KingOfHyrule

Heartbroken.

Wow, great play from Scotland, not so great from England or Italy. Wales should be on better form, they're disappointing. Tomorrow's a historic one, it'll be close but I'm hopeful Ireland should do it.

England and Wales will undoubtedly win (sorry fellow Scots and Italians!) but Ireland, I'm not convinced yet. I think the injuries might hinder them, and we all know the French are a powerhouse team. With a massive Irish support in Croke it will probably help them, but they definitely need to be on top form.

Inspired after hearing the Welsh national anthem (which I thought was superb - the group of Welsh in the bar in Belfast stood up and were so proud to be singing it!) at yesterday's Wales vs Ireland rugby match, I decided to open a thread about national anthems. What's your country's? What does it mean for you? Are you proud to hear and sing it? Personally, I absolutely adore Ireland's national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann (The Soldier's Song) and my heart bursts with pride when it's played or when I sing it, it means a lot to me. Without getting political, it annoys and embarrasses me when the Irish rugby team don't sing it at away matches, instead opting for the more "neutral" Ireland's Call, which is more of a sporting anthem. EDIT: Anthems mentioned so far: Ireland - Amhrán na bhFiann Scotland - Flower Of Scotland Wales - Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau England (United Kingdom) - God Save The Queen Portugal A Portuguesa South Africa Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (Lyrics) Australia Advance Australia Fair Denmark Der Er Et Yndigt Land Ukraine Shche Ne Vmerla Ukraina

Lá breithe sona duit Eenuh!

Is it sugar free? I don't like sugary chewing gums that coat your teeth and make them go all...texturised or something. Ugh! These sound nice though.

Classy 50's spoof ad!

I've listened to all the anthems mentioned so far (I've posted links to them on my original post if anyone's interested, and I'll keep adding to it until the thread dies out) and they're all very good - I like the Danish anthem, it's quite different to all our military-sounding anthems.

Jesus that's scary - wouldn't want to be in there with a green jersey on.

Just listened to it - reminds me of the French anthem a bit!

Ireland's Call is ok as a gimmicky song for sporting events but the reason it's there is of course a long and complex one - players from the north of Ireland who'd see themselves as "British" would refuse to sing Amhrán na bhFiann so Ireland's Call had to be written to include everyone who'd wear a green jersey, the British players from the north included. And I've now noticed that some of them won't even sing along to Ireland's Call... If you're going to play for a country, it makes sense that you'd just have to learn to sing the anthem - Mick McCarthy learned to sing Amhrán na bhFiann (in Irish!) as a mark of respect when he was managing the Irish soccer team, and he was English! I'd much rather use the national anthem all the time for rugby instead of just at home; I'd rather other countries heard it and saw how proud the Irish are of it, not to cop out and play down to a group of men who don't want to sing it in the first place. [/rant]

Ugh, Ireland's Call is far from our national anthem - tune in next week to the Ireland v France game in Dublin and you'll hear our national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann, then that cop-out of a song, Ireland's Call

Flower of Scotland is a fantastic anthem too, I really like it I try to listen to as many anthems as I can, I like hearing other countries' anthems.

Heh, Ireland and England are much worse in my opinion - people last year in Belfast made it out for the England v Ireland match just to make sure they were there if Ireland won! There's still a real tribal rivalry between us and the neighbours across the water. But it's all good fun

Nice one, I can only say the same about your crowd - there was a group of about 30 Welsh supporters in the Bot (big bar in Belfast) where we were watching the match, and they were in great spirits among the hundreds of Irish fans, and I got talking to a couple of them in the bogs after the match, shook hands and told them their national anthem was fucking brilliant - they liked that Great game though, to be fair I don't think Ireland wholly deserved the victory this time. And with a potential absense of O' Driscoll and D'Arcy due to injury, France and England may be no walk in the park for us...

Never mix the grape with the grain as they say! Nice one, Pancake took my advice on the Bailey's Hope she comes on at some stage completely twisted and tells us all how it went lol EDIT: Bastard Haden got the proverb in before me!

I saw the French Rokhead/John the Baptist!

If you get a try, it's a free kick for a goal on top of the 5 points for a try I believe, so it's better to go for the try .

Yeah England played well today, Wilkinson saved the day - I'm still confident it won't hurt Ireland that much :P well...hoping so lol

Well, no surprise here - France are killing Italy 39 - 3 at 76:21 in.

You want something strong? A Belfast Carbomb, that'll blow your features off lol no but really, what about...Bailey's and ice? It's nice and sweet. Most girls I know drink alcopops like Archer's or Bacardi Breezers, maybe you'd like to try those? Good man yourself!

My prediction would be as follows for an outright win: 1. Ireland 2. France 3. England 4. Wales 5. Scotland 6. Italy I predict no Grand Slam, and either England/Ireland for the Triple Crown :awesome:

England and Scotland at 4.00pm in Twickenham tomorrow folks - are the Jocks and Brums ready??

Fire away, I'm a student of Irish at uni! What's the translation?

That's sick as fuck - killing an innocent person? What would you honestly achieve from seeing a dead body lying on the ground that could be someone's mother or father, or son or daughter? I wouldn't argue with anyone who wanted to kill a truly evil person they hated - I wouldn't do it myself but I wouldn't argue with it - but killing an innocent person...fuck me, you should get your head seen to.