Martin McHugh in The Star

 

people who havent a clue saying that irish fans missed the point about roy keanes rant. He is the one who missed the point. But happily the worlds media and the fans from other nations did not.

 

some day we'll have a winning team and maybe we wont get as much plaudits for being great fans, i look forward to that day but until then i am happy to sing.

 

  

 

Sure if Keane hadn't come out with that line that wee fruit with the 12 year olds haircut wouldnt have dreamt it up in a million years

 

I literally could not believe my eyes when I read the headline in your column this morning. It took me 22 hours to get back from Poland and this is the kind of tripe I open up in the morning.

Firstly, I spent one week in Poland supporting the Irish team. I used money that I earned and did not take out any loans or take money from mammy or daddy. It cost a lot of money to get there, it took a lot of effort and there were a lot of logistical challenges.

During my time there, I witnessed the 'embarrassment' that you write of in today's paper. During the final 10 minutes of the Spain game, we knew the team were beaten, the team knew they were beaten. What were we supposed to do, Boo our team? No, we didn't we sang our hearts out. We sang The Fields of Athenry, which is a lament, of times that were bad but in the hope that one day things will be better, pretty apt if you ask me. This has been acclaimed all over the world but a few people (Mainly pundits looking for attention) have decided to have a go and say that we were a disgrace. Croatian fans have been fined on three occasions for racist abuse, Russian and Polish fans have rioted on the streets of Poland, but we Irish are a disgrace because we sang? 

There was tears in my eyes as i sang that song and afterwards, I like many others in that stadium went straight back to the hotel because we were gutted. We went out the next night because we were on holiday and we wanted to enjoy ourselves.

You made a comparison between the Green Army and the tens of thousands of people who have emigrated to Australia and Canada. Firstly do you not see that Euro 2012 was many peoples' annual holiday, not a year long piss up, but a week long holiday. If having a week long holiday is showing us up as drunken idiots, surely every family that leaves these shores in the next few months are classed in the same category?

I'm assuming that during your 'research' into writing this article, you talked to people who were actually in Poland? No you probably didn't, because if you did you would have found that the Polish people were absolutely amazed at the impeccable behaviour of the Green Army who took over the cities of Poznan and Gdansk. Polish representatives have sent messages of thanks and goodwill to Ireland due to the unbelievable atmosphere we created during our stay there. The feel good factor was amazing and it beats the doom and gloom merchants, who are doing their best to drain all form of life out of the Irish people.

On a last point, having been a regular at Donegal games over the past decade, there are times when I've witnessed fans leaving early and getting on players' backs (Cork V Donegal 2009). They are in the minority but there are always a few. Sweeping statements and generalisations do not paint a true reflection. The 30,000 Irish fans who went to Poland deserve a little respect and the only reason you wrote the article was to get attention, just liek Keane and Roddy Collins, you're in good company there. Just stick to GAA.

And your timing is also an absolute disgrace, on the front page is the picture of the young lad, who never came home. It's now an embarrassment that lads like him sang when we were 4-0 down.

In years to come, I will remember those last ten minutes when the Irish showed the world that our spirit can be bruised but never broken.

 

It was an amazing experience, I sang my heart out though felt like crying. Must admit, I too have a gripe with the camera showing irish fans laughing and joking when in relaity it was a sombre moment, which should have been like singing at a funeral.

 

I've an even bigger gripe with adding in the 'hey baby let the free birds fly' by a minority of fans. This is a practice that should be removed from renditions of this song immediately imo.