Danny Boy favourite to oust Queen

'God Save the Queen', already under heavy attack as a sporting anthem, now faces the axe at Windsor Park, Northern Ireland's cauldron of loyalist football passion. 'Danny Boy', the bittersweet, non-sectarian song of the homesick Irish exile, is favourite to replace it.

As disclosed in The Observer last week, the national anthem's use by the English football and rugby teams has come under increasing criticism in the age of devolution because it celebrates the British state.

But it has a special significance for Ulster Protestants and is the unofficial anthem of Glasgow Rangers. Loyalists are expected to resist plans by the Irish Football Association to drop it in an attempt to persuade more Catholics to support the Northern Ireland team.

Most Catholics and nationalists stay away from the Windsor Park either out of fear of attack from loyalist hooligans or because they prefer to support the Republic of Ireland.

John Quinn, the IFA's spokesman, said dropping 'God Save the Queen' was an option if a revived peace process could restore the Assembly and its power to fund the association's community programme.

He explained there were no plans to drop it until after the World Cup in 2002. But he pointed out that the issue would be debated when the association implemented its community relations policy.

Quinn said the IFA was the first sporting organisation in Northern Ireland to adopt an anti-sectarian policy, which in theory urges an end to sectarian chanting at local soccer stadiums.

Norman Boyd, an Assemblyman for the Northern Ireland Unionist Party and life-long fan of the Ulster Protestant's most favoured football side, Linfield, said the issue should not even be discussed by the IFA.

'If the IFA ever attempted to change the national anthem of my country to something else I would lead a boycott campaign of Windsor Park. I have supported Northern Ireland all my life, I have followed them home and away but I would not go to Windsor if they played a different anthem.

'It doesn't surprise me that some elements inside the IFA would consider such a thing but I don't think the issue should even be on the agenda.'

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