Irish ruby team to have God Save The Queen as anthem in Ravenhill if no change to Rule 42

There has been much debate going back and forth over the airwaves and in the column inches as the GAA prepare to debate whether to allow soccer and rugby to played on the hallowed turf of Croke Park. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that if Rule 42 continues in it's present form, the appalling vista of watching the Irish rugby team lining out for the national anthem and hearing God Save The Queen instead comes ever closer.

Because the IRFU has been cross-border body since before partition, it has respect for both communities in Ireland. By both communities I mean the two that divide the North .

Obviously rugby union in Ireland in the early days would have been played mostly by protestants and the middle class (no change there so – Ed). Indeed, Ireland's home games used to be played in Ravenhill before the stadium at Lansdowne Road was built.

Then there came a period when Irish home games used to be played in both Dublin and Belfast. What the IRFU decided to do – following partition and the obvious sensitivities that needed to be observed - was if a home game was played in Dublin, then Amhán Na bhFiann was to be played. If the game was in Belfast, then the German hymn was to be the anthem.

This decision has led almost directly to the God awful, please put Phil Coulter out of his sorry misery, Ireland's Call.

You see, when Ireland had to play an away game, no anthem could be played, so to give the lads something to get emotional about the IRFU decided to commission Phil Coulter to come up with a few bars.

So what has Coulter and the Irish rugby team got to do with the GAA and Rule 42.

Well, if the amendment to the rule isn't passed by congress next weekend, then it's almost a certainty that the IRFU will play it's home games abroad, most likely in Cardiff.

But what happens when the likes of Romania, Canada, USA and even Italy come over to play? Those matches are hardly likely to played in the Millennium Stadium are they? If the GAA won't open up Croke Park for a GAA match that couldn't pull a crowd of over 33,000 because of economics, then what chance are the IRFU going to rent a stadium in another country for a match with a crowd draw of less than that?

The IRFU is obliged by the IRB to play these games and so the only options open to them would be to play the games in either the 12,000 capacity Thomond Park or, the 20,000 capacity - with added temporary seating - Ravenhill.

The advent if the professional game has meant the IRFU have started to become strapped for cash and that could well mean that they would opt for the extra 8,000 paying customers at Ravenhill, thus enforcing Ireland to stand for God Save The Queen as the national anthem.

It must be said at this point that several unionists and Orangemen have stood for Amhán Na bhFiann at Lansdowne Road on many occasion without too much complaint, but, it's hardly going to be reciprocated by the people in the South now is it?