Travelling fans count the cost

The large number of fans that had hoped to make the trip to Belgrade will hold on to their travel plans until the final date for the fixture is announced. Ray Treacy Travel had made the arrangements for nearly 300 of the supporters but said that most of the bookings would be taking the option of transferring to the new date.

"There have been no cancellations at this stage," according to the travel agency yesterday. "We will have to wait until the definite fixture is decided before alternative arrangements can be made but we hope that we can offer all bookings the option to transfer to the new date at little extra cost."

Dublin's 747 Travel had also made a bulk number of bookings and reported similar reaction. "Very few have backed out at this stage and the rest seem determined to travel," said tour operator Michael Caslin.

Each booking was required to pay £15 for a visa which had to be stamped on all passports at the nearest Yugoslav Embassy in London and remained valid for only one month. That may mean going through the process all over again.

The FAI does not expect to incur any financial loss. Commenting on the implications of the postponement, Bernard O'Byrne said: "We haven't evaluated the situation as yet and it depends to some extent on how the problem over the re-arrangements for the game is resolved."