Why wait until February?
Surely if it's any month when they start to get excited, it's when it gets to March...
comments section is pretty funny, though not half as funny as the BT oneOriginally Posted by The Fly
Two players who were also dropped for the finals, namely Brady and Duffy, subsequently made the step up to under 21 level under King and have been flourishing. McGinty should bury the hatchet with Doolin and instead focus on getting himself into Noel King's squads if he really wants to play for Ireland.
End Apartheid Now! One Team in Ireland!
He's played for Doolin since the Euros! You've imagined this entire thing.
Heaven save us.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
It's a strange article that appears to confuse two separate issues as one and the same. I don't know if it's intentional or just carelessness given the fact Ian Woods himself is originally from Belfast. Some of the comments only compound the apparent ignorance on display in the article itself. These, for example:
as part of the united kingdom should they wish to have a local anthem as do the welsh and scots when they represent their country thats ok. when they represent UK&NI then the national anthem should stay."God save the King/Queen" is the anthem of the Union, not England (Which is "Land of hope and glory")
Frankly, both England and NI should consider changing!How someone can supposedly be 'deeply offended' be a 40 second song which in essence is tribute to a family who have served our country well over the years is beyond me. GSTQIn the irish rugby team there is catholic & protestants play and they stand for the soldier song, why can't the catholics & protestants stand for the Queen in Northern Ireland matches or is it just one sided? The catholic way or no way? You should be proud of your county whatever side you come from .... GOD SAVE THE QUEEN......Solve the issue English national anthem- land of hope and glory, give Ulster its own & keep God Save The Queen as a British anthem for state occasions nad those few events when we all participate as a country - like strikesErm, to use such terms, the ultimate point of Irish nationalism kind of is to make "a complete mockery" of the present conception of the UK...This constant fragmentation makes a complete mockery of the term "UNITED KINGDOM".
The way the article attempts to explain the situation by comparison with Scotland and Wales having their own anthems would appear to demonstrate an essential misunderstanding or misrepresentation of the specific issue raised by McVeigh and paves the way for such clueless assumptions as those highlighted above. When it refers to "Irish nationalists" after having described NI as "the Irish", an external reader with little background knowledge could be forgiven for assuming this was a reference to what we might understand as something completely different; something mildly or loosely akin to loyalist Ulster nationalism (except not so explicitly separatist). Certain NI fans might not associate with 'God Save the Queen' because they'd rather an anthem that best represents or strengthens the identity of NI (as a constituent country within the UK) irrespective of what those from a nationalist background might think, whereas Irish nationalists don't associate with 'God Save the Queen' because they simply don't identify culturally as British nor do they see NI as "their country". What the article fails to emphasise is this vital distinction; that Irish nationalists do not channel their identity through NI or the UK at all. Rather, they channel their identity through the idea of an independent united Ireland or Irishness as a national identity (rather than a regional/subsidiary British identity) as espoused by the state south of the border. That's my reading of it anyway.
I'm not sure what planet that Mark McIntosh chap who makes the "it's only 40 seconds" remark is living on. Things like sentiment, identity, expression and personal integrity are essential elements to what makes people human. Symbolism is very important to people, and especially so in NI where countless lives have been lost down through the years over the constitutional status of the place and the various symbols related to that. Someone (especially a journalist) from Lisburn shouldn't be so pig ignorant as to why there's a big deal over something like 'God Save the Queen'. As I've said, it makes little difference to me personally as a change of anthem wouldn't make the IFA, as a British association, any less irrelevant than it already is to myself and many people I know, but if the IFA wish to prevent alienating certain nationalists who would otherwise be prepared to play for them, changing the anthem to something more neutral and less explicitly British would probably be something worth considering.
As for the following loaded statements:
The Irish Football Association (IFA) has recruited another former international to act as a mentor to young Catholic players and stop them being poached by their rivals in Dublin.There are other issues such as the venue and the national flag which are also said to deter nationalists from cheering on the country of their birth.... Good grief. Way to trivialise the national identity of a couple hundred thousand people and decades/centuries of ethno-political division!But, perhaps, the biggest reason they prefer the Republic at the moment has nothing to do with politics.
The Republic have just qualified for the Euro 2012 finals, while Northern Ireland have slumped to 89th in the Fifa rankings and are currently looking for a new manager.
Last edited by DannyInvincible; 28/11/2011 at 3:31 AM.
Uncle Tom Armstrong in the Sunday Life about how God save the queen never bugged him and how he even whistled the sash many a time...He is just a total fool and lick ass
It'd be gas if the English ditched it first and NI became that kid who carried their goth phase on a bit longer than is cringingly acceptable.Frankly, both England and NI should consider changing!
'The Sash' is alright, a good tune and a good song.
About the only loyalist folk song I know, maybe there are no others.
I randomly came across this gem today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAztkmBLaAY
Nothing screams "No Surrender!" quite like a Bette Midler tune.
It's the same air as 'Roddy McCorley' and 'Sean Sabhat from Garryowen' which is certainly not a loyalist song!
Folding my way into the big money!!!
Is there more than one Irish air?
someone should tell Big Tom.
That's closer to mopery, the Bigot Blues genre.
"Some say our religion is going down
There'll be no church parades, no oranges marches, no demonstrations, no IFA
And ssssoooooon they'll have their way"
that is painful stuff. I'd even have Ireland's Call over that and that's saying something. I have to admire the imagination of the "uber-Prod" as they imagine the Fenian Armageddon!
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Unfortunately DI, you're making the rather big and even simplistic assumption about a wider cultural group whose knowledge of history, geography and even the language they espouse is highly questionable, if not entirely dubious.
Having sung both "The Sash" (with specially adapted lyrics!) and "Sean South" rather more frequently, in past years I can assure you not even the bass line is the same!!
All the talk of loyalist tunes and Windsor park reminds me of when I was heading into the ground in summer last year to see Cliftonville play the croatian side HNK Cibalia in the Europa league. I was about 5 mins late and as I walked up the grim looking barbed wire tunnel that was mentioned already there was a group of half a dozen or so kids all about 10 years old and presumably from the loacal area were standing in the adjoining olympia leisure centre grounds and were singing 'f**k the pope and the IRA' and throwing stones at the fence as I walked along and after I had reached the end of the tunnel a bottle they threw over the wall landed on a pile of gravel/stones just beside me. Whilst hardly a major incident it was a depressing reminder of the problems that still persist in Northern Ireland even amongst those that aren't old enough to know the troubles and also that the area around windsor park is hardly neutral/welcoming for all sections in the North.
Last edited by SolitudeRed; 29/11/2011 at 12:28 AM.
You're dead right. My apologies. I'm mixing it up with another song though that definitely is the same air and is an uber-prod song.
Folding my way into the big money!!!
This is the cringiest of loyalist tunes I think, its about the Red Hand Commandos and is to the tune of rhinestone cowboy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7Z87lrT7yE
No bother. Though mildly perturbed by your knowledge of the latter!
Delaney on Radio Ulster this morning stating that the FAI will not be proactive in recruiting northern born players and its up to the player to make themselves available - no problem with that myself
What show/time was he on?
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