In 1843, two Irish Protestant settlers, James Atkinson and William Rutledge each purchased over 5,000 acres of land in the Victoria state and named the township Belfast. Atkinson planned the town which became the largest privately owned town in Australia . Irish immigrants were encouraged to join them and evidence of their influence is still found in the settlement today.
Rutledge made his money in exporting wool and gold, importing a variety of goods to serve his local clientele. Rutledge's business didn't have total success and he often fell out with the local settlers as he went bankrupt and many of the settlers suffered. One way and another "Billy" rebuilt his fortune, he was part of many institutions in Belfast and was charming enough to be forgiven by most. He died in 1876 and the town was renamed Port Fairy in 1887.
The tenuous link is with a football match played on February 15 1995 and today is the anniversary of the disastrous international between Terry Venables' England and Jack Charlton's Republic of Ireland at Landsdowne Road. 1-0 down and being played off the park by the Irish, after only 30 minutes the English looked doomed.
Up stepped the English supporters who started a riot and threw seats and other debris onto the Irish crowd in the tier below. I remember it well, squirming in front of my television as events unfolded. Although the English players appealed to the hooligans to stop, they were in danger of being hurt themselves and captain David Platt narrowly missed being hit by a lump of wood. The players were led off the field by the ref and the game abandoned.
In their next game after this Irish debacle, England thrashed a Hong Kong Invitation XI away 1-0.
Despite this embarrassment, UEFA allowed England to host the European Championships the following year and actually things went quite well for them. Well, as well as can be expected.
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