England’s Nations League win over the Republic of Ireland in Dublin will be remembered predominantly for Declan Rice’s goal and refusal to celebrate. Jack Grealish was in the limelight, too, scoring against the country he once represented but feeling no need to emulate Rice in his celebrations.
The victory was the ideal start to Lee Carsley’s tenure as interim manager; the attacking fluidity of the team, refreshed by some new youthful inclusions, caught the eye in what could have been a difficult fixture.
Among the new faces, one in particular stood out as the teams lined up before kick off. A pitch invader had managed to make it all the way to the players, dressed in a full England kit, before he was hauled off by security staff.
- 'I would have played for Ireland if they had called me up to the first team!': Wayne Rooney reveals his international career could have been incredibly different if he had received a first team call-up at 16
- 'I won that dentist’s chair challenge in Hong Kong before Euro 96 - that might be my biggest claim to fame’: England international opens up on infamous night out in Asia
Who was the pitch invader during Ireland vs England?
The man was not, it transpired, simply an overeager fan trying to get within touching distance of the England team. Instead, it was someone with plenty of experience of gatecrashing sporting events.
The guilty culprit at the Aviva Stadium was YouTuber Jarvo, whose channel has over 200,000 subscribers. He has carried out several pranks at sporting events, including getting onto the pitch during the Cricket World Cup last year and at a Test match between England and India at Lord’s in 2021.
He was also supposedly the man behind the sex noise played in the BBC studio before an FA Cup match between Wolves and Liverpool in January last year, which left Gary Lineker red-faced.
Jarvo’s interruption of the Ireland vs England match meant kick off was delayed by five minutes, although his short video of the event has already racked up 48,000 views at the time of writing.
Where he will appear next remains to be seen, but keep an eye out for a tall man with the number 69 on his shirt.
More England stories
Why England's friendly with the Republic of Ireland was abandoned in 1995
