Our man Frank quibbles with the underwhelming commitment to Amhrán na bhFiann by some Irish rugby players; Celebrates how sport distracts from the conflicts around the world… and looks forward to the closing weekend of the Six Nations

 

From when I arrived in Dundalk to work in the Bank of Ireland back in the late 1960s – when the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ were close to their peak – rugby and music were the two activities that kept the north and south of this island still working in harmony – to a degree at least.

Until the massacre of the Miami Showband in 1975, Irish bands kept travelling north to play their gigs all over the province. They were warmly received by the dancing public, as were the rugby clubs from the south.

I told you before of having to hide under blankets in the backs of cars after being collected from the train, as we – Dundalk players – were brought through unionist parts of both Belfast and Portadown. We were thus hidden for fear of being subjected to attacks by anti-nationalist terrorist groups.

Yet when we played against teams from the most anti-Catholic clubs, the truth is the hospitality was almost ridiculous. We were made so welcome there. You were never let buy a drink – and we got served the very best of food as well.

Because of the Troubles, clubs were just so glad to be able to keep playing their games and they were so happy that teams from the south kept travelling up.  The Miami massacre put an end to that and the rugby almost reached a standstill.
On another occasion while travelling north with Corinthians, we were made to get out of our vehicle  while British soldiers searched our gear bags and car. Having found nothing – which may have frustrated them – they still threw everything belonging to us all over the road. Boots, togs, socks and tubes of ‘Deep Heat’ were strewn everywhere and the soldiers took great delight as we all struggled to find our individual items. I often thought they must have thought we were going to bomb some place because the car was such a banger that it wouldn’t be worth bringing home again.

Anyway, as we all know, rugby was the only really fully unifying factor in sport in those days. To this day, when we have two different international football teams on the island, it is still heartening to have one rugby team representing the whole 32 counties.

This brings me to last Friday’s big Six Nations game against Wales and the singing – or lack thereof – of the Irish national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann. As is traditional, the visitors’ anthem was played first. The passion with which the Welsh players belted their anthem out was exactly what those of us who have ever been at a game in Cardiff would have expected.

Every one of their players sung their hearts out. It was so obvious how much it meant to them. Then we had our anthem and, even though it seems to be an accepted practice forever and ever, it still disappointed me to see that six of the seven Ulster players appeared to make no effort to sing Amhrán na bhFiann.

Ulster Rugby has come on so much that it had seven players involved last Saturday, but to my mind, given that they are on a supposedly United Ireland team, they could have learned the national anthem.

Of course I know we have different traditions on the island of Ireland – and I suppose nobody has to sing anything if they don’t want to!

Funny enough, when it came to Ireland’s Call, they all knew the words and bellowed it out with great gusto. Contrast their failure to enthusiastically sing the Irish anthem with the approach of Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen, James Lowe, Findlay Bealham and Bundee Ali (among others) – all of whom came to us from the Southern Hemisphere – and all of whom sing Amhrán na bhFiann with the same intensity as the Welsh sing their anthem.

Now I know you will say that I am wrong in my disapproval, but I really would prefer if our players sang our own anthem when they wear our international jersey.

 

Joy of sport distracts from woes of the world

 

As my mind struggles to take in the unbelievable amount of destruction to property and life that is brought to us daily on our television screens, it makes me wonder if some of us should feel guilty about how our love of sport allows us to almost live in a parallel universe, a ‘make-believe’ world.

I know I’ve already written about the failure of the Ulster players to sing our national anthem, but that aside, the weekend gone by has to have been one of the most compelling rugby weekends of all time.

Italy’s fantastic win over England, Scotland’s even better one over a supposedly unbeatable French team, and our hard-fought victory over a fired up and really committed Welsh team sets up an enthralling finish to the tournament this Saturday.

France, Scotland and Ireland are all in with a chance of winning the championship. Meanwhile, if Italy beat Wales in Cardiff, they’ll end up with an historic

three championship wins in the one campaign.

Throw in the fact that both our home (Creggs) men’s and women’s teams won their respective cup semi-finals last Sunday, and you have to say that on the rugby front things could hardly have gone any better.

And so, even with all the terrible things that are happening all over the world, and as our diesel and petrol prices skyrocket, thankfully we sports lovers  have a spectacular weekend of rugby to look forward to, as well as the resumption of a very competitive Allianz Football League. I don’t know what I’d do without it!

Carberry charms ‘Sporting’ guests

 

Last Thursday night I found myself heading off to another Sporting Club Ireland event. For the second event in a row it was in the Hilton Hotel (very nice by the way) in Charlemont Square.

This time, the main guest was former jockey, now MEP, Nina Carberry. Now my late wife, Carol, was a huge fan of Nina and followed her faithfully on Instagram, but I have to admit that I was only lukewarm when I heard she was to be the main attraction.

However, as I learned often over the years, Carol was usually right about such things. Nina turned out to be everything you could want in a guest at an event like this. She was extremely personable and had a word with everyone. In a long interview with Bernard Jackman, she was funny, informative and highly entertaining. She also gave us three tips for Cheltenham, but sadly I can’t remember any of them!

Among the other notables on the night (apart from myself of course) was former rugby international Gordon D’Arcy, who is presently on a 1200km cycle as a fundraiser for Motor Neurone Disease from Melrose in Scotland to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin (with the match ball for this Saturday’s game).

Also there was RTE sports presenter Hugh Cahill, who was MC on the night, Bernard Jackman, who is the busiest man on the planet at the moment, and Virgin Media pundit Fiona Hayes. Now they were all really nice and friendly, but Fiona was in a class of her own and the best craic imaginable.

All told it was a super night, and even the €7.20 for a pint of Guinness didn’t spoil it – although unlike with the Government, at the end of it all my budget showed a substantial deficit.

 

And finally…

 

Out there in Kilkerrin, Stevie Lee tells me that the local arts society are putting on two wonderful nights of Irish music, song and dance in the Kilkerrin Community Centre on March 16th and 17th at 7.30 pm. Admission, including raffle, is only €15.

It will be all local acts and Stevie guarantees two nights of great craic and ceol. So don’t forget… Kilkerrin is the place to be on one or other of those two nights, or maybe even the two of them!

‘Till next week,

bye for now