State Papers: ‘Lack of safety decisions’ ahead of Lansdowne Road riots

Report into the incident concluded that the 'actual serious violence experienced ...was caused solely by English fans' and that this violence had been planned.

English fans in the upper East stand during riots at the soccer 'friendly' match at Lansdowne Road in 1995. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

A report into a riot by English soccer fans at a match between England and Ireland in Dublin in 1995 found that pre-game safety decisions and information were “not clearly understood", according to archive documents.

The Lansdowne Road riot broke out in the first half of the friendly on February 15, 1995.