Minister for Sport Patrick O’Donovan has stopped all funding for League of Ireland astro pitches after fans threw flares onto the pitch during last Friday’s Louth derby between Dundalk and Drogheda United at Oriel Park.
Significant damage was caused to the turf by the fireworks. O’Donovan, who attended the match, has called for “lifetime bans” and “adequate custodial sentences” for those responsible.
In a joint statement issued on Sunday, the two clubs confirmed a 12-year-old supporter sustained burns to his face after being struck by a flare thrown in the stand.
O’Donovan said the match – the first played on the Department of Sport-funded astro surface at Dundalk’s Oriel Park ground – was at times “like an air raid”.
O’Donovan told RTÉ Radio on Monday morning that people at the clubs must know who was involved in the disturbances. “There’s somebody who always knows these things . . . because there was too many missiles being thrown out at the one time. I mean, I saw it myself, it was like an air raid.
“So there’s people standing cheek-by-jowl beside these people and they know who they are. They’re from the same town.”
O’Donovan added: “Somebody’s hair could have been set on fire very easily here. Their clothes could have been set on fire. These people didn’t give a damn what they did.”
He rejected the suggestion that flares were “part and parcel” of the atmosphere at football games.
“Taking an incendiary device into a stadium is not part and parcel – that’s reckless endangerment. And if we have to make it a criminal offence, we’ll do that. That’s the first problem – taking a flare into a match where you know that you could set fire to somebody’s hair, set fire to their clothing or, in this case, cause damage to a child’s face. That’s not part and parcel of anything. That’s just downright hooliganism.”
O’Donovan acknowledged that stopping funding for astro pitches in the League of Ireland would “hurt a lot of people”, but added “we can’t be making investments on behalf of the taxpayer . . . to literally see them being set on fire”.
He said he had spoken to his officials on Monday morning, telling them “any and all astroturfs going into League of Ireland clubs are to be stopped until I’m satisfied that the League of Ireland and the FAI are going to take this seriously”.
O’Donovan said he had asked the League of Ireland and the FAI for “concrete proposals to stamp out hooliganism once and for all”.
“So, unfortunately, now it is a plague in all their houses. But the field looked like it was pock-ridden with badger holes at the end of the match the other night. And all these lads think it’s hilarious. Set fire to Dundalk’s field.
Significant damage was caused to the Oriel Park pitch by the throwing of flares during last Friday’s match between Dundalk and Drogheda United. Photograph: Nick Elliott/Inpho
“Now I don’t think that’s funny. I don’t know anyone that thinks that funny. It’s criminal damage. I expect the gardaí to deal with it and I expect these people to be brought before the courts and I expect them to receive adequate custodial sentences, or whatever, that comes from the type of reckless endangerment and criminal damage that we saw on Friday night.”
He said the pause on funding for astroturf pitches would not affect junior leagues.
He said the GAA also had the problem on Hill 16 at Croke Park, “but they seem to be able to deal with it.”
“I mean, I was at Tipperary and Limerick the other night. We’re not exactly great pals of each other. But we didn’t set fire to Semple Stadium.”
O’Donovan raised the prospect of certain games being played behind closed doors in the future. He said it would be “unfortunate” and clubs would lose “a lot of money”.
“But you can’t have a situation where you bring innocent people into a match and there’s a danger of them literally being set on fire,” he added.
The Minister also reiterated his view that the Republic of Ireland v Israel soccer match should go ahead in the autumn.
“Where does this end? Do we take Ireland out of the Olympic Games next? Because Israel are participating in the Olympic games . . . The Israeli soccer team are not the Israeli government. And I don’t think that the world’s bake is with the Israeli soccer team.
“No more than countries around the world have problems. So I think it should be played and I think the gardaí are well capable of policing it. Young men or young women, depending on which sport it is, shouldn’t be politicised by people who just want to get a headline.”