During the match, "The Billy Boys" was heard and that led UEFA to investigate the lyrics of the song. UEFA swiftly concluded the song is "racist", sectarian in nature and penalised the club on August 23rd, 2019.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/23/rangers-legia-warsaw-sectarian-chants-seat-restriction
The penalty was having to close a 3,000-seat section of the stadium for the fixture against Legia Warsaw and in place of where fans would normally be seated, a large UEFA banner with "Equal Game" must be displayed.
------------------
In response to UEFA penalising Rangers, an editorial was written in The Celtic Star - Celtic FC supporters website - a few days later, on August 25th, 2019. The author of the piece describes himself as "a proud Irish republican".
He argued a couple of Celtic songs should also be banned from their stadium, in order for supporters of Celtic FC to take the high road and avert the prospect of also being penalised.
The 2 songs he suggested be banned from Celtic Park, due to being "divisive and intimidating, with militant overtones" were:
- The Sam Song
- Celtic Symphony
Quote:
"I believe Celtic fans should take complete control of the moral high ground and eliminate anything that could be perceived as intimidating from the song book. And to this I would heretically add ‘The Celtic Symphony’; which is nothing more than a Wolfe Tones cash in. If they could charge the club royalties for every time it is sung at Celtic Park, they would. The Ra’ can be perceived to mean many things; the IRA of Kevin Barry, the IRA of Bobby Sands or the IRA which shot Lyra McKee this year. There is too much ambiguity in the lyrics."https://thecelticstar.com/uefa-stamp-on-the-racist-and-sectarian-rangers-support-the-politics-of-the-celtic-songbook/
The writer also contended the song 'God Bless The Pope' should be voluntarily not sung, for reasons of inclusiveness.
Quote:
Completely not on board with the group calling themselves 'New IRA', the group that killed Lyra McKee.
"If you want to show your support for The Pope, go to mass and put your money where your mouth is i.e. on the collection plate. Many Celtic fans are not Catholic or religious at all."Reading between the lines of the editorial, the author appeared to be very sympathetic to most groups who once called themselves a variation of IRA.
Completely not on board with the group calling themselves 'New IRA', the group that killed Lyra McKee.
Any song that can be interpreted as support for those people is a song that is too divisive for his taste and, probably more importantly to him, likely to get Celtic in trouble with UEFA.
------------------
The broad reaction I saw on Twitter to the Irish women's football team singing that Wolfe Tones song, came in 3 parts: Denial, Acceptance, Defiance.
Denial saw grown adults bizarrely trying to turn this into a "blue and black dress OR white and gold dress" style debate on the nature of what they heard.
The broad reaction I saw on Twitter to the Irish women's football team singing that Wolfe Tones song, came in 3 parts: Denial, Acceptance, Defiance.
Denial saw grown adults bizarrely trying to turn this into a "blue and black dress OR white and gold dress" style debate on the nature of what they heard.
Orwellian stuff, I guess, if that adjective wasn't overused to the point of meaning little.
Interestingly when a Sky Sports News presenter posited this education-and-ignorance question, plausibly fed by a producer reading the comments on Irish Twitter, he got piled-on for having the audacity to let those words leave his mouth.
Seems it's only ok for Irish people to suggest Irish people are ignorant of Irish history and that's about the only part of this story that makes internally consistent sense:
"What did you hear, c'mere I heard 'Up Ve-ra, Ve-ra'"Disingenuous nudge-nudge, wink-wink arguments abounded; while that denial phase also saw many people suggest:
"Sure half of the team are in their early 20's and don't know what they're singing about".Implying the real issue at stake was the women's team ignorance of Irish history; some type of back-handed insult masquerading as an oblique defence.
Interestingly when a Sky Sports News presenter posited this education-and-ignorance question, plausibly fed by a producer reading the comments on Irish Twitter, he got piled-on for having the audacity to let those words leave his mouth.
Seems it's only ok for Irish people to suggest Irish people are ignorant of Irish history and that's about the only part of this story that makes internally consistent sense:
Nobody gets to call your hometown a kip, other than the people who live there.
------------------
Acceptance came when the FAI released a statement apologising for the episode.
Anyone still offering a blatantly disingenuous "they're saying Boo-urns, Boo-urns" defence, or the insulting "T'was ignorance, your honour" defence, quickly pivoted to "right fine, they sang it, nobody cares."
Defiance followed in the form of "how about 'fuck you', we'll sing whatever we want"
Indignant and open defiance; that gained momentum following that Sky Sports News interview; people outraged a British man had the temerity to ask an Irish woman a question many Irish people were already asking.
Celtic had pretty much fuck all to do with Ireland beating Scotland - only Claire O'Riordan plays for Celtic - so that whole 'ghirls' stuff reads ignorant of the composition of the very squad people are cheering on.
------------------
Acceptance came when the FAI released a statement apologising for the episode.
Anyone still offering a blatantly disingenuous "they're saying Boo-urns, Boo-urns" defence, or the insulting "T'was ignorance, your honour" defence, quickly pivoted to "right fine, they sang it, nobody cares."
Defiance followed in the form of "how about 'fuck you', we'll sing whatever we want"
Indignant and open defiance; that gained momentum following that Sky Sports News interview; people outraged a British man had the temerity to ask an Irish woman a question many Irish people were already asking.
------------------
The most popular recent comments under the song 'Celtic Symphony' on Youtube are variations of "Never apologise".
Also stuff like "well done Ghirls" - Ghirls being the nickname for Celtic FC women's team - which to me is a bizarre minimizing of the tremendous achievement of the Irish women's football team.
The most popular recent comments under the song 'Celtic Symphony' on Youtube are variations of "Never apologise".
Also stuff like "well done Ghirls" - Ghirls being the nickname for Celtic FC women's team - which to me is a bizarre minimizing of the tremendous achievement of the Irish women's football team.
Celtic had pretty much fuck all to do with Ireland beating Scotland - only Claire O'Riordan plays for Celtic - so that whole 'ghirls' stuff reads ignorant of the composition of the very squad people are cheering on.
------------------
'Never apologise' is an absolute position, rarely conducive to reconciliation. Whether it's on an interpersonal, national or international level, the word 'sorry' is an olive branch.
It can act as a conduit towards forgiveness and if forgiveness isn't possible, due to the severity of harm caused, it might pave the road towards some sense of healing for the harmed.
You can at least attempt to inch closer together from 'sorry', in ways you can't from 'fuck you'...
The Celtic Star editorial on rebel songs suggested to me an acute awareness words cause ongoing hurt to families; the writer brought up multiple offensive songs sung by fans of Glasgow Rangers, to copper-fasten that point.
Suppose the family of Lyra McKee came out and said they feel hurt by the lyrics of Celtic Symphony - which is probably how they feel, at least judging from her sister's public comments...
What scope for humility is offered through a "never apologise" prism? Would people sing it knowingly in their presence, down the pub?
If people chose not to sing it, out of respect for them, is respect reserved only to bereaved families people know suffered from Loyalist, Republican or state-level British Army violence?
Tens of thousands of families on this island got caught up in decades of proverbial, and often literal, crossfire of bombs and bullets and few will ever know their names.
Glorifying violence through songs of the past, though, plants more seeds of "us and them" in the present.
Those flowers will sprout one day; growing ever apart with the passage of time, rooted in Irish soil rich in unapologetic defiance and watered plentifully with bitter recriminations.
------------------
------------------
It's a land that may once more be uneasily, bitterly, probably violently, contested by deeply divided communities, in a Groundhog Day of groundless animosity.
For Irish unity to mean anything useful and actionable, something stable to pass down through generations while keeping lofty promises of peace, prosperity and safety:
It has to mean more than whether there's still that squiggly line on a map.
------------------
There's work to do on all fronts but they're solid guiding principles, completely independent of historical and external grievances.
We've tried bitterness and resentment for much of the last century and nothing productive came from any of it, North or South, East or West.
Compassion and respect give solid footing to strong relationships, can help bring communities together and break down barriers that exist between people.
Those ideals weren't enough in the past but maybe they can be enough for this island, this time.
We could even aim for that true unity of people; focusing on the distinct possibility of growing ever closer in pursuit of a shared happiness, on this beautiful island we call home.
We could talk about all we have in common today and not just sing about all that set us apart yesterday.
We could yet be a generation to mend some broken promises.
It can act as a conduit towards forgiveness and if forgiveness isn't possible, due to the severity of harm caused, it might pave the road towards some sense of healing for the harmed.
You can at least attempt to inch closer together from 'sorry', in ways you can't from 'fuck you'...
The Celtic Star editorial on rebel songs suggested to me an acute awareness words cause ongoing hurt to families; the writer brought up multiple offensive songs sung by fans of Glasgow Rangers, to copper-fasten that point.
Suppose the family of Lyra McKee came out and said they feel hurt by the lyrics of Celtic Symphony - which is probably how they feel, at least judging from her sister's public comments...
What scope for humility is offered through a "never apologise" prism? Would people sing it knowingly in their presence, down the pub?
If people chose not to sing it, out of respect for them, is respect reserved only to bereaved families people know suffered from Loyalist, Republican or state-level British Army violence?
Tens of thousands of families on this island got caught up in decades of proverbial, and often literal, crossfire of bombs and bullets and few will ever know their names.
Countless anonymous parents who didn't sleep soundly, worried for their children.
That hurt rippled out a long way, over a long time.
------------------
That hurt rippled out a long way, over a long time.
------------------
Lyra's sister Nichola wrote this on August 15th, 2022, weeks before recent controversies and subsequent defiance from Republicans and Unionists alike, in proudly singing their own songs glorifying violence.
Quote:
The "why" of bullets and bombs, doesn't help the bereaved nor bring their loved one back.
What explanation can anyone possibly offer, to make that better.
------------------
The last piece Lyra wrote was posthumously published in The Guardian, unfinished, and was titled:
The brief foreword from The Guardian makes clear she was still working on it at the time she was killed but you'd never know that from reading it. If this was a version she wasn't finished or overly thrilled with, it can only be because she was so incredibly talented.
The article effortlessly weaves her personal perspective of growing up at a time of "Ceasefire babies", with the wider perspective of her generation.
It's simply a great essay and if you have time to read it, I'd highly recommend it.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/mar/28/lyra-mckee-last-piece-ceasefire-babies-growing-up-northern-ireland-in-90s
------------------
The coda to her essay talks powerfully about three distinct broken promises, made by Northern Irish politicians, to her generation (born 1990's).
Peace.
They were promised peace, which Lyra argues never actually materialised, not truly. Yes, the bombs went away but Loyalist & Republican groups used threats, fear, intimidation and violence at the community level, throughout her short life - and she felt they still do.
Prosperity.
They were promised things would get better in Northern Ireland; that theirs would be the generation to reap the enormous fruits of any uneasy-but-lasting cessation of violence.
Lyra argued those lofty promises of opportunity for all turned into deprivation, poverty and austerity for many.
Before getting to the third broken promise, a final thought about songs glorifying violence.
People can sing whatever they like and clearly do.
You can glorify violence in the songs you sing, while "they" glorify violence in "theirs", if that's what you want to do.
Quote:
"We MUST do EVERYTHING in OUR POWER to prevent history from EVER repeating itself. That includes teaching our young people about the human cost of atrocities perpetrated for 'so-called' political ends."To her, "justifications" of whatever violence is being glorified overlooks the ramifications of it; which last forever when your sister is shot dead at 29-years-old.
The "why" of bullets and bombs, doesn't help the bereaved nor bring their loved one back.
What explanation can anyone possibly offer, to make that better.
------------------
The last piece Lyra wrote was posthumously published in The Guardian, unfinished, and was titled:
"We were meant to be the generation that reaped the spoils of peace"It's just beautifully written and I've read it dozens of times in recent years.
The brief foreword from The Guardian makes clear she was still working on it at the time she was killed but you'd never know that from reading it. If this was a version she wasn't finished or overly thrilled with, it can only be because she was so incredibly talented.
The article effortlessly weaves her personal perspective of growing up at a time of "Ceasefire babies", with the wider perspective of her generation.
It's simply a great essay and if you have time to read it, I'd highly recommend it.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/mar/28/lyra-mckee-last-piece-ceasefire-babies-growing-up-northern-ireland-in-90s
------------------
The coda to her essay talks powerfully about three distinct broken promises, made by Northern Irish politicians, to her generation (born 1990's).
Peace.
They were promised peace, which Lyra argues never actually materialised, not truly. Yes, the bombs went away but Loyalist & Republican groups used threats, fear, intimidation and violence at the community level, throughout her short life - and she felt they still do.
Prosperity.
They were promised things would get better in Northern Ireland; that theirs would be the generation to reap the enormous fruits of any uneasy-but-lasting cessation of violence.
Lyra argued those lofty promises of opportunity for all turned into deprivation, poverty and austerity for many.
Before getting to the third broken promise, a final thought about songs glorifying violence.
People can sing whatever they like and clearly do.
You can glorify violence in the songs you sing, while "they" glorify violence in "theirs", if that's what you want to do.
Glorifying violence through songs of the past, though, plants more seeds of "us and them" in the present.
Those flowers will sprout one day; growing ever apart with the passage of time, rooted in Irish soil rich in unapologetic defiance and watered plentifully with bitter recriminations.
------------------
Lyra's prophetic and haunting last words, in a long-form print context, are about that final broken promise.
Safety.
------------------
Safety.
"The third promise the politicians made and broke was the one that hurt the most. It was felt mostly in the areas that had already been ravaged, the ones where the gunmen continued to roam. Your children, they’d told our parents, will be safe now. With the peace deal, the days of young people disappearing and dying young would be gone.RIP.
Yet this turned out to be a lie, too."
------------------Ireland made global headlines in recent years, for progress.
This place is unrecognizably progressive, even from the days when my parents were getting married.
My mam, a Catholic, wasn't "allowed" to marry my dad, a Protestant, in 1979; not in a Catholic church, well not until they got "permission" from a representative of the Pope or some similar nonsense, which they near-grudgingly got.
This place is unrecognizably progressive, even from the days when my parents were getting married.
My mam, a Catholic, wasn't "allowed" to marry my dad, a Protestant, in 1979; not in a Catholic church, well not until they got "permission" from a representative of the Pope or some similar nonsense, which they near-grudgingly got.
Not allowed enshrine their love, ask please first and we'll get back to you.
Speaking of getting back to you, some of dad's extended family weren't ok with it happening at all, didn't attend and never spoke to him ever again, not even when he was dying in 2014 and they were given an opportunity to let bygones be.... to say goodbye.
Speaking of getting back to you, some of dad's extended family weren't ok with it happening at all, didn't attend and never spoke to him ever again, not even when he was dying in 2014 and they were given an opportunity to let bygones be.... to say goodbye.
My dad died with those regrets and I couldn't make the reunion happen for him, though I tried, regrets I'll now carry with me through my life.
That showed me, not that I needed the affirmation, that you can hold on to the bitterness of the past for a very long time.
That showed me, not that I needed the affirmation, that you can hold on to the bitterness of the past for a very long time.
You can take it to the grave.
------------------
43 years on from my parents marriage, it's all change in Ireland.
There's fading religiosity, both divorce and same-sex marriage came into effect, there was smoking bans and other public health initiatives that led to Ireland having the highest life expectancy in the EU in 2020, as opposed to once near lowest in Europe.
And yet many young people on social media appear to want to go backwards in their sense of identity; almost yearning for an idealized version of a distant or recent past, one they never experienced and, by most accounts, fucking sucked to live through.
Some very clearly tie their sense of Irish nationalism to Scottish sport - odd in some ways - yet even at that do so more in their antipathy towards Rangers and not in their adoration of Celtic.
Others seem to tie their nationalism to a hatred of colonial Britain and not their pride in modern Ireland, which outperforms modern UK on a wide range of metrics that seek to compare countries.
Many want to tie their sense of Irishness to an oppressed past - or present, by pointing to the line that exists on a map - and not to a bright future the people either side of the line could freely create, together.
There's fading religiosity, both divorce and same-sex marriage came into effect, there was smoking bans and other public health initiatives that led to Ireland having the highest life expectancy in the EU in 2020, as opposed to once near lowest in Europe.
And yet many young people on social media appear to want to go backwards in their sense of identity; almost yearning for an idealized version of a distant or recent past, one they never experienced and, by most accounts, fucking sucked to live through.
Some very clearly tie their sense of Irish nationalism to Scottish sport - odd in some ways - yet even at that do so more in their antipathy towards Rangers and not in their adoration of Celtic.
Others seem to tie their nationalism to a hatred of colonial Britain and not their pride in modern Ireland, which outperforms modern UK on a wide range of metrics that seek to compare countries.
Many want to tie their sense of Irishness to an oppressed past - or present, by pointing to the line that exists on a map - and not to a bright future the people either side of the line could freely create, together.
------------------
That future, one of respect for one another, could eventually result in a lasting unifying of people from polar opposite backgrounds.
That future, one of respect for one another, could eventually result in a lasting unifying of people from polar opposite backgrounds.
Otherwise this '32-county unity' younger people speak of so fondly will end up as a spurious reunification of various bits of earth - soil, trees, lakes, rivers - geological features unable to know they were divided to begin with.
It's a land that may once more be uneasily, bitterly, probably violently, contested by deeply divided communities, in a Groundhog Day of groundless animosity.
For Irish unity to mean anything useful and actionable, something stable to pass down through generations while keeping lofty promises of peace, prosperity and safety:
It has to mean more than whether there's still that squiggly line on a map.
------------------
I'm proud to be Irish and that pride stems mostly from the overwhelming good I see in people of Ireland today.
The pandemic cemented my own flawed and hyper-idealistic view of modern Irishness; there was a huge collective effort and sense of "how can I help?" during the worst of it and that's who I believe we are, at our best.
Being Irish, to me, is not about anachronistic ideals nor the values and belief systems of our grandparents; it's not about rebel songs nor religion nor skin colour nor gender nor sexuality.
Many Irish people in 2022, born in all corners of this island and those who came from different parts of the Earth, don't fall neatly into archaic conceptualizations of what it once meant to be Irish; all of those rebel songs and persisting religious animus means next-to-nothing to them.
You can love who you want in Ireland, you can do it openly without asking for permission and that love will be accepted and embraced by most people, which is beautiful progress; while recent episodes of homophobic violence is a reminder it's by no means a perfect beauty.
It's a good start.
------------------
I see people from all backgrounds, around my way.
Many of whom don't fit the archetypes and stereotypes of what Irish once meant to many, at least south of a border, which was to be Catholic, fervently anti-British and probably a big drinker.
I love the warm welcome most people give to others coming here in search of a better life, while knowing bigotry and racism is gaining traction with 'Ireland is Full' rhetoric increasingly pervasive on social media.
I love that many of the next generation are aware-of-but-not-heavily-invested-in what happened in 1798 - and care a lot more about what they can make happen in 2028, in education, health, sport, art or music.
------------------
The pandemic cemented my own flawed and hyper-idealistic view of modern Irishness; there was a huge collective effort and sense of "how can I help?" during the worst of it and that's who I believe we are, at our best.
Being Irish, to me, is not about anachronistic ideals nor the values and belief systems of our grandparents; it's not about rebel songs nor religion nor skin colour nor gender nor sexuality.
Many Irish people in 2022, born in all corners of this island and those who came from different parts of the Earth, don't fall neatly into archaic conceptualizations of what it once meant to be Irish; all of those rebel songs and persisting religious animus means next-to-nothing to them.
You can love who you want in Ireland, you can do it openly without asking for permission and that love will be accepted and embraced by most people, which is beautiful progress; while recent episodes of homophobic violence is a reminder it's by no means a perfect beauty.
It's a good start.
------------------
I see people from all backgrounds, around my way.
Many of whom don't fit the archetypes and stereotypes of what Irish once meant to many, at least south of a border, which was to be Catholic, fervently anti-British and probably a big drinker.
I love the warm welcome most people give to others coming here in search of a better life, while knowing bigotry and racism is gaining traction with 'Ireland is Full' rhetoric increasingly pervasive on social media.
I love that many of the next generation are aware-of-but-not-heavily-invested-in what happened in 1798 - and care a lot more about what they can make happen in 2028, in education, health, sport, art or music.
------------------
A sense of Irishness can easily stay rooted in the darkness of our past, if people want it to; it can forever be defined by who and what we hate, rather than who we are and who we love, but I believe light will always shine through, given enough time.
Irishness doesn't have to merely be a function of how wronged we were; not that you have to forget how bleak and cruel that past was, either.
People in Ireland were always so much more than their unwanted status as the subjugated,
Being 'anti-British' tells you little about what 'Irish' meant to those people who struggled so desperately in the 1840's, just to live.
We don't have to be content with piling fancy modern Irish bricks on top of the ruins of our colonized past, thereby making everything a function of Britain and of who we once were.
We're highly capable of laying strong foundations on this island of who we are today and then building upon them beautifully to who we can be tomorrow.
------------------
Irishness doesn't have to merely be a function of how wronged we were; not that you have to forget how bleak and cruel that past was, either.
People in Ireland were always so much more than their unwanted status as the subjugated,
Being 'anti-British' tells you little about what 'Irish' meant to those people who struggled so desperately in the 1840's, just to live.
We don't have to be content with piling fancy modern Irish bricks on top of the ruins of our colonized past, thereby making everything a function of Britain and of who we once were.
We're highly capable of laying strong foundations on this island of who we are today and then building upon them beautifully to who we can be tomorrow.
------------------
Irishness can be rooted in the here and now, in how we treat each other irrespective of background; social principles of dignity, equality, fairness.
There's work to do on all fronts but they're solid guiding principles, completely independent of historical and external grievances.
We've tried bitterness and resentment for much of the last century and nothing productive came from any of it, North or South, East or West.
Compassion and respect give solid footing to strong relationships, can help bring communities together and break down barriers that exist between people.
Those ideals weren't enough in the past but maybe they can be enough for this island, this time.
We could even aim for that true unity of people; focusing on the distinct possibility of growing ever closer in pursuit of a shared happiness, on this beautiful island we call home.
We could talk about all we have in common today and not just sing about all that set us apart yesterday.
We could yet be a generation to mend some broken promises.
