RUGBY: Barney Spender=20
AFTER a noisy, boisterous Saturday night to celebrate a=20 Welsh victory over Japan, the Hard Rock Cafe in=20 Bloemfontein was a ghost pub on Sunday at lunchtime.=20
Michelle, a bubbly waitress, who had seen the tips over the=20 previous 10 days rise quicker than a Kobus Wiese line-out=20 lift, cut a forlorn figure. “I miss the Welsh boys,” she=20 said sadly, “It’s not the same without them. It’s dead=20 isn’t it.”=20
Dead? If the Hard Rock was dead and on the slab, it did a=20 pretty mean Lazarus impression as the place sparked back=20 into life with the arrival of the Irish.=20
Players, supporters, journalists, inky digits wrapped=20 around pints of Guinness, linking arms and joining in the=20 traditional harmonies — otherwise known as the Katz Chorus=20 — of Ireland’s Call.=20
“Ireland, Ireland/together standing tall/shoulder to=20 shoulder/we’ll answer Ireland’s call.”=20
No, the Hard Rock wasn’t quite ready for the morgue as=20 Ireland, everyone else’s second favourite rugby country,=20 amply filled the gap left by the Welsh — their opponents=20 in Sunday’s crunch game in Pool C.=20
Why are they so popular, these men in green? Possibly=20 because they are genuine, honest to God good fellas.=20 Untouched still by the game’s brisk march to=20 professionalism, the players turn up because they love the=20 game and all the “crack” that goes with it. =20
Their rugby is like an uncut diamond, rough around the=20 edges but with enough quality to produce flashes of=20
A list which includes Jackie Kyle, Karl Mullen, Syd Millar,=20 Willie John McBride, Mike Gibson, Fergus slattery, tony=20 Ward, Ollie Campbell, Brendan Mullin, Nick Popplewell and=20 Simon Geoghegan amongst others speaks for itself. =20
Irish rugby history shows some great triumphs, a Grand Slam=20 in 1948 and a brace of Triple Crowns in the 1980s among=20 them. Recently there have been two fine wins over England=20 in back-to-back seasons but these have been tempered by=20 some nightmares such as the 22-12 defeat by Italy just=20 before the World Cup.=20
And, of course, there is the litany of glorious defeats,=20 such as last week against the All Blacks, but most notably=20 that quarterfinal against Australia in the last World Cup=20 when having snatched victoryfrom the jaws of defeat, they=20 promptly handed it back again.=20
Yep, no doubt about it, the Irish, always capable of an=20 upset, are a popular outfit and in a land where ballads=20 outnumber hymns, the new anthem has caught a mood.=20
“Ireland, Ireland/together standing tall/shoulder to=20 shoulder/we’ll answer Ireland’s call.”=20
While not being one of the greater musical works of the=20 20th century it is still a rousing gutbuster and might=20 serve as a lesson to South Africans who are still searching=20 for the answer to their own anthem problem.=20
Remember, the Irish rugby team represents two countries –=20 the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland — and you=20 don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that there have=20 been political and religious differences going on there for=20 about the last 700 years.=20
And because it is two counties the anthem has always been=20 something of a problem. With home games it was never an=20 issue. When internationals were still in Belfast God Save=20 The Queen was played while at Landsdown Road in Dublin the=20 Soldier’s Song of the Republic took top billing.=20
The real problem came with matches away from home as=20 neither of those two represented the whole team. So, the=20 Irish Rugby Football Union dillied and dallied betwen the=20 sound of silence and some old Irish tearjerkers like Danny=20 Boy and The Rose of Tralee. Beautiful songs but more dirge=20 than war cry, hardly designed to raly the players to=20 legendary feats of derring-do.=20
So, the IRFU commissioned their own anthem for this World=20 Cup — a stirring song of unity — from the Derry composer=20 Phil Coulter, responsible for such numbers as The Town I=20 Love so Well and Sandy Shaw’s Eurovision Song contest=20 winner Puppet on a String.=20
And so far it has worked. Players from both sides of the=20 border have been singing it “very gustily” and it is=20 catching on with supporters too. The fact that Dermot=20 Strong of Commitments fame recorded it has added to the=20 popular appeal. It has an easy chorus, refers to each of=20 the four provinces in the country and includes one verse=20 which aptly sums up Irish rugby.=20
“Hearts of steel/and heads unbowing/vowing never to be=20 broken/we will fight, until/we can fight no more …/for=20 the four proud provinces of Ireland.”=20