State Papers: A scramble for soccer tickets to avoid ‘riotous situation’

Andy Townsend at Giants Stadium against Italy in the 1994 World Cup, File picture: Billy Stickland/Inpho

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

Confidential documents made available by the National Archives show Irish officials made enormous efforts in June 1994 to get match tickets for fans who had been left stranded and ticketless in Florida and Massachusetts after the sudden collapse of a British travel agent, Sportex, during the World Cup tournament.