This Pub Song.

ktoc1

I think it's the biggest disgrace.

We are the only team in the world to have two songs. One which is a National Anthem and then we have the Pub Song. It's so bad that a song which is meant to represent the country is also a song that Simon Casey sings.

An Absolute Disgrace.

When you compare the start of an Ireland match to any other team in the Six Nations they take pride in singing their Anthem. The Scots and Welch powerful songs.


WE ARE A JOKE

Hairy Homer

Originally posted by ktoc1
I think it's the biggest disgrace.

We are the only team in the world to have two songs. One which is a National Anthem and then we have the Pub Song.


WE ARE A JOKE

Actually, we're not. South Africa sings two as well. N'kosi sikelele Africa and De Stem.

There was a poll here a while back on whether people liked Ireland's Call or not, and much to my amazement, a majority said they did. It's not quite the worst anthem in world rugby - Advance Australia Fair is, but it's not far off.

By all means have a compromise anthem to reflect the fact that it's a united Irish team but does it have to be such a dire song?

Amz

Phil "you're a star" Coulter composed it... so I guess we can't expect much from it as a result.

I thought they only played Amhrán na bhFiann in Landsdowne Road?

Sangre

I think we only play it at home, so its only Lansdowne Rd.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

MarVeL

Don't forget if we play an international in Ravenhill again it will be God Save the Queen and Irelands Call

hoolio

Why are we a joke? I mean it's not a Republic Of Ireland team - its an Ireland one full stop so why should the players from NI sing our anthem and likewise why should we sing theirs.I new song had to be come up with so thats what happened and it makes alot of sense to me.Whether the song is any good or not is a different story.

parsi

We should just sing "There is an Isle" - that would resolve all issues...after all it's an all-Ireland team..

dod

"Limerick, you're a Lady" ? Anyone? :rolleyes:

beardedchicken

i wonder would anyone object to the fields of athenry as the anthem? that always seems to get the crowd going, doesn't it?? i know, i know... highly unlikely.....

Sundy

Both the anthem and Ireland's Call are sang at home matches. Personally i like irealnds call it definatly gets the players and the crowd goin. Recall IrelandvAustralia at landsdowne in autumn 02 it lifted the roof.
I dont agree wit getting rid of the anthem though, i remember reading in Rugby World magasine how one of the english players said the first time they played ireland and hearing the anthem in irish scared the **** out of em.

xern

I think "The fields of Athenry" would work well as on anthem!!!!

bdiddy

never gonna happen. Both current songs are cool. Some of my English friends admitted that they were jealous of Irelands Call cos it's so powerful and emotional and they sing "God save the Queen". Amhran na bhFainn is class aswell, luv it. its like the Welsh songs no-one knows what you're sayin but they no it's something scary if you only sing it in your own language.

Sangre

Originally posted by daveirl
No we only play Amhrán Na Bhfiann at home. It's Ireland's call for all away games.

Fyi, thats what I meant.

Amhran na Bhfíann has a great finish to it, really emotional and dramatic but at the middle its a bit lack-lustre.

However, while Ireland's Call is simple and powerful, its lack any intelligence or emotional lyrics.

besty

i thnk irelands call is ok but doesnt have a patch on the welsh one or flower of scotland.if it keeps john hayes cryin before matches i suppose its doing something right tho

Hairy Homer

Originally posted by dod
"Limerick, you're a Lady" ? Anyone? :rolleyes:

Yeah Right. You can just imagine the Munster faithful at Thomond Park belting out that piece of garbage. Any song with a line that goes: 'The fabric of my dreams was fashioned by your loveliness' should be outlawed.

As for the recommendation that 'There is an Isle' should be the rugby anthem. I'd be all for that. And that's speaking as a Dublin 4 rugger bugger who won't go to Limerick because the people are so frightfully rough down there.

keano_afc

As a regular visitor to Lansdowne Rd on matchdays Ireland's Call really gets the crowd going. I wasnt a big fan when it came out first but I'll be signing my heart out again tomorrow when it gets played.

Amz

Originally posted by MarVeL
Don't forget if we play an international in Ravenhill again it will be God Save the Queen and Irelands Call

Just curious to know did this actually happen and when?

(Am writing an essay for sociology of sport and nationalism)

Hairy Homer

Originally posted by Amz
Just curious to know did this actually happen and when?

(Am writing an essay for sociology of sport and nationalism)

We used to play one international a year in Ravenhill until some time in the 1950s. I believe, although I'm not sure whether I can lay my hands on anything in print, that it was discontinued for a number of reasons:

one of them being that the paddies from down south wanted to have Amhran na bhFiann played instead of the Queen;
another was because flying the tricolour was illegal at the time up north and when some travelling supporters would attempt to wave one, the RUC would step in with their usual mild restraint;
and of course Ravenhill just wasn't big enough.

I'll have a look at my copious library tonight and see if I can find anything on it.

I do know that both soccer and rugby refused for years to play God Save the Queen in Dublin before any match, even if it involved the English side. This enraged Jack Charlton when Ireland faced England in a Euro 92 qualifier in 1990 and it wasn't played. Although it was explained to him that it was a long-standing agreement, he was having none of it. The stipulation was dropped soon after.

Ireland's Call was first sung, I believe, during the Rugby World Cup in South Africa in 1995.

Jilm

We used to play one international a year in Ravenhill until some time in the 1950s.

Ireland last played there 27 Feb 1954 (vs Scotland). Internationals played at Ravenhill not involving Ireland include a couple of World Cup games in '91 and '99.

You weren't around for that game in '54 HH by any chance?

Amz

Cheers lads, much appreciated.

Hairy Homer

Originally posted by Jilm
Ireland last played there 27 Feb 1954 (vs Scotland). Internationals played at Ravenhill not involving Ireland include a couple of World Cup games in '91 and '99.

You weren't around for that game in '54 HH by any chance?

Feck off!!!!

Actually the first international match I saw in the flesh was Ireland v France in 1972. (and I was very young, honest) That was an unusual fixture in that we had already played France in Paris that year and beaten them, a feat we were not to repeat until 2000 when Brian O'Driscoll scored a hat trick.

However, that being the year of Bloody Sunday and the burning of the British embassy etc etc both Scotland and Wales refused to travel to Dublin so the Five Nations wasn't finished that year.

That was a shame because Ireland had already won their two away matches and were looking forward to a Grand Slam, although all people were interested in back then was the Triple Crown.

We would probably have beaten Scotland but the game against Wales would have been a cracker. That was the era of the great Welsh team of Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Gerald Davies, JPR Williams etc etc but then we had some good players too.

Ray McLoughlin, Ken Kennedy, Willie John McBride, Fergus Slattery, John Moloney, Mike Gibson, Tom Grace to name but the most famous.

Hairy Homer

Originally posted by Hairy Homer
We used to play one international a year in Ravenhill until some time in the 1950s. I believe, although I'm not sure whether I can lay my hands on anything in print, that it was discontinued for a number of reasons:

one of them being that the paddies from down south wanted to have Amhran na bhFiann played instead of the Queen;
another was because flying the tricolour was illegal at the time up north and when some travelling supporters would attempt to wave one, the RUC would step in with their usual mild restraint;
and of course Ravenhill just wasn't big enough.

I'll have a look at my copious library tonight and see if I can find anything on it.

Well I didn't find anything about anthems. I can only confirm that the last full international Ireland played at Ravenhill was v Scotland in 1954. The previous year we had played France there and in 1952 and 1948 we had played Wales at that venue.

We last played England there in 1924.

None of which answers anything about your question. Sorry.

Irelandsmaul

Couldn't agree more.
Ireland's Call is an embarrassment.
While the idea of an 'All-Ireland' anthem is a fine thing, it's unfortunate that the song that the IRFU commissioned is an awful piece of doggerel.
Ireland's Call is repetitive, uninspiring, and hackneyed. What's more a clumsy key change means the final mangled refrains are pitched too high for most male voices, leading to the catterwauling screech that can be heard throughout Croke Park / Lansdowne Road before each international.
I've started a Facebook group to discuss alternatives, etc if anyone's interested it's at
http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9330932851&ref=ts

Tim Robbins

Irelandsmaul wrote: »

Couldn't agree more.
Ireland's Call is an embarrassment.
While the idea of an 'All-Ireland' anthem is a fine thing, it's unfortunate that the song that the IRFU commissioned is an awful piece of doggerel.
Ireland's Call is repetitive, uninspiring, and hackneyed. What's more a clumsy key change means the final mangled refrains are pitched too high for most male voices, leading to the catterwauling screech that can be heard throughout Croke Park / Lansdowne Road before each international.
I've started a Facebook group to discuss alternatives, etc if anyone's interested it's at
http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9330932851&ref=ts

Getting everyone to agree their favourite song, is like getting everyone to agree their favourite colour. Imagine you said, right I don't like that Green jersey, let's get a better colour. How far would you get?

People who don't like 'Ireland's Call' and want it gone are a bit like the people who say No to the Lisbon treaty.

They usually don't get the principle of compromise and enjoy knocking things but underestimate the difficulty in finding alternatives.

Irelandsmaul

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Getting everyone to agree their favourite song, is like getting everyone to agree their favourite colour. Imagine you said, right I don't like that Green jersey, let's get a better colour. How far would you get?

People who don't like 'Ireland's Call' and want it gone are a bit like the people who say No to the Lisbon treaty.

They usually don't get the principle of compromise and enjoy knocking things but underestimate the difficulty in finding alternatives.

Jeez Tim, it must be tough for you having to deal with us mere mortals who don't know it all already.

To break it down for you:

1. I'm not trying to get "everyone to agree on their favourie song", just interested in lively some discourse on what would be the best Irish rugby song to replace Ireland's Call. My own choice would be 'There Is An Isle', but I'm interested in the opinions of others too.

2. And seriously, what the *%@# does the Lisbon Treaty have to do with anything on this thread???? That should be 10 minutes in the bin for a foul off the ball sir!

3. I'm all for the principle of compromise. As I stated earlier I think the idea of an 'All-Ireland' anthem for the rugby team is a fine thing. I just reckon that we shouldn't have to accept that we're permanently saddled with the awful dirge that was commissioned by the IRFU. My problem lies with the song itself, not the principle. So no, I'm not looking to knock Ireland's Call just for the sake of it, I'm genuinely interested in getting it replaced. It's just such a shame that so many people cringe when they hear the first few bars of the Coulter's abomination stirring. Much better that we should all have a song we can all sing with pride, heart and gusto, rather than an anaemic, hackneyed embarrassment.

Jackz

I thought we stoped discussing this around 4 years ago.

Irelandsmaul

lol
Yeah, I just saw how old the previous posts were.....:eek:
Ah well, not wanting to stir up old wounds or anything, but I started a facebook group about getting Ireland's Call replaced (personally I think it's an awful composition) and wondered if there was much opinion on the matter out there.
I still think it needs replacing, but my more immediate concern is that I'll miss the ML game on Saturday!!!!

Jackz

Irelandsmaul wrote: »

I still think it needs replacing, but my more immediate concern is that I'll miss the ML game on Saturday!!!!

If you had a ticket for the RDS on Saturday you would still miss it.

Jilm

It's a pity Hairy Homer doesn't post on boards anymore, I used to enjoy his comments & insights wrt rugby.

Irelandsmaul

A ticket? I wish. I'll be watching it on the telly in London.
Sunday then? Great stuff. Cheers.