Songs By Oz Fans Back IRA

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday January 10, 2003 12:34 by Mountbattens Third Leg - MCC

Barmy Army leaders are outraged after discovering Aussie cricket fans have been distributing offensive song-sheets glorifying IRA violence at the final Test.

Songs By Oz Fans Back IRA

Barmy Army leaders are outraged after discovering Aussie cricket
fans have been distributing offensive song-sheets glorifying IRA
violence at the final Test.

A group calling itself Club 51, drowned out by around 15,000
travelling England supporters, soured the good-natured mood on the
Sydney Cricket Ground's famous Hill with their provocative
leaflets.

One verse includes the line: "Beneath the Northern Lights I stand,
A Molotov Cocktail in my hands, A product of my native lands, A
voice within me cries aloud 'Ireland! You bloody beauty!', So up
the IRA."

Another excerpt from the Club 51 songbook reads: "I wish I was in
London, I'd go down to Trafalgar Square and say to the old Lord
Nelson there, Get stuffed, get stuffed, you one-eyed pommy
bastard."

England fans protested to the police and to the Aussie ringleaders,
resulting in an uneasy stand-off between the two groups. One
England supporter said: "A lot of our guys were disgusted by those
pamphlets.

"The people responsible for it should be ashamed. The Barmy Army
has just released a single over here to raise funds for the victims
of the Bali terrorist atrocities - and these Aussie fans are
turning round and rewarding us with sick taunts about a terrorist
organisation who have killed hundreds of people.

"We made a big effort to make sure our banter has been light-
hearted and actively discouraged football-style taunts which cause
offence."

Australia batsman Justin Langer branded the Barmy Army a "disgrace"
in Melbourne for no-ball jibes at Brett Lee's controversial bowling
action, but public reaction to their conduct and contribution to
the atmosphere has been overwhelmingly favourable here.