A group of Bray Wanderers fans have come in for heavy criticism for their behaviour during their League of Ireland First Division clash at Longford Town last night.
The game between the two sides would finish in a 1-1 draw, a result which maintained Longford's position in the play-off positions and meant Bray stayed in seventh. However, much of the post-match conversation revolved around incidents that took place off the pitch.
A number of tweets appeared during the match that suggested there had been some trouble among the visiting support, including from Longford's official account.
⏱78' - Bray fans really letting themselves and their club down in the stands. Desperate stuff.
Longford Town 1-1 Bray Wanderers#Town2022 | #LOITV | 🔴⚫— Longford Town FC (@LongfordTownFC) June 10, 2022
Kieran Burke, who was commentating on the match, also suggested that members of the Bray staff had to intervene to ask fans to stop throwing items onto the pitch.
The commentary booth was also a target over the course of the match.
Member of Bray's backroom team having to come across and beg the traveling support to stop letting off pyro. Play stopped as objects thrown on pitch first half. Really disappointing to see such behaviour.
— Kieran Burke 🏇⚽🎯🏎️🎙️ (@Kieran_B_Sport) June 10, 2022
Very difficult to commentate when you've smoke bombs and coins flying across your Commentary position. I hope you all enjoyed the stream. A pulsating game tarnished by thugs
— Kieran Burke 🏇⚽🎯🏎️🎙️ (@Kieran_B_Sport) June 10, 2022
Footage would soon emerge on social media which seemed to point to some of the issues that took place.
In the clip, you can see a number of apparent away fans clashing with stewards, with one attempting to strike out with a flag.
Bray Wanderers need to sort this out ASAP@BrayWanderers pic.twitter.com/sZhRgFEbrM
— Irish Footy Vlogs (@FitzsimonsKeith) June 10, 2022
Disgraceful stuff.
Another clip showed the incident from the opposite stand at Bishopsgate.
Bray fans attacking stewards. Wtf. #GreatestLeagueInTheWorld pic.twitter.com/dBbcTXffSX
— Irish Football Grounds (@Irish_Grounds) June 10, 2022
James Donnelly, who is the Head of Operations at Longford Town, said it was the worst behaviour he had seen from visiting supporters inside the ground.
All of these lads have been volunteering as stewards for Longford Town for years. They don't deserve this. We have had massive away crowds from the likes of Rovers, Bohs, Cork, etc and we have never had the likes of this at Bishopsgate. I'm disgusted tonight. https://t.co/IQ3lzn4LQY
— James Donnelly (@JayDonnelly_93) June 10, 2022
Kieran Burke further elaborated on some of the damage done, with seats in the ground broken and one steward allegedly suffering facial injuries.
In all my years following LOI, the behaviour of the away supporters tonight is the worst I've seen. Objects thrown onto pitch, into home end, coins, smoke bombs, stewards attacked, attempted to tear down fence into home end, seats broke, gardai taking lads out. Bray have a problm pic.twitter.com/PC9xiLTc5C
— Kieran Burke 🏇⚽🎯🏎️🎙️ (@Kieran_B_Sport) June 10, 2022
Longford Town supporters and stewards deserve huge credit tonight. Despite a large number of objects being thrown into home end, not one fan reacted. Stewards were extremely professional and brave. One sustained a cut below his eye. This can not happen. https://t.co/Tf6FLO8Vj0
— Kieran Burke 🏇⚽🎯🏎️🎙️ (@Kieran_B_Sport) June 10, 2022
Members of the Gardaí would intervene at some point in the second half, with a number of away fans removed from the stadium.
This is not the first unsavoury incident involving Bray Wanderers fans this season, who would clash with Pat Devlin after a 1-1 draw with Wexford at the Carlisle Grounds last month.
The club have yet to comment on last night's crowd trouble.
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