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FSogol

(45,504 posts)
Thu Jun 23, 2016, 09:49 AM Jun 2016

Irish fans are charming their way through Euro 2016 with song and good deeds

With the European Championship being contested in France, thousands of Irish fans have traveled to the country to cheer on their side. Whereas the thought of hordes of soccer fans descending on foreign towns can conjure up shudders (think: hooliganism), green-clad Ireland supporters seem to have led something of a charm offensive.


The previous Ireland match was played in Bordeaux. It didn’t go well for the team — a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Belgium — but the Irish fans again made friends wherever they went, notably on a train, where they sang lullabies to a baby while otherwise trying to keep the noise down.

Elsewhere in Bordeaux, a large group of Irish fans was huddling in a tunnel to stay out of a downpour when French police showed up to move them along. Rather than a tense standoff ensuing, the group broke into more good-natured singing while very much behaving itself (certainly by soccer-fan standards). Going far beyond mere good behavior were some other Irish fans, who actually engaged in some impromptu trash collection — all for the “boys in green,” of course. Even the mayor of Bordeaux praised his town’s visitors.


Whole article and lots of videos here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/06/22/irish-fans-are-charming-their-way-through-euro-2016-with-song-and-good-deeds/?tid=pm_sports_pop_b
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