Just another chant? What ‘Up the ’Ra’ means to my generation

Tuesday evening’s Ireland v Scotland game marked a turning point in women’s soccer. After decades of underinvestment and historical sidelining compared with the men’s team, Vera Pauw’s squad triumphed and qualified for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

It was hard not to get goosebumps watching the celebrations after the goal scored by the Donegal defender Amber Barrett, which she dedicated to the victims of last week’s tragedy in Creeslough, a place where she has spent many a summer.

Soccer is undoubtedly due a reckoning with its entrenched culture of verbally abusing players and match officials, but this week’s controversy strikes me as more a stupid action by a team that should have known better

“It’s going to change women’s football in Ireland,” one player said in a postmatch interview. “We want to inspire the next generation of kids in Ireland.”

But the team quickly learned the responsibilities of their positions as women role models as the World Cup thrust them further into the spotlight.

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What should have been a moment of prestige for the team soon took a turn after some worrying footage emerged. Instead of rallying around probably the most momentous achievement in Irish women’s soccer, much of the nation was left with a sour taste.

Players broke out into celebration in the dressingroom afterwards, belting out Taylor Swift tunes and the like — but most notably Celtic Symphony, by The Wolfe Tones.

A livestream from the dressingroom showed players chanting “Up the ’Ra”, an homage to the IRA. Suffice to say it did not go down well.

Maybe it’s just a Dundalk thing, but back in my primary-school footballing days, when I was a pretty atrocious defender — on the B team too — ‘Up the ’Ra’ was just another chant I heard from the lads

“Up the ’Ra” and “the IRA” were soon trending on Twitter in Ireland, and public figures were quick to condemn the “insensitive” chant glorifying the actions of a group responsible for many hundreds of deaths.

The Football Association of Ireland and the team’s manager and players quickly apologised, overshadowing their victory. Police in Scotland have said they are “making inquires”, and a Uefa ethics and disciplinary inspector will investigate too.

[ Up the ’Ra: The chant that does not seem to go away ]

There’s no shortage of examples of soccer chants creating controversy. “Lizzy’s in a box,” for one, could be heard at a match after the death of Queen Elizabeth. Soccer is undoubtedly due a reckoning with its entrenched culture of verbally abusing players and match officials — especially with its continued issues with racism — but this strikes me as more a stupid action by a team that should have known better. The players must have known the connotations of the chant. I’d like to believe they just didn’t think it through.

But is that good enough?

With a mean age of 27, most of this squad were small children or not even born when the Belfast Agreement was signed. The Good Friday generation have enjoyed the benefits of relative peace on this island, and are less freighted with the baggage of history. For some the sectarian violence is understood from the history books but not felt in the same way as it was by previous generations.

Maybe it’s just a Dundalk thing, but back in my primary-school footballing days, when I was a pretty atrocious defender — on the B team too — “Up the ’Ra” was just another chant I heard from the lads.

[ Una Mullally: What does it mean to say ‘up the ’Ra’? And why does it keep happening? ]

The song has history on the pitch, with the video for the song recorded at Celtic Football Club, later adopted for Ireland’s star defender as “Ooh ah, Paul McGrath”.

While some soccer fans may look back on the IRA’s campaign of terror as a good thing (it most definitely was not), it seems the majority have adopted this as just another generic chant, like Seven Nation Army — they go mad for that one.

Does ignorance excuse the behaviour? Absolutely not. If anything my generation has a responsibility to respect and understand the lasting hurt from the Troubles and to reject the memeification of the republican movement and its chants. Take it seriously.

Ask somebody in their 20s what issues they associate with Sinn Féin and you’ll more likely hear something like ‘housing policies’ rather than ‘commitment to a united Ireland’ or ‘historical connections to paramilitarism’

This distance from the Troubles my generation enjoys is also partly responsible for Sinn Féin’s rise in popularity. Ask somebody in their 20s what issues they associate with Sinn Féin and you’ll more likely hear something like “housing policies” rather than “commitment to a united Ireland” or “historical connections to paramilitarism”.

What’s most disappointing about this incident is that the issue these women stand for most — advancing women’s soccer — has been sidelined in the public consciousness by their own actions. Such an achievement by this squad ultimately deserves its day in the sun, and this will come.

A week is a long time in politics, and there are 40 weeks until the World Cup opens next summer. There will be time for forgiveness and to move on for the sake of women’s soccer in Ireland. But let’s not forget those killed on both sides of the Troubles and respect their memory through reconciliation, respect and a shared love of football — forget the insensitive chants.