Football matches in France will be called off immediately if spectators jeer during the French national anthem, says the country's sports minister.
France's national anthem was booed in Tuesday's friendly win over Tunisia.
"Any match at which our national anthem is whistled at will be immediately stopped," said Roselyne Bachelot.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the booing was "insulting" and that in the event of a repeat it would be necessary "to call off matches".
"It's insulting for France, it's insulting for the players of the French team, it should not be tolerated," he added.
"I think we should stop the matches when the anthems, whichever they are, are booed."
When Northern Ireland played Scotland in August, a large number of the Scottish supporters disgraced themselves by booing the United Kingdom’s national anthem.
The Scottish Administration's reaction?
Or even the British government’s reaction?
Still waiting...
16 comments:
There is sensitivity about "God Save the Queen" apparently because of the perceived anti-Scottish verse in it - although officially I think that verse was dropped a while back. It is also seen as the "English anthem".
However it is still bad manners.
Surprised "God Save" was being used by NI. I thought it was "Danny Boy" you guys were using now.
Now before the tirade about the "Flower of Scotland" may I point out that despite its links with Scottish nationalism, the official SNP line on a Scottish national anthem is that the "national anthem" is "Scots wha hae".
A few years ago some Catalan or was it Basque fans started to insult the Spanish national anthem the "March Real" or "Royal March" - the only national anthem in Europe with any official words. I believe the trend started of singing the obscene version of the anthem of second Spanish Republic which includes a line apparently about the Spanish Queen - Juan Carlos' granny - wiping her backside with the royal standard and questioning the size of the King Alfonso XIII's "tackle".
Now, is "Flower" the best anthem in the world? Nope. Personally I like the Slovak one - "Thunder over the Tatras".
However before remarks about "Flower" being backward looking lets go to Europe and see how modern progressive nations sing their hearts out in pride about their countries.
The Netherlands anthem - Wilemhus - is a 18-verse chroncicle of the Dutch Revolt which slags off Spain - even using the term "the Spanaird rapes thee, my Netherlands so sweet!" - hardly fitting for the traditional Dutch progressive position.
In Denmark they have two anthems. One is King Christian which desribes a Danish King killing Swedish people "his sword was hammering so fast, through Gothic helm and brain it passed!"
The other one - more often used one at the moment - goes on about ancient Danish Vikings going around killing people.
The Belgian national anthem swipes at past rulers:
"From out of the tomb of slavery, has Belgium at last arisen free!"
- a kick at the Spanish, Austrians, French and Dutch. Not neighbourly!
Slovak and Czech national anthems are still the ones sung during the Habsburg period - Czech is "Where is my homeland" - both calling for a free nation. Seems strange they have kept them after independence!
Slovakia's goes:
"Lighting flashes over the Tatra, the thunder pounds wildly,
Lighting flashes over the Tatra, the thunder pounds wildly.
Let us pause, brothers, they will surely disappear, the Slovaks will revive,
Let us pause, brothers, they will surely disappear, the Slovaks will revive.
This Slovakia of ours has been fast asleep until now,
This Slovakia of ours has been fast asleep until now.
But the thunder and lighting are encouraging it to come alive,
But the thunder and lighting are encouraging it to come alive."
Strange.
Aberdonian - the 'anti-Scottish' (in reality, anti-Jacobite) verse you refer to was never part of the song. It was tacked on in a couple of performances of the song in London theatres in 1745. The song didn't become anything like the National Anthem until many years later, whereupon the verse had been forgotten and was only remarked on in a magazine as a curiosity that an old man remembered. The lore surrounding this verse is nothing more than nationalist myth and propaganda. As a Scottish person, I can't imagine how any normal person could conceive of God Save the Queen as an English anthem...
Londonderry Air (the tune which Danny Boy is set to) is used by the NI Commonwealth Games team; that is all.
Anyway, I fully support France's position. I'd be all for it myself actually - what a display it would have been if the Northern Ireland team had simply marched out of the stadium and refused to play under such conditions.
I'd have supported them all the way.
What was even disturbing was the reaction of the Scottish media, with the following ridiculous excuses being offered up:
1.It was all because of the proposed Team GB according to BBC Scotland.
2.Graeme Spiers, who has a pretty jandiced and one-sided approach when it comes to religious and all other kinds of bigotry said:
“Instead, we’re talking simply of ribald Scotland supporters, probably with beer in their bellies, giving it to their big, dominant neighbour”
In other words, it’s ok, because don’t we hate all the English barstewards anyway?
3.Billy Leckie said it was a principled stand against sectarianism by the Tartan Army because NI fans sang “No Surrender” in the middle of the anthem. And the booing, of course, only started in the middle. (That’s not to excuse the planks amongst our support who continue to desecrate our NA in this way)
4.Roddy Forsyth didn’t even seem fit to condemn it, instead going on a bizarre counter- attack by saying there was a drunk NI fan singing the Sash outside the ground.
The last three in particular are Rangers’ harshest critics and have (quite rightly) taken their support recently to task for the diabolical Famine Song.
But bigotry is bigotry, whatever source it comes from and if you are prepared to turn a blind eye towards that bigotry which comes from an inconvenient source, then you are as big a part of the problem as those who think shouting “Up the IRA” or “UVF” is an integral part of watching football.
Anyway rant over, here’s a special treat for any Scottish readers;)
Oh Flower of Scotland,
When can we play, yer likes again,
Yee tried tae defeat us,
But yee couldnae beat our ten men,
We sung against yee,
Yer Tartan Army,
But we couldnae hear you,
We're Northern Iron!!
GSTQ is a totally different kettle of fish to the French Anthem v Tunisia.
According to the Unionist GSTQ is the British anthem, not just the English and NI anthe. So booing the anthem isn't just an anti-English thing, it's an anti-British thing.
There's a big difference between booing an anthem that you feel is forced on you and booing an anthem purely meant for someone else.
The first is a protest, the second an insult. It's about time ENgland and NI got proper anthems, then we can all forget about booing!
Hen,
Presumably if you don't consider yourself British, then you don't consider GSTQ as your national anthem - so in effect, it is the anthem meant for someone else.
Let's face it, if England used a different anthem, it would still get booed. Anyway, the most serious competitor for English anthem seems to be Land of Hope and Glory, which is of course also a British rather than English song.
DG - whether I consider myself British or not is beside the point - I a British, and I have a passport which makes that official!
While I'm sure there are people who just boo England, remember that this post is about Northern Ireland being booed. For the majority of those who boo (and I remember being at the Millenium Stadium for Wales v England football, ow THAT was booing!) it is more of a combination of the song being the British anthem and being a monarchist anthem which gets the boos going. The exact same thing happens in Welsh rugby games when Prince William is attending.
See the difference when Lichtenstein were at the Stadium last week - even though they had the same music as GSTQ there wasn't a single boo.
There's a big difference between booing an anthem that you feel is forced on you and booing an anthem purely meant for someone else.
HF
For years Unionists stood respectfully to attention to what we regard as a foreign anthem (and also one whichis regarded by the iRA as theirs) everytime the Ireland rugby team played. It was forced on those of us from Northern Ireland who consider ourselves both British and Irish, but we still recognised the symbolic importance it has for the majority of our fellow Irishmen.
Scotland had at least the privledge of their own anthem played before the game, something denied us by the Irish Rugby Union even when they decided to play a game in our city, a part of the UK, Belfast. They committed the ultimate sin of designating a match on our part of the island as an "away" one in order to prevent any recognition of the fact that there is more than one national identity on the island and from that day many Unionists were forced to walk away from a team that we had always regarded as being a shared one.
But's that's by the by.
That's all we ask for, respect for our anthem, you don't have to like it or even acknowledge it as yours. Booing any anthem is a sign of base intolerance and downright ignorance, end of story
dg, the only serious suggestion for an English national anthem is "Jerusalem" which of course explicitly mentions England - "Land of Hope and Glory" is of course expressly British.
And indeed "Jerusalem" does get used at some sporting events as our anthem, but unfortunately its use is actively discouraged and suppressed by British institutions.
It's not that the English are anti-British, it's just that the British are anti-English.
And that can only lead in one direction.
Irish rugby needs to avoid anything to do with the "Soldier's Song" and GSTQ. Come to think of it if NI had a its own rugby team the above should equally apply. Mountains of Mourne?
Anything anti-Jacobite tends to be interpreted as anti-Scottish these days. That despite Salmond a few years back giving a blistering criticism of Bonnie Prince Charlie - calling him a rogue, a chancer, not interested in Scotland etc (O'Neill possibly thinks the first two descriptions are a case of the pot calling the kettle black!)
A bit like - to go to the Habsburgs - criticism of the Hussite movement is now seen and has been for a century and half at least - is seen as anti-Czech. This despite - in the case of Hussite-inspired Protestant rebellion which kicked off the 30-years war - the majority of Czechs are nominally Catholic.
Anyway if anyone feels uncomfortable singing GSTQ - sing the lyrics of the Leichtenstein version:
High above the young Rhine
Lies Liechtenstein, resting
On Alpine heights.
This beloved homeland,
This dear fatherland
Was chosen for us by
God's wise hand.
This beloved homeland,
This dear fatherland
Was chosen for us by
God's wise hand.
I don't know; all that talk of "fatherland"s and "homeland"s seems a bit overly ethno-nationalist to me:)
O'Neill
You must remember that Northern Irish politics isvery different to Scots and the Welsh. Here it is quite simply. We are Welsh and British. Although many of us don't feel British, we have the passports that make it clear we are.
In Northern Ireland things are much more complex bedcuase some would say British, others Irish and others Northern Irish.
When Tunisia fans boo the French anthem, it is to show that they're anti-French. That's direspectuful and racist. When Scot/Welsh fans boo GSTQ it is because they don't like the fact that they're, tchnically, British. They're booing their own anthem to show their protest. It's not anti-Northern Irish.
While you could call it anti-British, since they are British themselves then surely they have every right to be anti-British?
"In Northern Ireland things are much more complex bedcuase some would say British, others Irish and others Northern Irish."
No, in NI its exactly the same situation, everyone born in NI is technically and legally a British citizen, plenty like you don't feel British and that is their choice, but it is also important to remember that as a Unionist I don't see our national identity in such a narrow way as many (most) nationalists do, ie I believe it is entirely possible to be English/Irish/Scottish/Welsh & British. It really is the choice of the individual.
"When Tunisia fans boo the French anthem, it is to show that they're anti-French. That's direspectuful and racist."
Those booing the anthem were largely those of N.African ethnicity born in France, they were thus booing the their own anthem.
"When Scot/Welsh fans boo GSTQ it is because they don't like the fact that they're, tchnically, British."
Moot point. I would tend to concur with Graeme Spiers, it's an expression of anti-Englishness, if GSTQ was replaced and an English anthem was played, you think it would be respected? A look at the Tartan's Army song book shows how deep their hatred of the English really is.
"They're booing their own anthem to show their protest. It's not anti-Northern Irish."
It is also our national anthem for a large majority of NI fans, that fact should be respected.
"While you could call it anti-British, since they are British themselves then surely they have every right to be anti-British?"
Within the limits of the present Incitement to Hatred and the various anti-racist legislation they can express their political allegiances and bigotry anyway they want, but the booing of our anthem is a very strange way of showing a pride in Scotland and as a political protest (if that's what it really is) then it ranks just slightly above the burning of flags.
oneill
(I'm having problems signing into Google at the minute}
Just a thought about those Scots who have an innate hatred for England: is it deeper than Irish republican hatred for the UK and those whom they perceive as "the Brits"?
It's difficult to say, although I suppose we should be grateful that their hatred, unlike those of their Irish colleagues, is generally limited to the sports-field and doesn't manifest itself in no-warning bombs in restaurants, murdering children and massacring people attending Remembrance day parades
"Just a thought about those Scots who have an innate hatred for England:"
A Scot won't hate someone because their English, that's a simple myth. You might get the drunk idiots lashing out in their drink, but the same person will have a whole host of English friends who he doesn't treat any different from anyone else.
Hating the English establishment, as usually identified with sporting teams, is something else. Although I'd still call hate too strong a word. The whole world has sporting rivalries where one country loves to see the other loose. See New Zealand and South Africa, Canada and America etc etc.
I could just as easily ask you why those English have an innate hatred for France or Germany.
ust another note on that one, we often hear people (English) telling us we should support the England football team in the big tournaments when we don't qualify because "they're your closest neighbours".
When Euro 2008 was on I didn't meet a single Englishman who wanted France to win, even though they were their nearest neighbours in the competition!
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