Police defend decision to turn away drunk Irish rugby fans

Christchurch police have defended their decision to turn away drunken Irish fans from the weekend’s All Blacks match.

It is believed 30 people were refused entry for intoxication, while 16 others were ejected during the match for drunken behaviour.

Most of the troublemakers were Irish supporters who “demonstrated they can’t handle alcohol”, senior sergeant Scott Banfield said.

“They’re too intoxicated, we know what trouble they’re going to cause in the stadium.

“Stadium staff intervened early by reducing the amount of alcohol that could be served shortly after kick-off which I believe had a positive effect.

“I think they just have to understand... if they’re in Rome do as the Romans do. We don’t drink to a point where we fall over so much in our country.”

And he said pre-game drinking by Irish fans caused most of the trouble they had to deal with at the test.

“I’m not picking on the Irish, but a lot of the people that were ejected and removed and caused some problems were wearing green and gold, so one can assume they were supporting the Irish.”

He also blamed the Irish for a half-time streaking incident. “She came from the Irish part of the east stand where they had their green and gold flags.

“Obviously she wasn’t wearing anything so I couldn’t tell which team she supported.”