According to the News Letter Phil Coulter who wrote Ireland’s Call is open to writing a new song for the Northern Ireland football team. Unsurprisingly the suggestion of a new anthem appears to have somewhat polarised political opinion though Kenney Donaldson of the UUP seems to have started the proposal. Of course if God Save the Queen was replaced for the NI football team, it might set a precedent for other sporting organisations as suggested here on Ulster Times.
Extract from Greg McLaughlin and Stephen Baker: The Propaganda of Peace: The Role of Media and Culture in the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Bristol: Intellect Books. 2010. Political opponents Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness were confirmed as First Minister and Deputy First Minister of a new executive in May 2007, closing yet another chapter in [...] read our review »
A moment of some significance in journalism perhaps, as the New York Times reviews the current talked about book, The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan by Bing West. The author is no bleeding heart but a former assistant Defense Secretary from the Reagan era who stomped his way round the Afghan [...] read our review »
It’s not often we get free things to give away to our readers, but courtesy of Palgrave Macmillan we have a nice paperback copy of Brian M Walker’s excellent history of partition of the island and how identities shifted in both the north east and the south and west: as most of the territory that [...] read our review »
chwarae teg Dewi, it was for seven years.
A glorious seven years dmcoop….
Well NI may well be a country.
But I’ve never heard anyone describe it as a nation.
So no national anthem then.
Sorry.
Sorry georgieleigh? Does that mean they can’t have one? Are you the sole arbiter on these things?
By the way what about the Faroe Islands, Andorra and San Marino? They all have international teams and national anthems, but I’ve never heard anyone describe them as nations.
MonkDeWallyDeHonk – The Neil Lennon incident was awful, but have you been to any NI game lately? It is like night and day from the bad old days.
There are Rangers and Celtic players on the team and both get the same support.
The team might be average but the atmosphere is great. I would have no worries taking a catholic to a game, which I wouldnt have said years ago.
I understand the attractions of supporting the ROI team and indeed wanting to play for them, I think the NI anthem should change, but if you are judging NI football from the horrible Lennon affair and older issues you arent giving it a fair crack of the whip.
MonkDeWallyDeHonk – there is a thread on this very subject on the NI supporters site that you mention. You might be surprised to learn that most supporters are in favour of changing the anthem to something more specific to NI. Sectarianism really is very much frowned upon at NI matches. It’s been stamped out to the extent that I haven’t heard any in the games I’ve been to (4 in the last 3 years). There may of course be some sectarian supporters but it is not the ‘corporate’ culture anymore.
BigChiefAlly/Skintown Lad
I completely accept that massive changes for the better have occurred over the last 15 years or so and that the truly awful sectarianism that I and many others witnessed particularly in the late 70s has gone.
Fair play to all involved.
Personally most Catholics that I know support the RoI but are ambivalent about the North. As long as they are not playing the RoI, I wish the North well – I was delighted when they beat England in 2005. I’m a Celtic fan but I fully respect the decisions of Niall McGinn + Paddy McCourt to opt for the North – good luck to them.
I think most Catholics will opt to support and, if possible, play for the RoI and the IFA/NI Fans should accept that.
I’m simply giving a pragmatic soccer fans view of what I think would be the best course of action to try and encourage young Catholics to support and/or play for them.
One would be to drop GSTQ for a neutral anthem. I am aware that the majority of opinion on “Our Wee Country” is in favour of this so they should pressure the IFA to get on with it.
Frankly, the other one is to stop the pathetic attempts to deny NI Catholics their right to Irish citizenship and whinging on about poaching.
Because of the unique situation in NI, anyone born in the North is fully entitled to British and/or Irish Citizenship. This means that a player (who hasn’t already played for the North in a full international) is fully entitled to opt for the RoI.
The IFA/NI fans should just live with it! They would be far better working on areas such as GSTQ and eradicate remaining sectarianism which would increase their chances of persuading young Catholics to support and/or play for them.
BigChiefAlly/Skintown Lad
I completely accept that massive changes for the better have occurred over the last 15 years or so and that the truly awful sectarianism that I and many others witnessed particularly in the late 70s has gone.
Fair play to all involved.
Personally most Catholics that I know support the RoI but are ambivalent about the North. As long as they are not playing the RoI, I wish the North well – I was delighted when they beat England in 2005. I’m a Celtic fan but I fully respect the decisions of Niall McGinn + Paddy McCourt to opt for the North – good luck to them.
I think most Catholics will opt to support and, if possible, play for the RoI and the IFA/NI Fans should accept that.
I’m simply giving a pragmatic soccer fans view of what I think would be the best course of action to try and encourage young Catholics to support and/or play for them.
One would be to drop GSTQ for a neutral anthem. I am aware that the majority of opinion on “Our Wee Country” is in favour of this so they should pressure the IFA to get on with it.
Frankly, the other one is to stop the pathetic attempts to deny NI Catholics their right to Irish citizenship and whinging on about poaching.
Because of the unique situation in NI, anyone born in the North is fully entitled to British and/or Irish Citizenship. This means that a player (who hasn’t already played for the North in a full international) is fully entitled to opt for the RoI.
The IFA/NI fans should just live with it! They would be far better working on areas such as GSTQ and eradicate remaining sectarianism which would increase their chances of persuading young Catholics to support and/or play for them.
Sorry about the double post – finger trouble!
“I understand the attractions of supporting the ROI team and indeed wanting to play for them, I think the NI anthem should change, but if you are judging NI football from the horrible Lennon affair and older issues you arent giving it a fair crack of the whip”
The savages have given over attacking Catholics for the moment so what more could you possibly want?
“Our wee country” what a pathetic joke. Let Britain have one team and let Orangies opt to play for it if they are good enough.
New Flag proposal:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_northern_ireland_flag.svg
Anyone with any comments or ideas for a new flag please join the Facebook group at:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=144610470664