Wolfe Tones singer Derek Warfield – who wrote the band's hit song Celtic Symphony – has said English authorities had “some neck” forcing the Irish women’s soccer team to apologise for singing their song.
Last October, the women’s soccer team were filmed chanting "Up the Ra" in their dressing room shortly after winning against Scotland in the World Cup playoffs. The Football Association of Ireland were fined €20,000 for the incident and the girls were forced to apologise for the video, which went viral.
Warfield – who penned the tune back in 1987 to commemorate the centenary of Scotland's Celtic Football Club – fumed to a crowd of locals at The Meadows bar in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday night over the incident. He said: “When we win, what do Irish people do? We sing when we win.
Read more: Ireland women's team's 'up the Ra' chant lands FAI €20,000 UEFA fine
“We even sing when we lose. We don’t wreck the town, like some people. I have to tell you boys and girls that the girls were singing and let me tell you something boys and girls, I won’t go any further, English authorities have had a problem with Irish music since the 14th century.”
He claimed that those who sang Irish tunes in the 14th, 15th and 16th century were “hanged”, adding: “They can’t do that today though if they could, they would.” He also ranted on stage about Sky News after their Sky Sports presenter Rob Wotton interviewed Ireland player Chloe Mustaki saying he had “some neck”.
“The girls were singing, and they were singing songs like Celtic Symphony and they were made apologise by the English media.
“Let me tell you boys and girls, the English reporter from Sky News has some neck to say to the girls ‘do you know anything about the history and Irish history’ when they don’t even teach Irish history in English schools. English schools know more about Stalin and President Kennedy than they do about Ireland.
“The girls should never ever have apologised because we don’t have to apologise to England for nothing,” he said to a rapturous cheer from the crowd. "They need to apologise to us,” he added.
After the controversy kicked off, members of the team issued apologies. Aine O'Gorman said: "We sang 100 songs last night and that was the one that went out. We would just like to apologise to anyone who was offended."
Chloe Mustaki also apologized for the team's "lapse of judgment."
"We are extremely sorry for the hurt it has caused, a lapse of judgment in the moment," she said. "We are extremely sorry and hopefully we can move past it."
Speaking to RTÉ, the team's manager Vera Pauw insisted: "The values that we carry is that we have respect for everybody.
"The first meeting with the players was about having respect, that's how we work."
She added: "We're sincerely and deeply sorry for what happened and it doesn't matter if the players meant anything or not, because they didn't mean anything, because it was a celebration.
"That doesn't mean they should not realise what they were doing.
"And also, not to put it on social media, if it's in a private room it should not happen either, because of having respect for everybody, respect for the history.
"Your freedom ends where you go into the freedom of somebody else. The freedom of doing this is brought to an end the moment you hurt people, and we have hurt people, and we are very deeply sorry for that."
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