Irish fans singing “The Fields of Athenry” following Ireland’s 4-0 loss to Spain (and elimination from progressing beyond the group stage) in Euro 2012. This video was evidently shot by a fan who was there in the PGE Arena Gdańsk. A lot of the video of the fan’s singing that was floating around places like YouTube had been taken from various television broadcasts and has since been pulled at the request of various rights holders. Even the video accompanying the Irish Times article “Football fans on song despite defeat” was accompanied by an embedded video that’s since been pulled — at the request of the Estonian national broadcaster. Surely Ireland’s RTÉ could post video of the singing? So far, they haven’t.
Ireland’s final game, against Italy, should be a good one: they will be playing for pride, and it will also be Damien Duff’s 100th — and possibly final — international appearance.
Did I mention my bracket is thoroughly screwed up, wrong?