Picture of an Irish football fan amidst a sea of Swedish fans in yellow jerseys
SEE anything unusual among the sea of yellow in the picture above?
While opposition football fans generally sit at different parts of the football stadium, one lone Irish football supporter was spotted among a sea of Swedish fans during the week.
In a Where's Wally scene, the picture shows the Irish fan dressed in a leprechaun costume (which even included the hat) in the middle of the Swedish fans at Ireland's opening EURO 2016 match against Sweden on Monday, June 13.
This photo has been going viral on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. In response to this, RTÉ's 2FM tracked down and interviewed the fan.
The leprechaun-clad fan, known as Barry Hanson, revealed to the radio channel that he arrived in Paris with his four friends hoping to buy tickets from a tout.
Hanson, from Mountmellick, Co Laois, explained that he knew they wouldn't be able to get five tickets seated together, so they decided to split up.
They managed to buy a group of three tickets from one tout and a group of two from another for €80 each.
But he did not see which seats the tickets were for, he explained.
"We walked in and we noticed up the steps that there was a lot of yellow jerseys and not a lot of green jerseys.
"We got into the stadium and it [the seat] was up in the top tier and we turned a corner and there was a sea of yellow looking at us," he said.
When they tried to take their seats they saw they had already been taken, according to Hanson.
"That's how we ended up standing at the entrance," he said.
He told 2FM's Eoghan McDermott that the leprechaun costume was bought "accidentally, on purpose" when he was looking for something to wear to the match.
In the photo above, the Swedish supporters didn't seem to have an issue with Hanson. This was something that he remarked on in the interview.
"It was all great craic because we were all drinking and mixing with them the night before near the Moulin Rouge," he said.
Read some of the reaction below from social media users about this photo:
Ireland fan in full leprechaun outfit right in the middle of the Sweden fans. Simply majestic. pic.twitter.com/DUPmGc5ytv
— Futbol Agent (@Futbol_Agent_) June 13, 2016
That’s either an Ireland fan dressed as a leprechaun among Sweden’s fans, and a great show of fraternité, or it’s a really racist Swede.
— Jay (@Jay29ers) June 14, 2016
Where's Paddy? Full leprechaun suit on in the midst of thousands of Swedish fans. Hero! #IREvSWE #EURO2016 ⚽️???? pic.twitter.com/VizXVurljO
— Toasted Gringo (@Toastedgringo) June 14, 2016
Listen to Hanson's interview 2FM below:
