Ireland's Call
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Ireland's Call is a song used in international Rugby Union matches, and is played when the Irish rugby team is playing. The rugby team represents the whole island of Ireland (both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) and so Amhrán na bhFiann (A Soldier's Song) was deemed inappropriate, both because it is the official national anthem of the Republic and because it is has a militant nationalist theme unacceptable to Northern Irish Unionists. At matches played in the Republic, both Amhrán na bhFiann (as the anthem of the host nation) and Ireland's Call (as the anthem of the home team) are sung; elsewhere, Ireland's Call is the only anthem used.
At most rugby union matches today, only the first verse is sung, followed by the chorus in the same key. The chorus is then repeated in a higher key; at the end, the last line is repeated. The song was written by Phil Coulter, who was commissioned by the Irish Rugby Football Union to write an anthem in 1995.
Lyrics1
1
- Come the day and come the hour
- Come the power and the glory
- We have come to answer
- Our Country's call
- From the four proud provinces of Ireland
Chorus
- Ireland, Ireland,
- Together standing tall
- Shoulder to shoulder
- We'll answer Ireland's call
2
- From the mighty Glens of Antrim
- From the rugged hills of Galway
- From the walls of Limerick
- And Dublin Bay
- From the four proud provinces of Ireland
- (Chorus)
3
- Hearts of steel
- And heads unbowing
- Vowing never to be broken
- We will fight, until
- We can fight no more
- From the four proud provinces of Ireland
- (Chorus)
- Parts of the song not usually sung are in italics.