Something special happened the other day when I was watching the 2012 European Championship.
The Irish team was getting pounded by Spain. The score was 4-0 in the final ten minutes of regulation and Ireland had absolutely no chance to win against the talented Spaniards, who announcers agreed was one of the best teams of all time, having won the 2008 European Championship and the 2010 World Cup back to back.
The Spanish had actually let their foot off the gas pedal and were killing the clock for the last few minutes of the game. Irish fans who had traveled to Poland and the Ukraine to watch these games knew their team was finished -- they were beaten, eliminated from the Euro 2012 Championship early in the tournament, and they were going home.
Then, suddenly, these Irish fans perked up and started cheering. No, they started screaming.
They were belting out some song. I didn't know the lyrics or what it was all about.
As the last few minutes of time ran out, the song got louder and louder. Some stunned announcers (video above) simply stopped commentating about the game and let the scene play itself out.
I even backed up the DVR to take these photos (above).
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Their team was getting destroyed by Spain, yet they had so much love in their hearts. So much joy and appreciation for their team even trying to beat these magnificent Spaniards. I'm not even Irish, but I suddenly liked these people a lot.
It was surreal. Even the Spanish fans cheered them on.
I later learned that the song is called "The Fields of Athenry" and it has become kind of an unofficial national anthem in Ireland. It's not a happy song. It's about suffering, starvation, and incarceration. But the Irish, as is their style, have taken this song to be their own personal anthem.
Five years from now, I won't remember the score of this game. But watching those Irish fans celebrate so joyously in the face of such a crushing defeat....well, I'll remember that for the rest of my life.
*********************
The Fields of Athenry
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Micheal they are taking you away
For you stole Trevelyn's corn
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling
Nothing matter Mary when your free,
Against the Famine and the Crown
I rebelled they ran me down
Now you must raise our child with dignity.
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
By a lonely harbor wall
She watched the last star falling
As that prison ship sailed out against the sky
Sure she'll wait and hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
