The politics of Irish rugby

Despite movement towards unification of the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland in international sport, politics remains lurking in the background.

As it currently stands, a single team represents the island of Ireland in all sports except for football and in the Commonwealth Games. The remaining teams encapsulate both northern British counties and southern Republic ones. But despite the unification of the other sports squads, problems still remain.

"Ireland's Call", the anthem for the four united provinces sports' teams, succinctly sums up the debate over politics in sports in the divided areas of Northern Ireland. Although the debate, with regards to rugby at least, has not reared its ugly head since the last Irish international game played in Ravenhill, Belfast in 2007, it still lies just beneath the surface bubbling and waiting to emerge.

The song is a compromise. With players in the Irish international team drawn from both northern and southern counties, and large numbers of supporters from both, the song stands as the only way to appease everyone, as rendition of either national hymn, "God Save the Queen" for northern loyalists and "the Soldier's Song" for Southern Republicans, is sure to upset the more hard-line in the opposing camp.

Photo credit: Martin Dobey

A patron at the Harbour Bar, Portrush, Belfast said, the last and only time the Irish won the Nations grand slam, in 1954, the game was played in Belfast's Ravenhill Stadium and the anthem sung was "God Save the Queen". This, in fact, is not entirely true but does reveal the strength of memory if not its accuracy. Ireland's one and only grand slam came in 1948, but the fact about troubles over "God Save the Queen" in 1954 is true.

Because the game was held in Northern Ireland, "God Save the Queen" was meant to be played because it is British territory, but the Republican captain at the time refused to let the team stand with opponents, Scotland, while it was sung. A compromise was made with "The Salute" an abbreviated Ulster version being sung, but it was agreed that no further Ireland game would be played in Northern Ireland. This voluntary ban that lasted until the 2007 season where a World Cup warm-up match between Ireland and Italy took place.

Before that warm-up match, Lord John Dunn Laird protested in an open letter to The Sunday Independent that "God Save the Queen" would no longer be played as Northern Ireland had been reclassified as an away game by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). This meant that although Ireland was the home team, for song purposes, only "Ireland's Call" would be played, sidestepping the issue entirely, but not the tender feet of those surrounding the issue.

Opinion over the matter remains divided. "Lord Laird does not speak for me, nor many that stand by my side upon the terraces of Ravenhill, rain, hail or shine. Politics has no place in rugby and I find Lord Laird's interference distinctly unhelpful," said Iain Campbell, of the Ulster Rugby Supporters' Club, in a letter to the editor of The Belfast Telegeraph.

However, As Ronnie McCarroll, a life-long Ireland and Ulster rugby supporter said, "It's silly to have a separate Northern Ireland team. Ulster draws from three southern counties [in its province] and signs international players and is still struggling. An international Northern Irish rugby team is just not a viable notion."

As another example of the problems of politics in sport, with the closure of Dublin's Lansdowne Road Stadium for demolition and reconstruction, the IRFU had to find alternative housing for its international matches. The IRFU settled upon Croke Park, a large 82,300 capacity stadium right across the city.

Although Croke Park is much bigger than Lansdowne Road, it had never been used for a rugby game before. With good reason, Croke Park is the traditional home of Gaelic football and the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Until 2005, the GAA had refused to let the ground be used for any sport, and only narrowly was that law overturned.

Croke Park was also the site of the 1920 retaliatory raid by loyalist forces that resulted in the deaths of 14 people, including one of the players, Michael Hogan. This year is the second time that England played Ireland at the site of the massacre. Although feelings from "Bloody Sunday", as it came to be called, have died down, to hear "God Save the Queen" at Croke Park still rankles some.

The question that comes to mind is how much politics has a hand in sports. According to the patrons of the Harbour Bar, Portrush County Antrim, "it is largely taboo to ask political questions to sports stars."

As much as possible, residents of Northern Ireland like to keep sports separate from politics. Mr McCarroll summed it up as, "We are supporting rugby as a sport - not Ireland as republic."

Emma Robinson, a Northern Irish Ireland fan said, "Look at the flags at Croke Park. There are three, Ireland, Ulster, and the four provinces. While they do not fly the British, they acknowledge that we are separate but the same."

"Although loyalists want to stay part of Britain, as one said, "You would not see anyone caught dead wearing an England top."

Ross McCarroll, son of Darren and also a life-long Ireland and Ulster supporter, said: "You have to remember, Northern Ireland is British, not English, and though we do not want to be part of the Irish Republic we'll support our boys in either [Ulster or Ireland] shirt."