Lansdowne Road riots left a black mark on the beautiful game

Few will forget Ireland’s ill-fated 1995 clash with England at Lansdowne

Amongst the pandemonium, flying debris and truncheon wielding-gardaí who attempted to combat the troublemakers, stood a father and son.

The fear on James Eager’s face, the seven-year-old stood on the Lansdowne Road turf with his father, Seamus, shielding him from chairs, planks of wood and metal bars which cascaded from the upper echelons of the West Stand, became the iconic image of that infamous February night in 1995.