There’s a traditional Irish folk tune that goes something like this:
Let the people sing/their stories and their songs/the music of their native land.
When the Irish women’s national team does it, however, it’s somehow a bad thing.
Wait, what happened?
Essentially, the Irish Women’s National Team qualified for their first ever World Cup, a competition between the world’s best international women’s soccer players that has been going on since 1991. So, it’s a big feat for these women, and it makes a lot of sense that they would be proud to be Irish in this particular moment. And, as comes naturally to the Irish, they resorted to song. Video surfaced of the athletes singing “OO, ah, up the RA!” from the song Celtic Symphony, which was written as a song in support of the Irish Republican Army.
Let these women be proud to be Irish and be proud of their history. Isn’t that what international soccer is about all along?
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Why does this matter?
Ireland has a long, long history of oppression and being forced into being the “little brother” of the area around the UK. The island itself has been long controversial because it is separated into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The former makes up for about 27% of the island’s population, and is a member of the UK. But there is a deep history of tension between the two countries, specifically on the matter of whether Northern Ireland should be a part of the Republic, which is where the IRA comes in. In essence, the Irish women singing a song in support of the IRA is a representation of the Republic of Ireland stating that conflict isn’t over. Or, at least, it can be seen that way fairly easily.
Why It Really Doesn’t Matter
As aforementioned, it was a moment of high pride for the team. They had just accomplished what had never been done before, especially because the Football Association of Ireland isn’t necessarily known for hosting the most competitive teams in the world.
“They sang a song, and it’s a football song,” Brian Warfield (The Wolfe Tones) said in a TikTok in reaction to the controversy. “It’s a song that I wrote about Celtic [FC].”
So, as the song states, Let the People Sing. Let these women be proud to be Irish and be proud of their history. Isn’t that what international soccer is about all along?
