Republic and England not kept apart in draw

UEFA officials confirmed in Ghent yesterday that there are no plans to separate the Republic of Ireland and England when the draw for the qualifying round of the next European soccer Championship takes place here tomorrow.

The decision, which could have significant implications for security authorities on both sides of the Irish Sea, means that the countries could meet for the first time since England's visit to Lansdowne Road in February, 1995, ended in a riot.

With both Ireland and England included in the flight of second seeded countries, the problem didn't arise when the draw for the qualifying rounds of the 1998 World Cup took place in France two years ago.

Now, with England elevated to a top seeding for the European Championship and Ireland, regrettably, moving in the opposite direction to a place among those ranked at number three, it becomes a possibility.

A spokesman for UEFA said that there had been no application from either national association for a special arrangement in the draw which is scheduled to start at 2.0 p.m. Irish time tomorrow.

"In the absence of requests to the contrary, it is not normally the function of UEFA to impose special arrangements," he said. "If there is a security risk involved in an international game, we are usually made aware of it by one or other of the competing federations.

"That hasn't happened in this instance and we can only assume that the need for special measures does not arise."

That last sentence might alarm Garda authorities who, in the wake of the appalling violence at Lansdowne Road three years ago, expressed the view that a return visit by England in the immediate future would be "inappropriate".

The same sentiments were voiced by the Irish Rugby Football Union who, concerned about the damage to property at Lansdowne Road, said that in the prevailing climate another visit by England would pose an unacceptable risk.

Bernard O'Byrne, the FAI's chief executive, offered the opinion that a game against England in Dublin would not put them on a collision course with the Garda authorities. "It would, however, cause a few raised eyebrows among the FA people in London if we intimated that we did not wish to meet them in Dublin," he said.

Tomorrow's draw will be the first in 12 years in which the Republic of Ireland has failed to command a place among the first two flights of seeded countries.

Not since the European draw in 1986 have they been ranked so low and that is a direct consequence of their failure to qualify for the finals of the last two major championships.

It has done nothing to minimise the challenge awaiting Mick McCarthy, who arrives here today to attend the draw, but he still chooses to be pragmatic.

"If we're very unlucky, we could end up in a group consisting of Germany, France, Poland and Azerbaijan - now that's what I would call a group of grief," he said. "Any grouping which includes Poland as the fourth seeded country has to be dangerous, but, hopefully, we're going to avoid them.

"The realities of the situation, however, are that we have to win games if we are to qualify. And once the whistle goes, it doesn't really matter how you're ranked - you've got to do the business on the park."

Meeting in Ghent yesterday, the organising committee endorsed a recommendation by UEFA's executive committee that the format for the qualifiers should be precisely the same as that for the European section of the 1998 World Cup.

Belgium and Holland, as joint hosts, are exempted from the qualifying process, leaving 49 countries to compete for the remaining 14 places in the finals. The groups will be divided into five of five teams and four of six teams, with the winners in each instance, together with the best second-placed team, advancing to the finals. The remaining eight countries finishing second will then be drawn in knock-out competition to determine the other four finalists.

The organising committee will recommend a number of set dates and then the various countries will have 60 days to arrange their programmes. Because of congestion in the fixtures list, each country will be required to play two games in any one of three specified weeks.