Race to save fans from a World of pain

IRISH embassy and consular staff scrambled to get match tickets for Irish soccer fans at the last World Cup held in the US more than 30 years ago in order to prevent a “riotous situation,” according to newly released State files.

- BY SEAN MCCARTHAIGH

Confidential documents made available by the National Archives show Irish officials made enormous efforts in June 1994 to get match tickets for fans.

Supporters had been left stranded and tick-etless in Florida and Massachusetts after the sudden collapse of a British travel agent, Sportex, during the World Cup tournament.

Months later, the Irish ambassador to the US, Dermot Gallagher justified expenditure on the tickets as they had acted as “a vital safety net for Ireland and our image here”.

Mr Gallagher said the work of his embassy staff and the consulates “represented one of the most effective and productive promotions of Ireland and her image during the World Cup”. He also admitted it had been “a purely defensive and damage limitation effort on our part”.