Suspected Irish soccer hooligan arrested in Tokyo

An Irishman suspected of being a soccer hooligan has been arrested by police in Tokyo.

The 29-year-old was detained after arriving at Tokyo's Narita Airport on a flight from Bangkok.

He was refused leave to enter Japan after his name was found to be on a list of potential troublemakers. A Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed a man holding an Irish passport had been refused entry by Japanese authorities, but gave no further details.

A Garda spokesman told ireland.comthat Irish authorities do not have a list of potential trouble makers because hooliganism is not a problem in the State.

It is possible the man's name appeared on a list supplied by British police to their Japanese counterparts.

Despite widespread fears, tournament co-hosts Japan and Korea have so far seen almost no violence. Only fifteen suspected trouble-makers have so far been refused entry to Japan.

In a separate incident Japanese police said they arrested three Irishmen at the World Cup stadium in Yokohama, the site of yesterday’s Ireland-Saudi Arabia match.

Two of the men were spotted by stadium security officers when they were climbing a parapet near the stadium ahead of the game, police said. Neither man was in possession of tickets.

The third man was stopped at the stadium gate as he was trying to get in to see the match using a ticket for the Japan-Russia game on June 9th, they said. Police said that none of the three men carried passports with them.

"We were able to identify the men only through their credit cards," a police official said.

The three men are being detained at the police department in Yokohama, 25 kilometres southwest of Tokyo. Additional reporting:

AFPand