Phil Coulter says Ireland's Call was 'never mean't to replace the national anthem'
He said he likes to know he left that legacy behind him, despite the divided opinions amongst fans.
Legendary singer Phil Coulter has said he never meant Ireland’s Call to be so controversial – saying it was “never meant to replace the national anthem”.
Coulter created the song in 1995 as an alternative to Amhrain na BhFiann and it has since been played out in rugby stadiums across the world.
But opening up about the backlash it receives, he said: “I was getting hate mail in the early days.
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“People thought it was some sort of a… getting into unionism or whatever. There are all kinds of conspiracy theories.
“It was never meant to replace the national anthem. It was meant to be a sporting anthem, which is what it is.
“There are still people that hate it and that’s okay by me but when I’m in Lansdowne Road and I get a full throated version of Irelands’ Call, I’ll settle for that.”
He said he likes to know he left that legacy behind him, despite the divided opinions amongst fans.
Coulter told Ray D’Arcy on RTE Radio 1 how the song came about: “It was a call.. I suppose it is hard to know what they were thinking about but I can imagine that this was an era of hands across the border. All inclusion.
“There was a need. Why? Well at the first Rugby World Cup in Australia, there had been a bomb that had been planted just at the border, which had killed a high court justice on his way up and maimed a couple of Irish rugby players on the way down.
“So that was still very raw as the World Cup in Australia kicked off.
“So rather than playing Amhrán na bhFiann, they played James Last The Rose of Tralee. It’s a lovely song but not a song you want to go to war with.”
He said rugby was played in the north of Ireland in non Catholic schools.
“Catholic schools, it’s soccer or GAA so therefore the Ulster players who are good enough to play for Ireland are normally from that tradition.
“So back then when the rest of the lads were singing Amhran na bhFiann, they would stand tight-lipped (Ulster players) and a few of them told me they really felt very uncomfortable.
“And some of the lads from the South felt uncomfortable (for the Ulster players.
“So that was the reasoning for the song. I think the fact that I was from the North, they thought that I might understand the sensibilities of our separate brethren.”
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