Dundalk ‘fully cooperating with all the relevant authorities' and vow zero tolerance after allegation of racial remark
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Derry City need to clamp down on yob violence which is a threat to fan safety along with League of Ireland growth
WHEN its most arresting image is of someone sitting on a fence holding what looks like a rocket launcher, it has not been a good weekend for the League of Ireland. The video doing the rounds with a clearly petrified young girl crying out to her daddy, from outside the ground, as 2 Local yobs attacked away fans in this instance Credit: X 2 Carl Winchester looks on after a flare was thrown onto the pitch It is bad enough when facilities in many grounds are not up to scratch without the inherent danger extending beyond rank toilets to the threat of getting caught up in violence. One view of what happened in Derry is a crowd of Dubliners came up looking for trouble, got it and the response that followed might make them think twice about trying that again. And there will not be a huge amount of sympathy for any Bohs supporter who got their comeuppance having decided the best way to spend their time before kick-off was to attack locals. It is difficult to see how they thought it was going to go well for them in an area where people are more accustomed to defending their turf than most. Read More On Irish Football Some reports suggested the fight was pre-arranged, with others claiming it was revenge for an attack on Bohs fans when the Phibsborough club played there earlier in the season. Of course, neither the protagonists on this occasion nor those who sought retribution gave too much thought to the innocent bystanders who could be Former Candystripes captain and manager Peter Hutton warned: 'These ultras or young boys are putting fear into the young supporters who simply want to enjoy the football. "There is no place for it in the game. Parents will now be thinking twice whether it is safe to let their children go to games. Most read in Football 'If these guys are planning trouble in advance and looking to get things into the ground, the club needs to ramp up its security and be aware of this.' Such scenes are, for the most part, rare in our League which is why the attack on St Pat's fans outside a pub in Irishtown prior to the 2021 FAI Cup final against Bohs got so much attention. Drake hints Cole Palmer is inspiration behind his new album name as he shares brilliant video of Chelsea star There was also an attack on a pub in Drumcondra prior to the league meeting between But Dublin derbies with the potential for trouble are generally well managed in the immediate vicinity of grounds through segregation and the staggered departure of home and away supporters. That is what happened in Derry on Friday night too, except there was no attempt made to contain the away contingent within the stand, where they had a level of protection, when pictures were already circulating on social media of masked youngsters armed with golf clubs and more lying in wait outside. When they drifted outside to the open area behind the stand and fireworks were propelled in their direction, there was some surprise that there was no obvious effort to get them to shelter and to make their way out safely towards their coaches via the pitch. Much of the local reaction has focused on the initial attack, which is understandable, but there is a wider issue here surrounding the safety of away supporters in Derry which nobody can afford to ignore. STRUGGLE FOR BUSES Some supporters' clubs for away teams no longer run buses for that fixture or, even if they want to, struggle to find companies willing to bring them based on past experience. In April of last year, as happened on Friday, a match against The sight of a young boy entering the pitch to pick it up during the game — which was being broadcast live on television — and running a significant distance with the flare in his hand was not a great advertisement for its stewarding which, uniquely and for obvious reasons, does not have a police presence inside the ground. Unlike on Friday, Rovers supporters were moved to the centre circle after the final whistle in an attempt to keep them out of harm's way. It prompted Derry to move away fans to a different part of the ground when St Pat's came to town 72 hours later. When the PSNI responded to the disturbances at the Rovers game, they were attacked with missiles. As a result of what happened, Derry City were fined €2,000 by an independent disciplinary committee, which also imposed a suspended partial stadium closure although that would only come into force if anything happened at their next home game after their ruling, against Shelbourne. That did not come to pass but Shels had already had their own problems there the previous October when a coach carrying its supporters was bricked as it left the area, with a gofundme page launched to pay the near-€4,000 bill to replace a smashed door window. ATTACK ON ROVERS FANS A month prior to that, Rovers fans had been attacked when coming out of the ground, again, not, it is believed, by anyone who had attended the game. That recurring theme does make it difficult for Derry City, as a club, to address it. After they were sanctioned last year, the club issued a statement accepting the ruling. It added: 'The club condemns the scenes in and around the ground on Friday night and has cooperated fully with the Disciplinary Control Unit of the FAI. 'Since the events of last Friday, representatives of the club have met with several statutory agencies to discuss enhanced crowd control measures. 'As a result of continued anti-social behaviour, the club need to take additional measures to ensure that all supporters attending games in the Ryan McBride stadium can enjoy a safe and enjoyable match night experience. "This is highly unfortunate and not a move the club takes lightly. It has, however been forced on the club due to those recent events.' A separate League of Ireland statement said that it 'and the FAI are committed to providing a safe environment for players, officials, staff and spectators at all our fixtures'. UNIQUE BACKDROP But crowd control within a stadium is tough enough without the remit extending beyond its perimeter walls. And the reality is that, no matter how well-intentioned, neither the club nor the FAI can guarantee the safety of away fans — and nor can the PSNI. Clearly, trying to police the area outside The Brandywell is not comparable to any other League of Ireland ground so it is up to those in the Bogside itself. If those with influence have any regard for a club which has made a significant contribution to both the community, and, in its 40 years as a member, the League, they will put an end to this carry-on before its name is tarnished any further. And those travelling north might wise up too and, in a phrase with which Bohs fans will be familiar, 'concentrate on the football'.
RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
New documentary shines light on Irish football's rocky road
Trying to make it as a professional footballer is like walking up a mountain with a sack of bricks on your back; the climb gets steeper and the sack gets heavier every time you take a forward step. It's hard to comprehend just how difficult it is to reach the summit, but a new three-part RTÉ documentary peels back the curtain, following some aspiring stars in Shelbourne's academy as they try to navigate the road to the top. Football Families tracks players' journeys amid the the backdrop of Damien Duff's senior side winning the 2024 SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division title. We meet Tallaght native Jayden Marshall, a left-sided centre-half who arrived from Crumlin United. When the family home was engulfed by a fire, football became a sanctuary. His dad asked the firemen to rescue one memento from the blaze: the Republic of Ireland shirt Jayden wore on his debut for the Under-15s: "You can have all the money in the world," he says, "but you can't buy one of them". Goalkeeper Ali Topcu is shown refining his skills in his back garden. An oversized goal is erected to test his agility, with the bumpy lawn sharpening reaction times. His father quit his job as a scaffolder to fully focus on his son's career. "Now my aim is to see Ali become a superstar," he declares. There's Cillian O'Sullivan, the diminutive and technically gifted Howth native know locally as 'the kid with the football'. And we're introduced to remarkably mature 11-year-old Joe Adewale, who announces: "My dream is to retire my parents and make my parents proud of course. Footballers spend money recklessly, they're buying lots of designer clothes, they're getting fake teeth. Football is a big business." Joe's older brother Derin is well placed to hand down valuable advice. Two years ago he joined Serie A club Lecce from Bohemians. The change in culture, language barrier and – crucially – an unfortunate knee injury derailed his move, and he returned to Shels Under-20s. Derin featured for the Reds in their recent FAI Cup clash with Fairview Rangers, chipping in with an assist in a 4-0 victory. Duff, who has since departed as first-team boss, says: "The dream scenario is four, five, six academy graduates playing for the first team." But that's a massive ask in such a competitive environment. "It's very tough for them," says Shelbourne academy director Colm Barron. "On one hand, they need to commit with unwavering faith that they'll make it. But at the same time, they have to confront the brutal reality that they may not." It's well documented that Ireland is miles behind when it comes to resources in the grassroots game. In April, the government put €1m towards an audit of League of Ireland clubs as part of longer-term plans to provide funding for academies. That audit will be completed by mid-August, but the investment can't come soon enough for those at the coal face. "You become everything," adds Barron. "If you look at what a Category 3 UK academy club would have, you've got a head of player care, you have a head of sports psychology, you have a head of sports science, you have a head of coach education. "We just don't have that infrastructure, so between the managers and coaches and the resources you have - and there's many of them that that are voluntary even working in the National League - without them we'd be absolutely lost. "They go above and beyond for players, whether it's collecting them from school to get them to training, or helping out with food, fees whatever we can do to try to help players, we do that. You become stretched in that way where you nearly become everything to the players." A new series featuring Shelbourne Football club's most promising young talent from across the country as they strive to make it as professional footballers ⚽ #FootballFamilies | Starts Thursday at 10.10pm — RTÉ One (@RTEOne) July 28, 2025 The challenges are the same for the boys and the girls. Exciting Treaty United starlet Madison McGuane features. Her mother knew she had something special when Madison travelled to a boys tournament in Birmingham aged eight despite suffering an eye injury. She had to wear an eye patch but took it off for the games and came home with the player of the tournament trophy. McGuane already has a plan mapped out for her future: "I'd love to get a scholarship and maybe go to America, play football over there and then go play with a WSL team." She may well do that (McGuane is already an established midfielder in the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division), but that path is getting harder all the time as the levels in the women's game rise exponentially. "When you talk about football as an industry, it's the male and female game," adds Barron. "Both sides are falling further and further behind. That's the reality of it. I was at a tournament about a year and a half ago in Spain where I watched Espanyol Under-14s girls play Barcelona Under-14s girls in the semi-final of a tournament. The standard was exceptional, just exceptional. The athleticism, the awareness, the speed of their play. "What they have is the infrastructure there to go in and train properly and understand about diet, nutrition, hydration, training four nights a week, all of them things that create, hopefully, a top-level footballer. They may not have the financial backing, but the infrastructure is there to support them within it. That's massive." It's a grind; a daily challenge that demands absolute commitment from everyone involved. For Barron, and the many coaches like him on this island, it's a selfless job with one allure: "The passion of developing players is ultimately what drives you, you know? There's no lucrative rewards for coaches. The reward is hoping that you can help players along a pathway for them maybe to become full-time footballers, but if not, to become better people and maximise their potential, which is what we try to do." Watch the first episode of Football Families this Thursday 31 July on RTÉ One, 10.10pm.
Irish Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder is still one of the most mysterious of our time
Who killed Sophie Toscan du Plantier is one of the greatest riddles of our time. If it wasn't the so-called prime suspect Ian Bailey, then who actually did it? Here we are almost 30 years later and the Gardai seem to be no nearer to solving the case than they were all those years ago. The Garda review into the murder is now going three years. It was announced in a blaze of fanfare and publicity in June, 2022 and has not published any findings into the case so far. A parallel team of detectives are carrying out the actual murder probe but no new arrests have been made and no new leads they are following have been disclosed publicly. We do know the director and filmmaker Jim Sheridan, who made the smash hit documentary on the Sophie case, Murder At The Cottage, has passed on information about a man who was seen following the French woman in Schull, west Cork on the afternoon before she died. He has identified him and given the name to the Gardai. However we have no idea if detectives have gone to France where he lives to track him down and interview him. Ian Bailey on his deathbed always believed a Frenchman known to Sophie had something to do with her murder. Her heartbroken family, her elderly mother and son Pierre are all convinced Ian Bailey did it. Their suspicions are based on much of the evidence heard in the French murder trial which the suspect himself did not appear at. Ian Bailey. (Image: (Photo by)) Sophie Toscan du Plantier. (Image: PA) However much of this "evidence" was based on hearsay and would never have been permitted in an Irish court of law. The other big player in the whole saga is the painter Jules Thomas who lived with Ian Bailey for over 30 years until they split up three years before he died. She provided him with an alibi on the night of the murder on December 23, 1996 and is adamant her former lover did not kill Sophie. Some Gardai were hoping she might change her story after they stopped living together on the basis she was no longer under " Bailey spell" whatever that was supposed to mean. But Jules was not for turning and has stuck to her guns. I spoke to her at length only last week and she told me Bailey may have been a lot of things but he was not a killer. She said: "He couldn't kill a turkey for God's sake, never mind a human being." She is fighting a serious illness but Jules is now spending all her spare time writing a book on the case, giving her side of the story. "The whole Sophie murder ruined both of our lives and we will never get that time back," she told me. Jules is also convinced that she knows who did kill the French film producer and it was someone with huge local connections. Her account of the case and what really happened will be fascinating to read. The current Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is due to leave office in September. It would be a positive move if he released details of the review before he leaves office. It is shocking to think that if Bailey didn't do it well then the killer is still out there and that person has been getting away with murder for years. Everybody from Sophie's heartbroken family, to all the locals around Schull and west Cork, to Jules Thomas want the truth to come out once and for all. Trump runs rings around EU There is only one winner in the Tariff war between Europe and America and that is Donald Trump and the USA. European goods imported into the United States will be subject to a 15% tariff while American goods imported into Europe will be subject to zero tariffs. The EU negotiators have failed miserably to get a decent deal and don't mind all the spin that the Irish government and Brussels puts on it. The bottom line is they didn't have the courage for a trade war with Trump and he knew it. The result will give the US a staggering €90b dollars every year in tariffs, great money if you can get it. The only positive outcome for us is it brings stability so at least we know where we stand for future budgets. I can tell you one thing, Trump is no idiot and he proved it here. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Image: Getty Images) Housing crisis fix I have spent a lot of time around Ireland in the past few weeks and there is dereliction and empty spaces over shops in almost every town and village I visited. The answer to our housing crisis is there before our eyes by giving out large grants and tax breaks for people to renovate these properties and to get people living above shops again like they do all over mainland Europe. In one town Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, a beautiful place by the way, there was one small street with six derelict buildings. This is where we should be investing at a hundred miles an hour. There are currently more than 750 council homes across Ireland which have been boarded up for more than a year (Image: Getty) Plane sailing for Ryanair boss You can say what you like about Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary but at least he lives all year round in Ireland and pays his taxes here. The same can not be said about some of our so-called wealthy elite who prefer to live elsewhere because of better climate and lower taxes and fly in and out of the Emerald Isle on their private jets to their holiday homes here. Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary (Image: PA Archive/PA Images) Congrats to the Kingdom Fair play to Kerry for winning their 39th All Ireland. I predicted all last week that they would hammer Donegal and got abused and insulted for daring to have such an opinion. The fact is the wide open spaces in Croke Park do not suit the defence minded Northern teams and Donegal could not handle the all out attacking style of the lads from the Kingdom. Kerry coach Jack O'Connor deserves great credit and has now won five All Irelands as manager putting him up there with the other greats Mick O'Dwyer and Jim Galvin. For the Donegal manager Jim McGuinness, it is back to the drawing board and he took his defeat in fairness with great calm and dignity. Let's face it there is not a lot you can say when you are beaten by the better team on the day. From the get go Kerry were always in control and were never in any danger of losing the game. The new rules are fantastic and have saved the great game that we all love. Roll on next year, Louth for Sam. You read it here first. Kerry's David Clifford and son Ogie celebrate with the Sam Maguire Cup (Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne) Summer means Galway Races All eyes are on the city of Galway this week for the races which are one of the sporting highlights of the summer. Every day crowds from all over the country will descend on the Ballybrit track on what is a wonderful social occasion. I have had some great times in Galway over the years and loved every minute of the atmosphere. The Galway races means we are at the height of summer time in Ireland so enjoy every second of it. Racegoers attempt to shield themselves from the rain during The Galway Races Summer Festival (Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire) Fine Gael need to wise up There is no way this Government should be helping the hospitality sector before struggling families in the October Budget. Fine Gael who are pushing this agenda need to cop themselves on. There is no doubt some pubs and restaurants need some help. But reducing the VAT rate from 13 to 9pc while doing nothing for working families who are finding it difficult to pay their bills, especially rising energy costs, is not the solution. Remember the big five star hotels that are already charging customers a fortune and will get the biggest boost from a VAT cut for this sector. There must be another way to help the bars and restaurants such as tax relief against their soaring energy costs. There must also be energy credits once again for families on low incomes. The economists and financial experts keep saying the country is booming but many people don't feel like that and have little or no spare cash. Fine Gael leader, Simon Harris. Take care of our own I see 56 illegal Irish immigrants have been kicked out of the United States. Most were arrested in the New York and Boston areas and had overstayed their 90 day visas. There are still thousands of Irish illegals in America with some there 10 to 20 years. It is a real worrying time for them. The sooner our Government tries to help them get green cards the better. Remember if you are going to the US come home before 90 days or you are looking for trouble. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), agents detain an immigrant. (Image: Getty Images) Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
