Stephen Byrne has admitted that he and his film crew felt very unsafe while filming for his new documentary, Playing Straight.
The new documentary, which airs tonight on RTE2 at 9.30pm, shows an insight into homosexuality in football and the 2FM host revealed to Goss.ie that he felt intimidated by the sport’s fans.
“We did feel intimidated – a lot,” he told us about his experiences.
Violence: Stephen revealed that he was intimidated by football fans a lot while filming | VIPIRELAND.COM
While filming part of his documentary at a match with his father and crew, Stephen said that he was afraid that intimidating football fans would come over and kick not only their equipment but also them.
“There was a game where Manchester City were playing Southhampton and Southhampton were winning. Loads of Manchester City fans left the game early and we felt very unsafe by the way they were,” he told Goss.ie.
“They were intimidating. We had tons of equipment we were afraid that they were going to come over to us and kick the equipment or us, so we got out of their quickly.”
Football fans: The RTE star captured the highs and lows of football games | INSTAGRAM
Stephen also admitted that things got bloody while he was filming and he captured on film the more gruesome side of football fans.
“There was violence when we went to the FA Cup final – and there was blood. We got it on camera, we have people with broken noses, people fighting and punching, police having to restrain people. It’s all there, you see that side of football.”
“I definitely would be interested more in doing documentaries on football culture. I’ve just been so fascinated by the bubble of it and how it is a big industry but then in that way there comes so many different problems for both footballers and for fans and for everybody involved in the game,” he added.
Catch Playing Straight tonight on RTE2 at 9.30pm.
