Allowing God Save the Queen at Gaelic stadium 'is a disgrace'

[Albie]

Well, that is what this headline boasts.

We shall start with a few pointers for the unknowing:

• Tomorrow, 24th Feb., Ireland entertains England in a Rugby match as part of the 6 Nations tournament.
• Ireland's normal home games are played at Lansdowne Rd, but this is under major development.
• Whilst Lansdowne Rd is out of action, they have opted to play their games at Croke Park.
• Croke Park was the scene of one of the British armies less than favourable moments in history.
• And this is the first visit of any English sporting team to this venue.

So, armed with some details you may understand why some Irish supporters are unhappy with the fact that God Save the Queen is to be played at this venue tomorrow. However, some questions arise:

Do we let past events dictate how a generation that had not lived this event feel?
Do we allow sport to be overshadowed by politics?
Should the two sides (who, by all accounts, just want to play Rugby) just simply do their thing?

Whilst history, no matter how hurtful or shameful it be, should never be forgotten, we need to look forward and not dwell on something our ancestors were guilty or a victim of. Generally speaking, any set of Rugby fans are very respectful of another nations - which is why we never see the troubles that football brings in Rugby grounds. No national anthems are booed, not fighting ensues from too much booze, etc. And I really would not want to see this start - though this is such a remote possibility.

From a personal point of view, I'm looking forward to a, hopefully, blinding match with an English win. The Irish start as favorites, but the last three games between the two have ended in a one score deficit for the English. The Irish have improved, but so have the English and one score is not a lot to recover from.

Footnote: A problem I do have here, is that, as an Englishmen, I don't take kindly to the English been blamed for what the British do. I have read some claim that they still await the apology from the English Government - suffice to say, there is (and hasn't been for several hundred years) no such thing.

 

[Hunlord]

Personally, I think its great that Croke Park is finally being opened up, I don't play gaelic or hurling, so I haven't really been brought up to believe that it is "a stronghold against the English" as I've heard some idiots from my class call it. Its just an area of ground to play some sports, that's how I see it, and its unfair to only let two sports use the facilities which will be otherwise unused for this time period, as the GAA sports are played in the summer. Its also a source of income for the GAA, which is never a bad thing. I can see there being some protesters around, but they will always be a few trying to cause trouble, and not even caring for the cause. There are people still brought up around here to think that the English stole our lands, and seven hundred years of oppression and all that lark, which, in this day and age, I think is utterly ridiculous.

Personally, I'm not going to watch the match tomorrow, but I will no doubt hear all about it, so just to spite Albie, go on Ireland! Diddly aye and all that stuff....

 

[national acrobat]

On a different but similar note, I'd like to share my experiences of a few years ago. QPR were playing Cardiff in the 2nd Division Playoff in Cardiff, because Wembley was being rebuilt. Anyway, although, Cardiff were playing in the *English* football League, QPR were not allowed to play the British national anthem for fear that it would provoke hostile reactions from the Cardiff crowd. Needless to say, we 30,000 London supporters were none too pleased with this and we sang our national anthem throughout the match.

Obviously this is a completely different case, but I'd like to vent my pent-up anger anyway.

 

[Albie]

What was nice about the game was the way -

a) England was applauded as they took to the pitch.
b) God Save the Queen was sung in good voice by the English and well respected by the Irish.
c) The Rugby Union theme song - the World in Union - was played as the teams were introduced to the Irish premier.

They (the broadcasters) did draw comparisons with the trip England took to Dublin at the height of a lot of the troubles between Britain and Ireland in 1973 - when both Scotland and Wales refused to go there. Like then, the English team was well received that day.

It really does make a complete nonsense when a small minority start trying to find issues when there is none to find - by making a game of rugby a springboard to make some political statement. I'm pleased it came about as it did and it does show that, on the whole, a game like rugby does bond people together - despite their indifferences. Historic was a word that was bounded about a lot this weekend just gone and, as some have stated, it is a start of a new found relationship between the two countries - although this does sound a little over hyping it, if you read up on the significance of the whole situation, you would understand.



I would have responded earlier to this, but I've just got over the result.

 

[Anonymous]

This kind of reminds me of a football game Israel vs Germany in Germany a few years ago. All the politicians and the Central Council of the Jews in Germany (a VERY controversial political body, to say the least) praised at how 'normal relations got' and how historic this moment was... well, it was just a bloody football game. You could also tell that at first, the Germans were apparently reluctant to go into the offensive, because at half-time, the Israelis led 1-0... only to lose the game 7-1 in the second half.

Not to forget the mutual boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow (1980) and Los Angeles (1984)... or the official German protest against an Iranian minister visiting a game of the World Cup in '06...

There used to be a time when sports matches were considered non-political. Isn't it ironic how the most important part of the Olympic spirit, the Olympic Peace (wars were interrupted during the Olympic Games in ancient Greece) got ditched when the Games of 1914, 1918, 1940 and 1944 were cancelled?

Never mind these random thoughts