{"id":312905,"date":"2026-02-23T11:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/312905\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T11:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:21:07","slug":"minister-halts-league-of-ireland-funding-after-louth-derby-scenes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/312905\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister halts League of Ireland funding after Louth derby scenes \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minister for Sport Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a> has stopped all funding for League of Ireland<\/a> astro pitches after fans threw flares onto the pitch during last Friday\u2019s Louth derby between Dundalk and Drogheda United<\/a> at Oriel Park. <\/p>\n

Significant damage was caused to the turf by the fireworks. O\u2019Donovan, who attended the match, has called for \u201clifetime bans\u201d and \u201cadequate custodial sentences\u201d for those responsible. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan said the match \u2013 the first played on the Department of Sport-funded astro surface at Dundalk\u2019s Oriel Park ground \u2013 was at times \u201clike an air raid\u201d.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan told RT\u00c9 Radio on Monday morning that people at the clubs must know who was involved in the disturbances. \u201cThere\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s people standing cheek-by-jowl beside these people and they know who they are. They\u2019re from the same town.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan added: \u201cSomebody\u2019s hair could have been set on fire very easily here. Their clothes could have been set on fire. These people didn\u2019t give a damn what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

He rejected the suggestion that flares were \u201cpart and parcel\u201d of the atmosphere at football games. <\/p>\n

\u201cTaking an incendiary device into a stadium is not part and parcel \u2013 that\u2019s reckless endangerment. And if we have to make it a criminal offence, we\u2019ll do that. That\u2019s the first problem \u2013 taking a flare into a match where you know that you could set fire to somebody\u2019s hair, set fire to their clothing or, in this case, cause damage to a child\u2019s face. That\u2019s not part and parcel of anything. That\u2019s just downright hooliganism.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan acknowledged that stopping funding for astro pitches in the League of Ireland would \u201churt a lot of people\u201d, but added \u201cwe can\u2019t be making investments on behalf of the taxpayer . . . to literally see them being set on fire\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said he had spoken to his officials on Monday morning, telling them \u201cany and all astroturfs going into League of Ireland clubs are to be stopped until I\u2019m satisfied that the League of Ireland and the FAI are going to take this seriously\u201d.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan said he had asked the League of Ireland and the FAI for \u201cconcrete proposals to stamp out hooliganism once and for all\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, 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\u2019s hilarious. Set fire to Dundalk\u2019s field. <\/p>\n

\"SignificantSignificant 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 <\/p>\n

\u201cNow I don\u2019t think that\u2019s funny. I don\u2019t know anyone that thinks that funny. It\u2019s criminal damage. I expect the garda\u00ed 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the pause on funding for astroturf pitches would not affect junior leagues. <\/p>\n

He said the GAA also had the problem on Hill 16 at Croke Park, \u201cbut they seem to be able to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I was at Tipperary and Limerick the other night. We\u2019re not exactly great pals of each other. But we didn\u2019t set fire to Semple Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan raised the prospect of certain games being played behind closed doors in the future. He said it would be \u201cunfortunate\u201d and clubs would lose \u201ca lot of money\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can\u2019t have a situation where you bring innocent people into a match and there\u2019s a danger of them literally being set on fire,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Minister also reiterated his view that the Republic of Ireland v Israel soccer match should go ahead in the autumn. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhere 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\u2019t think that the world\u2019s bake is with the Israeli soccer team.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo more than countries around the world have problems. So I think it should be played and I think the garda\u00ed are well capable of policing it. Young men or young women, depending on which sport it is, shouldn\u2019t be politicised by people who just want to get a headline.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minister for Sport Patrick O\u2019Donovan has stopped all funding for League of Ireland astro pitches after fans threw…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,2539,9689,43,6232],"class_list":["post-312905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-league-of-ireland","tag-louth","tag-news","tag-patrick-o-donovan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}