Ireland's Call

[5][dubious – discuss] The song has attracted some opposition, both on musical grounds and from Irish nationalists who would prefer "Amhrán na bhFiann".

[9][10] Journalist Malachy Clerkin wrote on its 20th anniversary, "It has run the gamut with a sceptical and often hostile public, from deep loathing to grudging acceptance to growing pockets of reasonably throated support.

[16] Before a 1954 Five Nations match in Ravenhill, Belfast, players from the Republic refused to take the field until after "God Save the Queen" had finished.

[17][11][12][18] Unionist opposition to "Amhrán na bhFiann" was strengthened on 25 April 1987, when an IRA roadside bomb killed judge Maurice Gibson and his wife, and also damaged a car carrying three of the senior squad from Belfast to Dublin for training.

[19] The next month, at the inaugural Rugby World Cup, captain Donal Lenihan objected that all other teams would have an anthem.

[23] Ireland's match against England at Croke Park in the 2007 Six Nations Championship was of historic significance because of the Rule 42 ban and the memory of Bloody Sunday 1920; The Irish Times commented, '"Amhrán na bhFiann" and "Ireland's Call" were belted out with such hair-raising intensity that men and women were crying as they sang'.

[29] Rugby League Ireland adopted "Amhrán na bhFiann" for the 2008 World Cup, explaining "'The Soldier's Song' has always been played at amateur level and it was a unanimous decision to extend this policy to the professional game.

The rewritten lyrics have a somewhat more martial theme, with lines like "meet our destiny with glory" and "Till our final requiem is spoken".