Roy Hodgson: End IRA songs before England visit Ireland in June

Posted Thursday, April 02, 2015 by skysports.com

Roy Hodgson: Wrote to England fans before Ireland's last visit to England

Roy Hodgson has called on England supporters to cut out "political chants" before this summer's trip to Dublin to face Republic of Ireland,

Martin O'Neill's team host Hodgson's men in June in the first Dublin meeting between the sides since crowd trouble forced the first-half abandonment of a friendly 20 years ago.

The Football Association called for an end to anti-IRA songs in the wake of last year's friendly match against Scotland, but the same songs could again be heard in Turin on Tuesday night as England and Italy drew 1-1.

And Hodgson is aware of the potential for trouble if there is a repeat at the Aviva Stadium on June 7.

He said: "I'm very keen that we get the support that we get. I love the fact that our fans come (to matches) and there's no way I can justify or be glad about any political chants of that nature."

"We can only hope that in some way we can put that right before we go to Ireland because the last thing we want in Ireland is anything other than a very good football match which again puts us to the test, like the Italy game has done."

Hodgson wrote to fans before Ireland's most recent visit to Wembley in 2013 asking them to refrain from singing songs "of a religious or political perspective - which could cause offence to our visitors or fellow fans."

There were no arrests for football-related violence that night.