Swing Low Sweet Chariot ... (London Irish Style)

randomer

I was in the London Irish Supporters tent before the Leinster game on Saturday and managed to record a little bit of their entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn64_MORZWI

Is he saying "stick your chariots up your arse"?
Wouldnt have thought that would have gone down too well.

randomer

Keith Fancy Meteorology wrote: »

Is he saying "stick your chariots up your arse"?
Wouldnt have thought that would have gone down too well.

Yep! All of the London Irish supporters were singing along to it!

randomer

randomer wrote: »

Yep! All of the London Irish supporters were singing along to it!

Ironic,seeing as most of them will be singing it in a few weeks :rolleyes:

Snickers Man

ROTFLMAO!!!

toomevara

Keith Fancy Meteorology wrote: »

Ironic,seeing as most of them will be singing it in a few weeks :rolleyes:

Weird how its become accepted wisdom that no Irish people support LI, totally untrue and there's loads of us who won't be singing Sweet chariots in a couple of weeks, though I might give that version a lash...;)

testicle

Keith Fancy Meteorology wrote: »

Is he saying "stick your chariots up your arse"?
Wouldnt have thought that would have gone down too well.

There's a word between your and chariots. It begins with f.

This version is nothing new, I think the Welsh supporters have even sung it in the Mil Stad.

The_Kew_Tour

testicle wrote: »

There's a word between your and chariots. It begins with f.

This version is nothing new, I think the Welsh supporters have even sung it in the Mil Stad.

They do indeed. Was in college over in Wales in 2005 and lucky enough to go to Wales v England game.

There's no game I have ever been at where I have seen such hatred for team as Welsh do for England. They are real passionate fans the Welsh. There class fans.

anonymous_joe

Keith Fancy Meteorology wrote: »

Ironic,seeing as most of them will be singing it in a few weeks :rolleyes:

In all fairness, you can call the team Liarish, teh Not Nots, a shower of plastic paddy cnuts, etc, all of which I've heard mentioned time and time again, but the fans are and always have been Irish.

I may be a tad defensive because my uncle used to play for one of the lower teams, the thirds I think, and used to support them back in the day (coincidentally, back in the day is when he lived in London.)

I had the displeasure of walking into town after the game in teh RDS with a load of London Irish fans and they were all pretty much Irish. Including a bloke whose accent was deepest deepest Dub teaching his London sounding kid the words to Molly Malone.

profitius

The supports are Irish but the clubs aim is to produce players for the England team.

toomevara

profitius wrote: »

The supports are Irish but the clubs aim is to produce players for the England team.

No, the club's aim is to get bums on seats, win the GP and maybe some day mount a serious challenge on Europe. LI are not at all liked by the RFU because since the advent of professionalism they have not tended to produce many England Internationals...

profitius

toomevara wrote: »

No, the club's aim is to get bums on seats, win the GP and maybe some day mount a serious challenge on Europe. LI are not at all liked by the RFU because since the advent of professionalism they have not tended to produce many England Internationals...

I dunno about that. They're taken RFU money to pruduce players and they have produced Geraghty, Nick Kennedy, the Armitage brothers, the scrum half etc.


How many Irish players have they produced in the last 10 years? 0?

toomevara

profitius wrote: »

How many Irish players have they produced in the last 10 years? 0?

Completely agree, but their first aim is club success which is why they've got an excellent academy set up. I genuinely don't think Toby Booth is focused on turning out england internationals, he's more interested in turning out good LI club players...The GP with its huge attrition rate and relegation structure imposes constraints and considerations on coaches and teams which their celtic counterparts don't have to worry about, or legislate for.

This is, of course, one of the primary reasons why the GP has been so dour of late in terms of playing style. Safe, percentage rugby trumps flair and elan every time because clubs just cant take a risk on relegation and the injury lists are huge. Its a rare thing this season to see a genuinely fist choice XV on the field in an English club game. The last thing you want as a coach is a load of England qualified players who are going to be absent from the club setup up for sizeable and crucial chunks of the year. That's why Li have so many Pac islanders on board.

thehighground

profitius wrote: »

I dunno about that. They're taken RFU money to pruduce players and they have produced Geraghty, Nick Kennedy, the Armitage brothers, the scrum half etc.

How many Irish players have they produced in the last 10 years? 0?

From what I remember, Conor O'Shea when he was there wanted LI to be treated as a 5th Irish Province and to be funded like the rest of the provinces which the IRFU didn't go for. So, the RFU now fund them so they are obliged to develop English talent. Geraghy was capped for Ireland underage, but chose to go with England in the end (and I wouldn't have a problem with his choice). The Armitage brothers are of Jamican heritage, not Irish so I don't think they would qualify for Ireland anyway. Nick Kennedy - he can't get into the England team, how would he get into the Ireland one?

LI have provided 97 Irish internationals - probably a lot more than Connacht has produced over the years. And, LI is owned by Irish people (one of the Ryans from Ryanair) and Keith Wood is a director (surprising since he played his rugby for Harlequins when in England).

So, in short, I'm not at all surprised to hear that version of the Chariots at a London Irish game.:D

toomevara

toomevara wrote: »

No, the club's aim is to get bums on seats, win the GP and maybe some day mount a serious challenge on Europe. LI are not at all liked by the RFU because since the advent of professionalism they have not tended to produce many England Internationals...

The best response I can give you to some peoples dislike of LI,is this post someone wrote on Leinsterfans:

tacjle-bag wrote:

Don't think I can agree with that to be honest. I've seen absolutely zero effort on their part over the past decade to: (a) encourage their players of Irish heritage to declare for Ireland; or (b) actively recruit Irish players.

Essentially, they ceased to be an 'Irish' club upon the advent of professionalism. Some people might say that this is their prerogative, but I disagree for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the club has received a small fortune in sponsorship from Irish companies by trading upon their now defunct reputation. Over the years, they have variously been sponsored by Guinness, Aer Lingus, Rugbytech etc. Secondly, they are one of the best supported teams in the GP as they are the only London team with a ready-made fanbase. This, to my mind, places a certain moral obligation to return the occasional favour to Irish rugby which, as I have noted above, they have plainly failed to do.

'The Pride of Ireland' is absolutely spot on when he states that LI players have been actively encouraged to play for England. It's no secret that the decisions of Geraghty, Kennedy and Danaher were all heavily influenced by the club's senior administration. Had they received a nudge in the opposite direction, both Geraghty and Kennedy would probably have been superstars for Ireland instead of only having a handful of England caps between them.

In all, I feel absolutely no affinity towards LI whatsoever - teams like Leicester and Northampton have done far more for the development of professional Irish players than the Not-Nots.

Kenteach

They are a London club, playing in the English league, and most of their players from first team all the way down are English. A huge proportion of their fans, however, are first and second generation Irish. The social aspect of the club revolves hugely around the Irish who live in the region. I had many a great evening, night and following morning at London Irish matches and events when I was over there, with a huge irish percentage amongst those in attendance. Back in the day, this was reflected on the field as well but since professionalism this has obviously changed significantly.
They do not owe Irish rugby anything. If a player emerges over there who can declare for Ireland, then all well and good. But its the same as expecting Leicester or Harlequins to develop a player who can declare for Ireland. Its like those people who think Celtic is an Irish club. The senior team has its own reponsibilities in their professional environment, the supporters and hangers on can generate whatever traditions they see fit.

And as for anyone thinking Kennedy or Geraghty would have been 'huge stars' for Ireland?:eek:

siltirocker

Kenteach wrote: »

They are a London club, playing in the English league, and most of their players from first team all the way down are English. A huge proportion of their fans, however, are first and second generation Irish. The social aspect of the club revolves hugely around the Irish who live in the region. I had many a great evening, night and following morning at London Irish matches and events when I was over there, with a huge irish percentage amongst those in attendance. Back in the day, this was reflected on the field as well but since professionalism this has obviously changed significantly.
They do not owe Irish rugby anything. If a player emerges over there who can declare for Ireland, then all well and good. But its the same as expecting Leicester or Harlequins to develop a player who can declare for Ireland. Its like those people who think Celtic is an Irish club. The senior team has its own reponsibilities in their professional environment, the supporters and hangers on can generate whatever traditions they see fit.

And as for anyone thinking Kennedy or Geraghty would have been 'huge stars' for Ireland?:eek:

Maybe not huge, but i reckon Geraghty would have had the number 21 permanently embedded on his back over the past few years.

Kenteach

Kenteach wrote: »

They are a London club, playing in the English league, and most of their players from first team all the way down are English. A huge proportion of their fans, however, are first and second generation Irish. The social aspect of the club revolves hugely around the Irish who live in the region. I had many a great evening, night and following morning at London Irish matches and events when I was over there, with a huge irish percentage amongst those in attendance. Back in the day, this was reflected on the field as well but since professionalism this has obviously changed significantly.
They do not owe Irish rugby anything. If a player emerges over there who can declare for Ireland, then all well and good. But its the same as expecting Leicester or Harlequins to develop a player who can declare for Ireland. Its like those people who think Celtic is an Irish club. The senior team has its own reponsibilities in their professional environment, the supporters and hangers on can generate whatever traditions they see fit.

And as for anyone thinking Kennedy or Geraghty would have been 'huge stars' for Ireland?:eek:

Others would argue differently.

profitius

Keith Fancy Meteorology wrote: »

The best response I can give you to some peoples dislike of LI,is this post someone wrote on Leinsterfans:

He's not far off the truth. Theres been some good points raised but if they're calling themselves an Irish club there should at least have more then 1 player. Alot of GP clubs have more Irish players playing for them.

anonymous_joe

Well when you think that Mike 'I'm English, I swear' Catt was the one who advised Geraghty to play for England...

In fairness though, ye olde London Irish and Liarish are two seperate organisations. Liarish are a combination of London Scottish, London Irish and Richmond RFC iirc. Toom or someone could probably confirm all that.