Italia '90: An unforgettable summer that still leaves us smiling

The outpouring of emotion during the Republic of Ireland's 1990 World Cup campaign showed the country at its best 

Jack Charlton was stunned by the crowds which welcomed the Republic of Ireland home after Italia 90. He said:  “If I live to be a hundred, I don’t think I’ll forget what I’ve just seen out there.”©INPHO

“Now there are a host of memories to be cherished for years to come.” 

So proclaimed an editorial in the Irish Press on July 2, 1990. It was the day after the Irish soccer team had arrived in Dublin to extraordinary scenes. An estimated 500,000 people had taken to the streets of the capital, with 50,000 people at the airport alone, reacting in ecstasy even as the plane (the ‘St. Jack’, as Aer Lingus renamed it) landed.