The emergence of "Zombie" by The Cranberries as an Irish sporting anthem

If we apply logic to songs belted out by sporting crowds ,we will more often than not end up scratching our heads. It's all about emotion . If the D.J. plays something anthemic that the crowd sing along to, it stays on the playlist. It only has to be catchy and that most/all know the chorus .

Wales sing "DELILAH" - Logically ,one could say it's tone deaf to domestic violence. Emotionally ,Welsh fans love singing it -Tom Jones is one of their own- and no one thinks they are supporting domestic violence. It just gets the crowd/atmosphere going.

England fans sing "Swing Low" -Logically it could be seen as cultural appropriation - Emotionally ,it gets their crowd/atmosphere going. Nobody thinks they are trying to insult victims of slavery in the U.S.

A lot of sporting anthems that crowds sing seem to have no connection to logic or the sport. Sport is theatre , a roller coaster of emotions and whatever gets a crowd singing with emotion, in unison, to give their side a lift, is about the only logic one can apply as to why " this song" or "that song".

It's all a bit of a storm in a teacup i.mo.

They were. It’s estimated that about half of senior IRA figures were working for the Brits during the Troubles.

This is where I think rugby suffers a massive disconnect issue in Ireland.

There is a large section of the Irish population who simply will not be celebrating if Ireland were to win the world cup and that's sad.

We have had a narrative mostly pushed by the Irish Times and Irish Independent for over 40 years that has been anti-Irish, pro-British - putting D4 type morals on a situation those same people could not possibly understand in what is a partitioned part of this island. A lot of nasty, horrific stuff happened from all directions up there and it pollutes everything.

Look at the arguments here and see how poisonous it is.

Up the Ra is not sung by fans at ROI football matches. I would contend it's better for rugby if it has any hope to grow in this country to avoid all this.

You defend the song as a reminder of what the IRA did. Fine. Where is the reminder of what Loyalist terror gangs did? Or is all one way traffic?

Whilst sucker is given to Unionist/Orange/Loyalist supremacy which, believe me, exists to this day many rugby supporters will then go on to compound this by explaining why our own national anthem can't be played at the world cup in further deference to those same people, for example.

The way this thread is - it shows no other way but that rugby will always be the afterthought it is for most and that's sad because I love the game.

The reality is most won't care if Ireland win the world cup.

And it's not just the undertone of aloofness, sort of soft pro-Britishness - it's other issue but it all feeds in to why rugby stuggles to get the traction it could in this country.

Anyway keep the politics going.

They should do the Icelandic chant

It is a terrible, irritating song. Grates on the nerves worse than Wonderwall. No accounting for taste however.

It's been an anthem at Irish MMA event's for years now. Personally I think 80% of this country don't give a **** about it being played likewise rebel songs. The moaners need to give over.

No evidence Irish rugby fans are singing Zombie to offend anyone at all. It was voted Ireland's best song in a big poll that went on for weeks on RTE 2FM last year (beating Fairytale of New York and The Boys Are Back In Town).

It is also worth pointing out that pre WW2 and the 1941 Atlantic Charter, there was really only the concept of might is right. Article 3 of the charter which the British agreed to gave people the right of self-determination, which didn't exist in 1916. So while violence may have been the only way in 1916, possibly, we can never know, it certainly wasn't the only way in the 1960's. For all those who say the IRA campaign was right, look at the mess it has made of the country and society up there.

I dont think anyone singing it at a sporting event even understands the lyrics, its just a belter of a tune. Doesn't everything have to be **** broken down and analyzed, its so tedious.

Sorry 'to deliberately offend anyone' is probably the wrong term.

It does seem though that the song now has a political message for some rugby supporters.

Read this thread and you'll see plenty of examples.

I get that the vast majority of fans are just singing in to have the craic, enjoy the moment, honor Delores.

I just think singing 'Dreams' allows all that without the political stuff, and also the crass/tasteless stuff where people are some people are singing the song to wind up the opposition (again see the thread)

Personally I quite like the song, though it's not their best, and I support it's message in the right context.

I think it would have been a huge hit worldwide no matter what the lyrics were about - it's easily The Cranberries' best known song. I'm surprised there is any controversy around it....I saw a video yesterday of it being sung at Feile in Belfast and everyone was singing along at the top of their voice.

100% correct. Sadly, I am not surprised by those who are criticising the playing of Zombie. As Gerry Adams said, they haven't gone away, you know.

And even if we assume that an armed campaign was right, was it right to pursue it in the way they did? Some might argue that targetting the state infrastructure was ok and also targeting soldiers for example. But bombing civilians wasn't.

And that's besides the punishment beatings and kneecappings that were performed on their own community for anti social behavior. The youngest victim was 12 years old.

It's worth remembering that by the end the nationalist community were the ones that were in favor of the GFA and an end to the armed struggle. They wanted the IRA to go away.