13/06/2016 BBC Newsline

Tributes have been paid to the Northern Ireland football

supporter who died in an accident in France last night.

Darren Rodgers from Ballymena was in Nice to watch

the team play their first game at the Euro finals.

Just a few hours later he fell from a height

BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson is in Nice for us.

The beach is just at the end of the promenade that you can see behind me

and obviously, since last night's tragic event, the mood has changed

completely. There is a sense of devastation and disbelief that

somewhere can look so beautiful, something awful should happen.

Friends of Darren Rodgers gathered at the place where he died. They

left their tributes but in truth, they still couldn't believe he was

gone. The young man from Ballymena came to France to follow Northern

Ireland. In the early hours of this morning, he fell from the promenade

in Nice. Darren Rodgers was not just a football fan, he played football

and many of his team-mates are also in France. He was enjoying the trip,

loving it. We all stuck together and met up as a local team, all local

boys. How will you remember him? Everyone knows him, his cheeky rim.

-- his cheeky smile. French police are investigating what happened with

the help of some officers from the PSNI.

It does appear that this was an accident.

It happened in the early hours of the morning, somewhere around

2am, and it would appear that this fan has fallen from the quay wall

here on the promenade, down onto what is a rocky and stony

beach, probably died from the injuries from that fall.

This morning, Word quickly spread about what had happened. It puts

things in perspective, it really does, our hearts go out to his

family. It is horrendous news for them. We are out here to have the

time of our lives and now we have lost one of our own. Sadly, life has

been lost. Everyone who knew him is devastated. Struggling to understand

how the trip of a lifetime could end in such a tragedy. It is not just

Northern Ireland fans who have been paying tribute, Republic of Ireland

fans have been paying tribute as well.

This is during the Republic's match against Sweden this evening.

Fans stood up and sang 'Stand up for the Ulsterman' after 24 minutes.

It was mark of respect for the fact that he was 24 years of age.

And Northern Ireland fans will pay their own tribute

at their next match, against Ukraine on Thursday.

As you heard from Mark, the Republic's team were playing

Their opener in tournament ended in a 1-0 draw.

Their opener in tournament ended in a 1-1 draw.

Thomas Kane is at the Stade de France.

The last few supporters are just leaving the stadium. It was almost

the perfect start to the European Championships for the Republic of

Ireland. Martin O'Neill's side completely dominated the first half,

creating a number of chances. Tapped in John O'Shea going so close to

latching onto Kieran Clark's header. After that, Jeff Hendrick

threatened, his long-range shot can any of the crossbar. The

breakthrough came in style, early in the second half, Seamus Coleman's

good work finished brilliantly by Wes Hoolahan to send the supporters

into dreamland. Their manager pretty happy on the sideline as well. But

it was not to be, Sweden equalised with their superstar striker, Zlatan

Ibrahimovic, finding space and heading into his own net. Both sides

have to make do with a point at the Stade de France. Next up will be the

trip to Bordeaux to take on Belgium before the Republic's final fixture

against Italy. Supporters who weren't at the match

but made the trip to France - were gathered in the big fan zone

in central Paris. Our reporter Ita Dungan

is there for us. As you can see, I am here in the

shadow of the Eiffel Tower. It couldn't be any more picturesque but

that result, 1-1 draw, not the result many Republic of Ireland fans

had hoped for. The French have put on a fantastic fan zone experience

in the centre of Paris. People from all European nationalities watching

the game, drinking beer, playing football, watching football. It has

to be said, when the first Republic of Ireland goal went in, this place

erupted. Most of the neutrals I think were watching the game, were

supporting Martin O'Neill's men. Then their heads went down a little

bit when that equaliser went in. For the fans I spoke to after, they

said, all is not lost. I am disappointed with the result, or to

get off the mark. Sweden were there for the taking. Disappointment but

at least it is better than the last euros anyway. We did OK, scored a

great goal but it was a sloppy goal to concede. But we drew today, we go

out and we get two good results after this. Can you see you beating

Belgium? Absolutely, no doubt. Watch this space. Shane Long the leading

goal-scorer. Martin O'Neill's men need to step it up a gear in

Bordeaux and Belgium to make those fans happy. We will be following the

team through the tournament. The Northern Ireland players

are back in their base north of Lyon, following last night's 1-0

defeat by Poland. Stephen Watson looks back

at their disappointing start Northern Ireland's players had never

experienced an occasion like this before, but they had

full awareness of the They struggled to compete

with their Polish opponents But Polish pressure paid off

at the start of the second half. They had the chance

to secure a draw but captain We will take notice of what we have

done, and we are sure to have a more determined

game on Thursday. Tough games, and it was very

hot out there today, We have worked very hard

to get the ball back, and maybe we weren't good enough

in possession, to maybe cut them open.

We maybe wasted a few opportunities. They have to win their next game

in Lyon this Thursday. The police say they believe a man

who was found dead in County Armagh this morning may have died

as a result of a hit and run. The man's body was found

on Shillinghill Road near Markethill The area has been cordoned

off by the police. Two women have been arrested

following an assault on a 19-year-old woman in

Londonderry. The attack was on Saturday night

in the Lecky Road area and is being treated

as a sectarian hate crime. The police say the victim

suffered cuts to her head The women being questioned

are aged 19 and 21. The former political talks chairman

Richard Haass has claimed a vote by the UK to leave

the European Union could trigger violence or political deadlock

in Northern Ireland. During a visit to Belfast,

the Taoiseach has repeated his concerns about the potential

consequences of a Brexit. Here's Our Political

Editor Mark Devenport. Richard Haass may have tried to stay

neutral when he was chairing interparty talks but on the European

referendum, that is not his approach. On Twitter, the former US

envoy suggested Brexit could trigger political gridlock, violence or

calls for partition. His message did not improve the First Minister on

her way home from France. In respect of the frantic could cause violence,

I think that is disgraceful for anyone to suggest violence could be

a consequence of us leaving the European Union, it is just nonsense.

The Taoiseach believes the peace process will continue but thinks the

EU support Fred has often been underestimated and forgotten.

Visiting Belfast, he warned in the event of a Brexit, there would be

changes on the border. We would certainly try to do what we could to

preserve the common travel area but believe me, it is difficult to

imagine the situation where there would be no controls or no checks on

the movement of goods, if the United Kingdom left the European Union.

Enda Kenny meets David Cameron later this week to make a joint pitch for

the Remain case, whether you find the Taoiseach or First Minister's

cases more persuasive, you only have ten days now to make up your minds.

The local weather forecast is next with Barra Best.

Hello there, we do have one or two scattered showers this evening

The showers though will pep up as we make our way through the night

but it won't be too cold, with temperatures typically

Tomorrow morning, we will have the scattering of showers still out

there, but it will improve slowly through the day.

It will begin to brighten up towards the north-east and that

brighter weather heading westwards through the afternoon,

helping quite a few of us to enjoy some more in the way of sunshine.

But it will take a while before sunshine comes out in parts

Temperatures tomorrow about 16, maybe 17 degrees,

at best in that sunshine, but still a little bit cooler around

the coast when you factor in the onshore winds.

Into tomorrow evening, not a bad end to the day,

quite a few of us will enjoy some sunshine, although we are likely

to see a few scattered showers lingering in parts of the west.

Into tomorrow night, it will be largely dry,

temperatures may be down a little bit into the single

As we get into Wednesday, scattered showers will make a return

but drier weather will push in by the end of the week.

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