LONDON –

When the Republic of Ireland last played England in Dublin 20 years ago, the match was abandoned midway through the first-half because of rioting by visiting fans. Forty people were arrested after seats were ripped up and missiles thrown in the old Lansdowne Road ground.

While the authorities are not expecting something similar to happen when the countries resume their rivalry in the refurbished Aviva Stadium on Sunday, security will be heightened to an extent that the focus will not so much be about football as the behavior of England fans and how both sets of supporters will treat each other's national anthem.

Martin O'Neill and Roy Hodgson will use the friendly to fine tune their sides for next weekend's Euro 2016 ties against Scotland and Slovenia, respectively. It is matters off the pitch that have largely dominated the build-up to the game in the Irish capital and England has been restricted to 3,000 tickets because of a deterioration in the behavior of traveling supporters recently.

England fans, who are banned from following their country on away trips, will have to sign in at a police station on match day, in addition to the usual requirement of surrendering their passports.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the officer leading the U.K.'s football policing operations, said: "In the last four England away fixtures we have seen a significant amount of drunken anti-social behavior, unpleasant chanting aimed at provoking home supporters and a small number of people who seem to take every opportunity to create distress for others.

"Regrettably that means we have to increase our enforcement activity using tactics that proved successful in addressing these problems in the past."

It is expected that the Irish national anthem will be booed by some England followers who, when they sing "God Save The Queen," will probably end with a cry of "No Surrender" — a reference to the IRA, the Irish Republican Army. O'Neill and Hodgson have called for both national anthems to be respected, though their pleas will fall on deaf ears.

The managers are more concerned with what happens after the pre-match protocol, and while Hodgson can be confident of continuing England's 100 percent Euro 2016 qualifying record, Ireland faces a rejuvenated Scotland when it plays British opposition for the second time in a week.

With Danny Welbeck injured and Harry Kane part of the Under-21 squad for the European Championship in the Czech Republic, Hodgson's options in attack are limited and Queens Park Rangers striker Charlie Austin could make his debut in Dublin, with Wayne Rooney saved for the match in Ljubljana.

Austin scored 17 goals for relegated QPR and Hodgson said: "We've always had our eye on Charlie, but up to this point we haven't had the space in the squad. We'll give him every chance."

Jamie Vardy of Leicester who, like Austin, began his career in non-league football, is also likely to win his first cap at some stage, but come Slovenia, Hodgson will revert to his tried and trusted players who have won all five Euro 2016 ties so far.

I WOULD have less sympathy for Jack Wilshere being charged by the Football Association for saying s—- on Arsenal's open-top bus parade after its F.A. Cup final victory over Aston Villa if it took a similar zero tolerance line to on-field thuggery.

Wilshere made his comment about Tottenham which, of course, the tens of thousands of Arsenal fans celebrating the cup success loved. The Daily Telegraph called Wilshere's s-word "foul-mouthed, expletive-ridden abuse" which made him "look more like the tanked-up oaf at whom you would inwardly shudder as he reeled out of your nearest Wetherspoon's."

Really?

Wilshere will probably receive a fine for his latest indiscretion. In 2013 he was handed a two-match ban for giving a middle finger gesture to Manchester City fans. One finger, two games.

While not condoning Wilshere's laddish behavior, words or gestures never injure opponents which bone-crunching tackles do. The F.A.'s farcical regulations mean that if a match official sees such an incident and either takes no action or just cautions the offender that is it.

There should be a natural sense of justice to correct clear and obvious refereeing errors because an over-the-top tackle is far more dangerous than the s-word or a middle finger. Yet the F.A. is happy to punish these rather than clamp down on challenges that could break a leg.

RAFA BENITEZ took Napoli from second to fifth in Serie A, spending £110 million in two years, it missed out on a Champions League place last weekend and he lands the Real Madrid job.

Nice work if you can get it.

MUCH IS BEING made in the English press that in Russia and Qatar, who will host the next two World Cups, homosexuality is illegal.

It was in England, too, when it won the 1966 World Cup. It was not until 1967 that the Sexual Offences Act decriminalized homosexual acts in private between two men who had attained the age of 21.

Just thought I would point it out.

FATHERHOOD always presents its problems and punishing a son is part of the job. It is usually done in private and life moves on.

When you are a Premier League manager and you have to take action against your son for alleged involvement in a sordid sex game in Thailand, then being a dad takes on a new dimension.

James Pearson, son of Leicester manager Nigel, was one of three players sent home from an end-of-season tour of Thailand after they filmed themselves with local girls who were also racially abused, which they subsequently posted to friends back home. The trip was paid for by the club's Thai owners.

As a manager, when it comes to team selection Nigel would treat James like any other player. The same also applies to discipline, but he must have felt an inner shame at having to send his son home for what cannot be dismissed simply as boys having fun.

Christopher Davies was a longtime Premier League correspondent for the London Daily Telegraph.