SOCCER/Euro 2004 qualifier: Russia have asked UEFA to switch their away Euro 2004 qualifier with Georgia to a neutral venue because of the crowd violence during the Republic of Ireland's match in Tbilisi on Saturday.

Reacting to the news, an FAI spokesman said last night the association would not like to see anyone gain an unfair advantage because of what happened in Tbilisi but, he said, "we will hold fire for the moment and wait until we have seen what UEFA's reaction to this is".

Earlier, Republic manager Brian Kerr had made it clear his preference would be for both the Swiss and the Russians to fulfil their fixtures in the Georgia capital.

Asked about the prospect of UEFA moving either of those games, Kerr said: "We're out of here now and I wouldn't like it if they took that sort of action until the others have been in and out of here too.

"I don't think it's right that players have to deal with things being thrown onto the pitch like that but at the same time, it's being hard on the association to blame them completely.

"It's right that UEFA have standards but there has to be some consistency."

Russia's football union chief said yesterday he had asked UEFA to switch the match to a neutral venue.

Football Union (RFU) secretary general, Vladimir Radionov, said he was worried about political instability in the former Soviet country, and he was also concerned about the crowd trouble which had marred Saturday's match.

"After what we saw in the Ireland-Georgia game I believe, unfortunately very strongly, the police did not have the situation under control," Radionov said.