The emergence of "Zombie" by The Cranberries as an Irish sporting anthem

yeap thankfully it has failed pathetically if only more of their operations failed back in the day

just a few bizarrely committed shinners tryin to keep the issue alive now,

i wonder if they will try to restart this crap after the next match or have they learned the lesson

yes, it's irish.

it's similar to corkonian or dubliner ETC.

Take trip up to ballymena and explain that to the the locals. Lets see how well that goes for you

Nobody has said that SF voters approve of terrorism.

Shinners doesn't refer to SF voters, it refers to the type of person who defends the party through thick and thin, shinnerbots are the online version.

SF voters will come and go, in fact we don't even know yet how many of them will come to vote at the next election, but unfortunately, it seems the shinners are always with us.

Finally, are you saying that there are members of SF who don't follow the party line that the PIRA were a good thing? Because, after all, the official line from Sinn Fein is that events like Warrington and Enniskillen were necessary.

You are correct about what he says. The struggle to maintain outrage over the singing of this song has been educational. Misquoting, misreferencing and false analogies abound in the desperate search to justify being offended.

He said he can't understand why anyone would question the lyrics of the song.

Before talking in great length about bombs and terrorism.

The problem is Micheal Martin knows full well why people questioned the song. It was nothing to do with supporting terrorism or "undermining the lyrics of the song" as he claimed. People question songs, and songs like this, all the time. In this case people were questioning the songs portrayal of the history of the troubles, a criticism the song faced more broadly on release.

I've summarized what he said but his message is clear.

His statements also go in direct contradiction to his claims against anti-war protestors.

Like I said, Trump style politics, portray sf supporters as supporting terrorism, just like every democrat in Trump world is 'antifa' or the 'radical left'

It was incredibly statesmanlike from Martin. I am far from his biggest fan but it was some putdown.

It very much is, there was nothing in the comments made by sf supporters that were 'a shocking interpretation of the song'

People had criticized the song for the same reasons when it came out.

People have also criticized Band Aid for similar reasons, and a whole host of anti-war songs have been criticized similarly over the years.

Martin did just as Trump does. He put 2 + 2 together and instead of getting 4 he conveniently got sf supporters = terrorism.

Just like Trump puts 2 + 2 together and gets democrats = antifa.

You're struggling mate. Martin didn't say what you claimed he said and now you're tying yourself in knots trying to defend your position. Its entertaining. I love how you're trying to claim Martin is using Trump style politics when SF have actually been imitating Trump for years. They spout populist BS with no explanation about how they will do what they promise. Part of me would love to see SF get into government just watch them fail to deliver. But I live in this country so maybe not.

And I see you're still bringing up Band Aid. Too much effort to start a thread to discuss it?

I think it's quite fair to ask why Mr Martin is jumping into commenting on songs played at Irish rugby matches!

As for what's wrong with the comment itself, which has to be placed in the context of the rest of his statements, the most obvious initial issue for me is to ask just who Micheal Martin thinks he is to be telling other people how to interpret songs?

This is the same guy who's a champion of free speech when it suits him remember?

Aside from whether the song being partitionist or not being quite a subjective matter, I find it a reasonable position to take if looking at the term 'partitionist' as that which denotes people from Northern Ireland as other or even lessor.

I believe this was how former FG politician and co-founder of the SDLP Austin Currie often used the term.

It comes back then to the same criticism levelled at the song on it's release which suggests it might 'oversimplify' the history of the troubles. From that lens the idea that the people of the North just kept blindly reliving 1916 over and over, 'It's the same old theme since 1916, in your head Zombie', while we in the south moved on, could I think be seen as 'partitionist'.

Does that in any undermine the songs anti-violent message? Of course not, but Mr Martin's in Trump world now where anything goes, even dragging this shite into a beloved national sport.

Last I checked Micheal Martin was the Tanaiste and MFA. That means there is an onus on him to explain Ireland to the world, it is a part of his job. This controversy has attracted international headlines with people horrified that some would take offence at it. By putting the record straight on the song, he is doing Ireland a service, as is his job.

By the way, are you suggesting that there is something wrong with being partitionist? As you know since the GFA, we amended our Constitution to recognise the reality and the legitimacy of partition. We no longer have a territorial claim on the six counties, we instead aspire to unite the people of this island, which may, or may not, involve political and territorial unification. Most of the people of Northern Ireland identify themselves as British or Northern Irish at least in part, which is other than Irish. Are you also saying that this is a lessor identity? Once again, the bigotry of the position that there is only one true Gael shines clear through your posting.

"The singer was particularly offended that terrorists claimed to have carried out these acts in the name of Ireland.

"The IRA are not me. I'm not the IRA," she said. "The Cranberries are not the IRA. My family are not.

"When it says in the song, 'It's not me, it's not my family,' that's what I'm saying. It's not Ireland, it's some idiots living in the past."

"In the UK, the song reached number 14 in the charts - its success perhaps hampered by the BBC's decision to ban the video.

The original was shot by Samuel Bayer, who had previously directed the videos for Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and Blind Melon's No Rain.

He travelled to Northern Ireland and shot footage of the troubles, including images of children holding guns, which the BBC (and Ireland's national broadcaster RTE) objected to."

I think that article clears up a number of the falsehoods pervading this thread.

The ban at the time wasn't because the lyrics were controversial - in fact the video was banned, not the song, because of images of children holding guns. So all of the nonsense about the song causing offence at the time can now be dismissed as more rubbish.

Secondly, the provenance of the song is also clear and its success and popularity are down to that provenance. People were sick and tired of the PIRA at the time, sick and tired of their pathetic excuses for killing women and children, sick and tired of their psycho Zombie mentality.

Remind me at the match?

Sure I won't be watching it now.

There's plenty other sports out there that aren't being used as a platform for these kind of nasty politics.