ireland were on their way to the last 16, where they met Romania at Stadio Luigi Ferraris, in Genoa on June 25. Vincent had gone home at this stage, and was sitting in a bar on Quinsborough Road, in Bray. While he enjoyed being at the World Cup in person, being able to share in the experience with other homebound supporters was still special.
‘It was amazing. When you are away, you have a great time and enjoy it, but you miss the craic over here, and you are hearing all of the stories about what is happening in the pubs and streets here when Ireland win. When you come home and are here for the final two matches, you can enjoy that atmosphere then. It is a winwin situation.
‘It was exactly like what you are being told about. it was great to be a part of it then. When you are away, you are up in the terrace with Irish fans, but when you are at home, it is more compact in the pub and you are with more people. Nothing beats being at a game, no matter what, but having said that, you are in a win-win situation, in that you can have both.’
Meanwhile, for Lawless, who was watching the penalty shootout against Romania from behind the goal into which the players were kicking, it made for a nerve-wrecking, but ultimately cathartic experience; from walking onto the terrace to a sea of green, to being able to take in such a monumental event.
Joe and co., who also took the time to take in Colombia vs Cameroon in one of the other round of 16 ties, were in it for the long haul. So much so that, when they relocated to the island of Sicily for accommodation following the England game, the poor holiday resort in which they were staying found their drink reserves drank entirely dry, to the point that fresh barrels were being ordered every day.
‘We probably drank more in the ten days that we were there, than would have been drank over the year,’ he jokes.
The last 16 just so happened to correspond to mounting controversy stemming from comments made by Eamonn Dunphy during RTÉ’s coverage of Ireland’s penultimate group game, against Egypt. Dunphy is quoted as saying: ‘I felt embarrassed for soccer, embarrassed for the country, embarrassed for all the good players, for the great tradition of soccer.’ This comment blew up in the aftermath and, eventually, made its way into the consciousness of the supporters in Italy.
‘We walked into the ground and it was just like walking into Lansdowne Road; it was just completely Irish. I always remember, when we walked into the ground, we weren’t getting too much news from home, but there was something about Dunphy insulting Jack Charlton, and the whole ground was singing, ‘Eamonn Dunphy is a w***er’.
‘We were just above Packie Bonner, so we had a perfect view of the penalties. the only thing was, when we were going bananas after O’Leary scored, a lot of lads had stuff nicked. They left stuff on the seats and a few people were nicking cameras and stuff.’
On Saturday, June 30, Ireland rocked up to Stadio Olimpico in Rome for the quarter-final of the 1990 World Cup, against Italy. The entire day was dedicated to football, with a big screen set up near the ground, showing Argentina’s quarter-final victory against Yugoslavia.
After Salvatore Schillaci successfully slotted home past Bonner after the big man from Donegal had parried a Roberto Donadoni effort on 38 minutes, it was the first time that the Irish supporters were not in a jovial mood. It was up to the Italians to try and bring the mood back up. The soul crushing loss did not stop the fans from demonstrating the kind of loyalty and support to the team that has come to be part in parcel with how Irish people behave at such competitions.
‘I was sitting in the corner where Schillaci hit the net, across from where the press and all were. After the game, we all stayed on to cheer Jack and all around the stadium and all that sort of stuff. None of the Irish left. The police couldn’t understand why we were there,’ Jimmy O’Toole recollects.
‘There were buses meant to pick us up outside the stadium to take us to the smaller airport in Rome, and no buses showed up. We were sat out in the middle of a carpark, a load of Irish fans, and the Italians were going around on top of their cars, beeping and all.’
It was following that defeat to the hosts that Ireland’s unforgettable adventure at Italia ’90 came to an end. The team itself had exceeded all expectations, and each player had cemented themselves as iconic figures of Irish sporting folklore. The memories and tales shared by Jimmy, Joe, and Vincent represent just a drop in the ocean, in terms of the experiences had by the thousands of Irish people who had made the trip to continental Europe.
It was a summer that, for many, will never be topped.