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What is our/ Irish peoples obsession with The Fields Of Athenry song? It's a nice song to sing yes.

AMKC

But that's about it. Nothing worse when the soccer team or the rare occasion the Rugby team or some other Irish athlete is losing and supporters start to sing this song.

Me I know a few words of it the basic words but could not not sing it to save my life lol.

I think it's a lame song. There is nothing good about it. It was about when everyone was leaving the Country during the Famine yes.

Why we want to remind ourselves of that bad dark time in Irish history and how is that supposed to help a team if its losing?

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igCorcaigh

Thanks OP for bringing up this vital question, which is so relevant to us all now.

dxhound2005

Nothing worse? What about Hitler?

AMKC

And on Cue the Irish supporters in Paris are all singing it like the bunch of drones they all are.

dxhound2005

Do you mean On Cue?

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121147980#Comment_121147980

Yeah and Albert fish

Hyperbollix

You must be new to sport, OP? Sport is a silly affair where, lets say in soccer, 22 grown men kick a bag of air around a field and try to put it in the opponents net. It's a ball game, a preoccupation for children mainly, but we've contrived as a society to give it life and death status, the pride of entire nations hanging on the kick of a ball. Vast quantities of hard earned money is spent attempting to watch footballers kick a ball in various places around the world. It's crazy if you think about it.

So what better way is there for supporters at these games to attribute even more weight and consequence on the on field goings on? Sing a song about the famine of course. This fans the flames of nationalistic fervour, which is kind of useful in an international sporting event.

Jim_Hodge

FFS! @AMKC can you not just think things without creating a thread about them?

It's a sporting anthem. It's a chant or refrain for a bit of craic during a match. You obviously know nothing about the game if you're even raising this.

Would you prefer Swing Low, Sweet Chariot?

[Deleted User]

Paddy Reilly have such a strong rendition it stuck. When my mother was alive and I was driving her to Galway and we passed signs for Athenry she immediately went into song, not that her vocals were strong in old age. Years later, I found myself stroking out loud notes in my car passing same signs! I still feel I would do it automatically now, but under my breath on board a train.

gipi

The song isn't about people leaving the country, it's about a man being shipped to Australia for the crime of stealing food, leaving his wife and child behind to fend for themselves.

You should listen to the lyrics sometime

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121148241#Comment_121148241

No not at all and yes it is stupid the amount of money in Soccer. It will crash eventually as nothing last forever and I will raise a glass to it on the day the whole Premier league and every other stupid league with over payed players crashes. That will be a good day to be alive.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121148445#Comment_121148445

Do you know it was Rugby Union you were watching when you started the thread?

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121148440#Comment_121148440

Nothing in the lyrics about them being married.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121148475#Comment_121148475

Yes I do.

timmyntc

Its a sh*te song for old people

The fans should sing a real irish song instead, like Maniac 2000

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121148503#Comment_121148503

Probably implied.

They have a child together.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121148819#Comment_121148819

Should have sung "my little armalite"

I'm sure the South Africans could relate.

Duckworth_Luas

Started as a folk song written by Pete St. John, who also wrote The Rare Old Times

It became a big hit for Paddy Reilly in the 1970s and became a staple for Irish folk singers

It started being sung at Celtic FC matches in Glasgow and from there started being sung at Rep of Ireland soccer matches

Later it became associated with Buccanners RFC, but also crossed over from the international soccer supporters to international rugby

Eventually, Munster fans, who didn't really exist until 2000, started to sing it

Now it's sung at all Irish sports events.

It's $hite, but at least it's better than ole, ole, ole

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121147871#Comment_121147871

It's After Hours, the home of relevant threads.

(A mod will probably lock the thread now, with a snarky comment about this having run its course!)

Back on topic, it's better than Sweet Caroline and Wonderwall put together!

dxhound2005

Liverpool fans also sing it with different lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onHbc1Prjz4

[Deleted User]

'It's a nice song to sing yes'. I just love your conclusion 😂

chooseusername

It would be great craic to go to a match with @AMKC I’d say.

Str8outtaWuhan

There is an irony that the rugby fans in Paris will sing a song about the evils of British imperialism but won't sing their national anthem or play under their own flag lest it offend the British players on the team 🤣

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121149593#Comment_121149593

That's a post straight out of the School of Ignorance of the Irish Rugby setup. It's not a Republic of Ireland team. It's an all island team. So, anthems and flags reflect this when playing abroad. But I suspect you know this and just want to drag yet another thread into republican anti British rhetoric.

Leg End Reject

It's a fantastic song to belt out in a pub if there's trad music.

KaneToad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121149874#Comment_121149874

It's a folk song rather than a trad song. A touristy trad session might feature it but a real trad session probably wouldn't.

A good tune nonetheless.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121148440#Comment_121148440

Fun fact: Ex-BBC reporter Laura Trevelyan (whose ancestor is the one referred to in the song) campaigns for reparations for slavery. Her family has paid a relatively minor amount in relation to slaves they held in the Caribbean, but explicitly refused to pay anything to Ireland.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121148819#Comment_121148819

Yeah yeah, funky yeah

Although a dance track wouldn't exactly work being sung by a crowd in a stadium

SuperBowserWorld

I would have thought the Green Fields of France would be more appropriate for the Rugby World Cup.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121149932#Comment_121149932

Scottish man wrote that

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121149943#Comment_121149943

Yes, just checked and he also wrote "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda".

The power of a song!

The fields of Athenry is a great song. And a great singer can elevate it to another level.

And a crowd can sing it and elevate the atmosphere and team to another level.

And it encapsulates an important time in Irish history. A reminder of how the poor were forced to subsist on one crop and how the ruling classes and their lackeys left them to rot and criminalise them in a country that produced an abundance of food.

We are lucky to have this song.