Our real ‘ambassadors’ - Paris to honour Irish soccer fans

SOCCER fans with long memories will remember the glory of Euro 1988, when Ray Houghton scored a looping header that secured England’s defeat against the Republic of Ireland.

Celebrations among Irish fans went on for days in Stuttgart, in what was then West Germany. The city ran out of beer. It didn’t run out of fondness, though, for the Irish supporters, who, drunk or sober, behaved impeccably. Just like their team, they hardly put a foot wrong.

Switch forward to 2016 and a new generation of Irish supporters has shown itself to be an equally good ambassador for its country, during the Euros in France.

The Mayor of Paris has announced that she will award the Medal of the City of Paris to Republic of Ireland football fans for their sportsmanship.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the supporters had been “exemplary in their sportsmanship” and distinguished themselves by the “atmosphere” they created from the start of Euro 2016.

She has written to President Michael D Higgins, an enthusiastic soccer fan, to tell him of the award.

Considering the ugly scenes witnessed between rival fans of other nations during the Euros, this is something for which we can be jusifiably proud.

We may have exited the Euros, but at least we did it in style. Our team did us proud but, more importantly, so did our supporters.