Sir, - Croke Park looked brilliant on TV last Sunday. A cheerful crowd, split almost equally between two counties, packed the place. The atmosphere was wonderful.
The crowd erupted as the 30 footballers marched onto the field and lined up at their appointed spots. RenΘ, a French friend, was watching television with me, his first glimpse of our national games. The cameras pointed first at the Artane Boys' Band, as they struck up the national anthem, and then slowly panned the faces of the two teams, standing to attention for Amhrβn na bhFhiann.
RenΘ gasped. "Is something wrong?" he asked. "Why is nobody singing? Is this a public protest?" Barely a lip moved among the 30 players, the pride of their respective counties, fine-looking young men. Their kit was clean and shining. Well-paid managers and coaches had trained them for this match. But nobody, it seems, had prepared them for this moment.
Hardly one of them bothered to sing his national anthem. Did they not know the words? Could they not make up their minds which language to use - Amhrβn na bhFhiann or The Soldiers' Song? Surely they realised that the whole country was watching them at this moment?
The spectators were little better. A small portion of the 40,000 people raised tentative voices in song, but as the cameras panned the crowd, most of them were either silent or chatting with one another. They stood, but few of them to attention. The only strong response came in the final 20 seconds of the anthem, when a huge roar, in anticipation of the game, drowned the last verse of the music.
Sitting next to RenΘ, I felt ashamed. I remembered watching the French rugby team before a game, standing to attention with hands on hearts, roaring out the Marseillaise. In contrast, it looked as though these patriotic young Irishmen were turning their backs on their country. That is not the reality. But it took the presence of a foreign spectator beside me to bring home just how scandalous it looks.
If Amhrβn na bhFhiann is a flop in Croke Park, a shrine of our national culture, then it should be changed. It no longer reflects the culture of the thousands who gather there. It belongs to another century and situation. Some of the words sound silly.
Nobody except a few on the lunatic fringe would think they were manning the "bearna Baoghal" tonight. We no longer need to define our patriotism in terms of fighting and enemy.
We need an anthem we can all sing. - Yours, etc.,
Paul Andrews, SJ, Manresa House, Dollymount, Dublin 3.