Victoria, BC. Lunchtime, November 8.
A pale sun finally peaks through the clouds. I should be outside, going for a hike perhaps, maybe contemplating some yard work.
Instead, I log on to my laptop. Eagerly await the start of a rugby union match in Dublin. A much-anticipated clash between the world’s top ranked team, Ireland, and #3 New Zealand. Shoulder to shoulder, 52,000 fans pack the Aviva Stadium. Look forward to a spicy All Blacks haka and another titanic contest between two heavyweights of the modern game.
Alas, despite all the hype, the game is, at best, disappointing. At worst, a dud.
For whatever reason, the hosts barely fire a shot. Make a slew of unforced errors. Commit mistake after mistake. Outmuscled, loose passes, a clunky attack. Missed tackles compound costly, lazy penalties.
While a try and conversion just after halftime produce a short lived 13-9 lead, it is never going to be enough. The visitors rather too easily soak up any further Irish pressure, kick the penalty goals on offer, close with a neat, multiphase team tally. In the end, win with relative ease, 23-13. An impressive Irish streak of 19 consecutive home victories ends with a distinct thud.
For whatever reason, right from the start, the capacity crowd seems equally subdued. Perhaps it is the Friday evening kickoff, the cold, slippery and greasy conditions, the unexpectedly average fare on offer.
Still, an ocean away, eagerly I listen for the traditional call to arms. With Ireland struggling, listen for thousands of voices in unison, of supporters raising their team’s spirits via song. Listen for a traditional, spinetingling rendition of a beloved anthem.
Cue “The Fields of Athenry.”
While the song and its lyrics are relatively recent, a haunting melody and powerful story line confirm its ongoing popularity. Of numerous significant historical connections, starting with Athenry itself, a medieval town in Galway known for its fertile fields and beautiful countryside. Known also as the site of a bloody battle during the 1916 Easter Rising, when British forces defeated a group of Irish rebels.
Farther back in time, the song invokes cruel and heartbreaking images of the Great Famine in the 1840s. This desperate period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland, brought on by a destructive potato blight, draconian British export policies, and extreme poverty, results in over a million deaths and crippling emigration.
Given this backdrop, “The Fields of Athenry” tells the tale of Michael, a young man arrested for stealing corn. The crime, harshly punished by an English civil servant named Trevelyan, is born of both desperation and necessity. For, as his family starves, literally wastes away, Michael has no other way to feed them.
Found guilty, he is transported to a prison ship headed for the Botany Bay penal colony in Australia. Wretched and despairing, he leaves behind a wife, a child, and the low-lying fields of the home town he loves so much.
If the character Michael is fictional, his story reflects accurately the tragic circumstances faced by so many during the Great Famine. Honours the memory of those who fought so bravely against extreme injustice. Provides a timely reminder of the struggles, sacrifices, courage, and resilience of the Irish people.
Given all of the above, it is hardly surprising that the song becomes an enduring part of Irish culture. Firmly entrenched in the national psyche, it is well known and embraced by many, including fans of various sports, from hurling to Gaelic football, to soccer and, of course, rugby.
It is also about so much more. In a wider context, points prevalent in “The Fields of Athenry” remain as relevant today as they did centuries ago. The song and accompanying words resonate all around the globe as they speak to universal themes of greed, inequality, and extreme hardship. To the devastating costs associated with deprivation and hunger. To the need to combat these problems whenever and wherever they occur.
Eventually, as images of famine, penury, corn, and convict ships blur together, I shift back to the present. Note that, in the wake of the dismal defeat to New Zealand, the Irish coach makes no excuses, indicates only it is “time to get back on the horse and start over.”
This time, a rampant and dangerous Argentina side lies in wait. Another Friday night kickoff at the Aviva, a decent chance of rain, thousands of fans likely restless if the hosts once again founder.
Still, more to the point, I hope and pray the singing, strangely muted a week ago, soars and swells around the stadium. Reinforces the key messages from “The Fields of Athenry,” again lifts and salutes a hugely successful and beloved sports team.
On another level, and much more importantly, may the messages recognize equally and focus attention upon an ever-deteriorating global landscape.
For, while the Great Famine happened, while it was sickening, brutal, and unjust, the more things change the more they stay the same. For far too many, optimism and hope are currently in short supply as the world lurches towards a perilous future.
War, dislocation, loneliness, isolation, economic misery, forced migration, gross imbalances, and declining health combine to squash freedom, love and dreams. Authoritarianism, religious intolerance, genocide, sexism, and racism proliferate. Climate chaos wreaks havoc in the form of pollution, severe droughts, and extreme temperatures. Of wicked storms, devastating fires and biblical floods.
Indeed, now, more than ever, politically, socially, financially, morally, and spiritually, the world simply must work together. Literally to save civilization. Literally to save the planet.
May we all hear and heed the "young girl and young man calling.”
Editor’s note:
See below lyrics to “The Fields of Athenry”
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Michael they are taking you away
For you stole Trevelyan’s corn
So the young might see the morn
Now a prison ship lay waiting in the bay
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling
Nothing matters Mary when you're free
Against the famine and the crown
I rebelled they cut me down
Now you must raise our child with dignity
By a lonely harbour wall
She watched the last star falling
As the prison ship sailed out against the sky
For she lives to hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay
It's so lonely around the fields of Athenry
(Chorus) 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
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