England manager Roy Hodgson has slammed fans chanting about the IRA and made a plea to put an end to it before the friendly against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, reported by the Mirror.
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Hodgson was left fearing for fan safety when the Three Lions play a friendly in June in Ireland after fans could be heard chanting “F*** the IRA” and “No Surrender” during this week’s friendly against Italy.
There were similar complaints from the FA following the recent friendly in Scotland, leaving England bosses worried a repeat of the songs in Dublin will spark major crowd trouble.
The England boss hoped that the FA can stamp the problem out ahead of the Ireland game, “I’m a football coach – very keen that we get the support that we get, of course. I love the fact that our fans come and there’s no way I can justify or be glad about any political chants of that nature.
“We can only hope that in some way we can put that right before we go to Ireland.
“The last thing we want in Ireland is anything other than a very good football match which, again, puts us to the test like the Italy game has done.”
Following their 4-0 stroll against Lithuania at Wembley, England sit top of their Euro 2016 qualification group with a 100% record, looking likely to qualify for the tournament without breaking sweat. Ireland, on the other hand, are two points behind the qualification spots following a dramatic 1-1 draw against group leaders Poland at the Aviva Stadium.