Getty Unfortunately news from the European Championships has been dominated by stories of violence so far.
The clashes between Russian and English fans in Marseille left one man fighting for his life with dozens more injured.
Fighting also broke out on Saturday night with video showing both Northern Irish and Polish fans being attacked by the local ‘Nice Ultras’ according to witnesses.
However, although these clashes have deservedly received a lot of media attention it’s important to note that it’s a minority of fans who are responsible for these scenes.
The vast majority are peaceful, fun-loving football fans out to support their team, make friends and generally have a good time. Yesterday saw Irish fans enjoying themselves in the streets of Paris as they warmed up for their team’s clash with Sweden this evening.
Exuberant supporters had a sing-song with Croatian fans in the fan zone before bringing traffic to a standstill (whoops) with an epic ‘Rock The Boat’ crowd surf:
Just a fan stopping traffic by crowdsurfing a rock-the-boat on the road in Clichy right now. #coybig pic.twitter.com/rj3wcT2dUN
— Paddy McKenna (@PaddyMcKenna) June 12, 2016
This heartwarming photograph was taken after the attacks on Polish and Northern Irish fans:
A Northern Irish fan holding hands with an injured Polish fan after violence last night. Solidarity.
Posted by UNILAD Football on Sunday, June 12, 2016
And this video, posted to Twitter, perfectly captured the pre-match feeling between Poland and Northern Ireland supporters, as both sets of supporters joined in with the ‘Will Grigg’s on fire’ chant.
https://twitter.com/fromtstands/status/741932071996784640
And when it came to the match itself there was a positive reception from Polish fans inside for ‘God Save the Queen’ – a gesture that didn’t go unappreciated by the Northern Irish fans, reports The Telegraph.
So everyone can get along really, and we just have to do our best not to let a few people ruin it for everyone.
