POLICE IN NORTHERN Ireland are appealing for information after two large groups of rival football fans attacked each other ahead of a Bohemians and Derry City football match last night. 

Videos posted online show teenagers with their faces covered throwing fireworks at each other and attacking each other with iron bars and bats ahead of the League of Ireland match between the Dublin and Derry teams.

Damage was also done to buildings and cars parked in the area where the match was taking place, near Lecky Road flyover in Derry. 

The PSNI confirmed today that a teenage boy and a man in his twenties sustained injuries as a result of the incident and were taken to hospital for treatment. 

Disorder continued during and after the match around the Brandywell stadium.

“Officers were in attendance and worked along with stadium staff to bring the disorder under control. No arrests have been made at this time,” the PSNI said in a statement. 

Superintendent William Calderwood said: “We believe that the disorder we witnessed on Friday evening was pre-arranged and we will be reviewing all available footage to identify those involved.”

The violence has been widely condemned by politicians in Northern Ireland.

Local SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan, who was at the match, told the Belfast Telegraph that he was left frightened by the violence.

Durkan condemned the trouble, saying “thugs came to Derry masked and armed with an array of weapons.”

“A bus-load of people – I wouldn’t call them fans – came here intent on causing bother,” he said.

“In terms of scale and the level of violence and danger to those in the vicinity, we haven’t seen anything like this and I hope we never do again.”

A spokesperson for Derry City FC declined to comment.

Bohemians and the FAI have also been contacted.

Written by Jane Matthews and posted on TheJournal.ie