Sir, – Declan Bannon (February 21st) asks why Matt Williams would comment in his column (Sports Monday February 20th) that the events in Paris on the evening of the postponed Six Nations game would have caused a riot if it had been an international soccer match.
It is easy to have some sympathy with Mr Bannon’s comments, as clearly the Irish soccer fans have a very good record in this regard, however Matt Williams’s comment did not refer to Irish international soccer fans, moreover his comment simply referred to “an international soccer crowd”.
Perhaps Mr Bannon would like to look at the evidence of the level of violence at international soccer matches compared to that of international rugby (or rugby at any level) matches over recent decades and he can only come to the conclusion of pure fact.
Need I remind him of the behaviour of England fans in Rome in 2007 and Dublin in 1995 and German fans at the World Cup in France in 1998? There are many more examples of international soccer rioting which continues to afflict the club game in European countries such as Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK.
Only a cursory glance at the internet testifies to these problems. If the game of rugby and its supporters worldwide in some way possess the moral high ground with regard to crowd behaviour then it is well deserved and the so- called beautiful game, and its governing bodies, can only look on with a degree of envy. – Yours, etc,