the moment the names came out of the hat, aston villa had to play west bromwich albion in an fa cup quarter final the same when west ham united met millwall in the carling cup in 2009 no escape administrators must have winced, but that was the hand they had been dealt no doubt there were similar misgivings at uefa when serbia were paired with albania in the 2016 european championship qualifiers whoever arranged for england to meet the republic of ireland in dublin on june 7, however, is a numpty fans invaded the pitch at villa park after aston villa beat west brom in the fa cup  the last time england played ireland in dublin in 1995 the game was abandoned due to crowd trouble  the game in 1995 was marred by crowd violence and was called off after 22 minutes  the two sides met at wembley for a friendly in 2013 when they played out a 1 1 draw  after intense negotiations with police, the kick off time has now been brought forward to 1pm why is it being played at all? there are 209 member associations of fifa, which means there are 207 countries that england could play without fear of significant disturbance, and one where england’s last visit was abandoned due to a riot if a free draw sends england back to dublin, both sides will have to handle it — but this is an unnecessary risk, and not worth taking if it ends in tears, and tear gas, again, those who came up with this incendiary fixture should not look far for the blame
england ireland dublin june 7 2013 wembley
england are due to play a friendly against ireland in dublin on june 7  the last time england played in dublin the game was abandoned due to crowed violence  england and ireland played a friendly in 2013 at wembley 