Dundalk fan looks back on ‘special’ Italia 90 journey 30 years on

Thirty years ago, this week was a special time for Irish football and especially for 100 Dundalk fans assembling in the Century Bar in Chapel Street for the first leg of the trip to Italia ’90 to support Ireland at their first ever appearance at the World Cup.

Tony O ‘Kane, Century Bar, was our Dundalk/Ireland manager and organiser putting together a trip of a lifetime for his customers. It was exciting times for Irish football fans, and it was extra exciting for proud Dundalk supporters with a local player Stephen Staunton in the team who learned his trade in the Friary Field as a schoolboy with St. Dominics.

Traffic came to a standstill around the Chapel Street /Roden Place junction as a huge crowd gathered outside the Century Bar to wave off the two busloads of lucky supporters to Belfast airport for the flight to Malta. Ireland’s qualifying group consisted of England, Egypt, and Holland; we were sort of punished by FIFA who were very worried about the possibility of crowd trouble due to the notorious record of England fans at away games.

The games would be played away from the Italian mainland on the Islands of Sardinia and Sicily with alcohol bans in place on match days. Most Irish fans stayed in Italy, but Tony brilliantly came up with a solution and based us all in Malta where we could relax or party or both and flew us over and back for the short 20 minute trips to Sicily and Sardinia. We were nervous going into the England game, we knew they wanted revenge for Stuttgart, security was very tight in Sardinia but despite a few wee skirmishes with England fans it was mostly trouble free as Ireland deservedly shared the points with a very pleasing performance.

Many other Irish fans were based in Malta, so it was party time when we got back. The people of Malta were delighted to accommodate the Irish with the bars and hotels doing a roaring trade, lots of us had stayed and partied here previously in November ’89 when Ireland beat the hosts to qualify for Italia’90. In between the Ireland games and the partying Tony organised a few games with local teams all played at the excellent training facility at Malta’s football headquarters in Valletta, he even brought a full set of match gear with him from Dundalk.

Palermo in Sicily was the location for Ireland’s second game as Ireland drew 0-0 with Egypt in very hot conditions, we were disappointed with the result and the fact that the alcohol ban was still on because of the England supporters reputation even though they were playing in Sardinia!.

It’s now almost two weeks since we departed from Chapel Street and it possibly could be our last day as we headed for the third and final group game on 21st June which brought us back a few days later to Sicily for the clash with our old friends Holland.

This time we beat the ban when a few of us sneaked aboard the Achille Lauro cruise ship docked in Palermo Harbour to meet up with friends who were on an organised World Cup cruise by former Ireland player Ray Treacy.

There was no alcohol ban on board as we thoroughly enjoyed the pre-match World Cup party with a difference on a cruise ship, Ray Treacy did give us strange looks when we disembarked in the evening to head for the game. The atmosphere was amazing at the Palermo Stadium as both sets of fans mixed and sang together.

Holland were one of the favourites to win the World Cup and Ruud Gullit set them up nicely with an early goal but Niall Quinn equalised in the second half to secure a deserved draw and send the Irish fans into dreamland as plans were quickly made for the next phase - que sera sera sera.