"Thugs... with their Irish soccer jerseys."
Ireland fans were gripped to any form of media today as the draw for the World Cup Play-offs were made and
we found out that we were facing Denmark in a two-leg decider to see who goes to Russia and who stays at home.
We don't know how we're going to play or what the result will be yet but one thing we do know for certain, when the Irish fans land in
Copenhagen on 11 November, they will light up the city like they do no matter where they go.
Irish fans are renowned for being friendly and supportive of their team when they go on their travels, so a character portrayal by famous author Dan Brown in his latest fictional book, titled
The Origin, will not go down well with anyone who follows the Boys in Green.
Ryan Tubridy raised the issue on
his radio show on Tuesday morning (which begins around the 13th minute mark) after he came across the book which he was thoroughly enjoying until he reached the second chapter.
The chapter states that two Irish soccer fans enter a pub and start to act like 'thugs' and start verbally and physically abusing a soldier in uniform.
"This soldier lad in a uniform goes into a bar in, I think it's Lisbon in Portugal, and he orders a tonic water because he was off the sauce. He had a problem with the drink at one stage," said Tubridy.
He continues, "the door opens and these two hooligans, who are then called 'thugs', come in with their Irish soccer jerseys and they are drunk and they order pints and they start slagging your man for his uniform, slagging him for his medals, poking him and starting a row and looking at the women behind the bar, essentially start being aggressive and unpleasant, drunk and acting like hooligans".
Tubridy went on to state that as someone who adores his country, he found himself getting quite angry about the description of the two Irish fans, which the presenter described as the most "admired and appreciated of all the fans around the world".
The pub where the two "thugs" go into is called the Molly Malone pub and although Tubridy acknowledged the book is fictional, he said that Brown had completely misrepresented Ireland soccer fans.
"I think it's irritating, it's annoying, it's unacceptable. I may be going over the top here, but at the same time he has really misrepresented Ireland, the Irish soccer team and particularly the Irish soccer fans."
