If it was already getting a bit out of hand with one man and his attempt to hoover the streets of Bordeaux, then we can safely say that there's an epidemic currently breaking out on the west coast of France.
Young Irish men on holiday, without wishing to paint everyone with the same brush, would generally not be included in the typical venn diagram of (a) people who like to enjoy themselves and (b) people who like to do so while leaving behind as little mess as possible.
And yet this week we've seen the breakout of an extraordinary phenomenon. It's mob mentality on HGH but it's manifesting itself in the greatest way possible.
If the 'clean up for the boys in green' phenomenon kicked off in positive fashion on Wednesday night, then last night (Thursday) it really hit bizarre new heights. First up, we have this group of individuals courtesy of Chris Riordan in the Euro 2016 Facebook group.
Blatantly pissing off the binmen who are just trying to get through their night's work but doing so in such a manner that you can't help but let them at it.
Next up we have one hero in particular.
This Irish fan was sweeping up after everyone tonight in Bordeaux. Witnessed it. #COYBIG 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/RHNKKYyFtn
— Barry Fitzgerald (@bfitzgerald76) June 17, 2016
And there's even footage of him. Notice the extreme skill in cleaning up for the boys in green and also not spilling a pint (presumably also for the boys in green).
Disgraceful behaviour of #Irish fans 😂#COYBIG #Éire32 #EURO2016 @CiamhieMc @NiallSF @SeanOR13 @rosney @ballsdotie pic.twitter.com/ECbixoGB2L
— Pól ☘ (@poljoy32) June 16, 2016
Big thanks to Pól for that footage.
We may be thinking about this too much but there's something incredibly interesting at play here. On a deep psychological level, these Irish fans are providing the academic world with some incredible real life experiments. One Irish fan suggested decided to start chanting 'clean up for the boys in green' in Bordeaux one evening and all of a sudden, the mob have taken it to heart and taken it to extreme levels.
Individually, you'd do well to find a single one of those fans who love nothing more than sweeping the streets in their spare time. However, get them in a group, spread an idea among them and all of a sudden, the binmen of Bordeaux are out of a job. Fascinating stuff.
