Ireland's Call is a divisive song.
The Phil Coulter-written anthem was introduced as a song for the Irish rugby team in 1995. The song was written as a way a substitute for Amhran na BhFiann, which was not sung at away matches.
Since 1995, the song has been used the pre-match anthem by all-island national teams such as in hockey and cricket.
One man that is not a fan of the song is Joe Brolly. The former Derry footballer, wrote about his disdain for the song in his weekly Sunday Independent column. Brolly's thoughts on the song came off the back of comments made by GAA President Aogán Ó Fearghail said the use of the national anthem could be limited.
Brolly wrote that the GAA could ask Coulter (himself another Derry native) to pen a potential GAA replacement to Amhran na BhFiann.
"Alternatively, Phil Coulter could write one for us as well, another Hallmark job with one-syllable words that a two-year-old could sing. Hard to beat those unforgettable lyrics from Ireland's Call, particularly the ingenious rhyming of "tall" and "call"."
"After we won the All-Ireland in 1993, we sang The Town I Loved So Well [a Coulter song] on The Late Late Show. A fortnight later, Phil (who as far as I know was never at a Gaelic match in his life) arrived at a team meeting wearing a lime green suit and lemon tie and presented us all with a signed photograph of himself at the Grand Piano."
"That's just the sort of man we need to write us a new three-chord anthem. On reflection, calling it an 'anthem' is aggressive, patriotic and unwelcoming. It should instead be a 'jingle', a corporate branding song, lasting no more than 30 seconds."
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