Watch: Wolfe Tones star takes a pop at Christy Moore over 'safe' song about Irish women's football team
Christy Moore was performing at a gig over the weekend when he sang a song about the time the Irish women’s football team were forced to apologise for singing The Wolfe Tones hit, Celtic Symphony
The Wolfe Tones star Brian Warfield has taken a pop at Christy Moore for “playing it safe” with his new song over the furore with the Irish women’s football team singing one of his band’s songs.
Christy was performing at a gig in Sligo when he sang a song about the time the Irish women’s football team were forced to apologise for singing The Wolfe Tones hit, Celtic Symphony. UEFA slapped the team with a €20,000 fine at the time after their dressing room celebrations, when they were filmed chanting “Ooh, ah, up the Ra”, were leaked on social media.
The story hit headlines at the time, with The Wolfe Tones singer Warfield coming out in support of the girls, who were singing Celtic Symphony. Now, it has emerged Christy Moore has created a song backing the women’s football team and slagging off Sky for their comments.
READ MORE: Thousands turn up to watch The Wolfe Tones' show-stopping performance at Electric Picnic
The song was greeted with laughter from the crowd. Christy can be heard replacing the phrase ‘Ooh, ah, up the Ra’ with ’Oh ah Cumann na mna’ during the performance. His song blasts the Sky News presenter Rob Wotton for asking Irish player Chloe Mustaki if the Irish players needed to be “educated” after singing the Wolfe Tones songs.
Christy’s lyrics claimed that songs like Celtic Symphony were actually written so that people like Rob Wotton could learn about the history of Great Britain. One line states: “Rob old chap, please understand these symphonies were written, that lads like you might comprehend the history of Great Britain... how your boys built concentration camps in the Transvaal and how Sir Winston Churchill starved three million people in Bengal.”
His song also took a pop at Britain’s “genocide in Ireland” and the British royal family for stealing jewels from Benin, which Christy said was airbrushed from their history books. But reacting to Christy’s tongue-in-cheek hit, Brian said: “He’s playing it very safe. He’s not mentioning Up the Ra... I suppose, unlike us, we don’t get radio play and he does I guess.
“The Wolfe Tones always had that edge. I think that’s why we were blacklisted off radio. You never hear Celtic Symphony on radio. Christy’s song has more of a chance to be played on radio than we have. It’s kind of a safe song.”
Asked if he thought Christy was showing support to The Wolfe Tones over the furore, Brian said: “In some way it probably is but is it a show of support for the girls? Might be for them. But definitely not from our point of view. There is no feeling of support there for the music that The Wolfe Tones brought to the world. And Celtic Symphony is one of those. For me, it’s a very safe song. It’s supporting the women in a way and slagging Sky."
Brian added about the ‘Ooh Ah up the RA chant: “It’s been changed lots of times and people use it, but the song is the song and everyone in Ireland knows it at this stage. When we sing it, we don’t have to sing it because the whole crowd – you heard it at The Electric Picnic – 100,000 people were ‘oh ahh-ing’.
A representative for Sky said the station has declined to comment. Brian said Christy’s jokey tune is “a little bit weak but that’s only my opinion.”
In 2022, UEFA fined the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) €20,000 after an investigation found the behaviour amounted to a “violation of the basic rules of decent conduct”. In a statement, UEFA said the decision was reached after an investigation by a UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary inspector.
At the time of the video coming to light, the FAI apologised “for any offence caused” for the dressing room incident. Former coach Vera Pauw said: “We apologise from the bottom of our hearts to anyone who has been offended by the content of the post-match celebrations after we had just qualified for the World Cup.
“We will review this with the players and remind them of their responsibilities in this regard. I have spoken with players this morning and we are sorry collectively for any hurt caused, there can be no excuse for that.”
Christy Moore's representatives have been approached for comment.
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