Y Gogledd: The Rise of the Cymry - or Just Pub Talk?

Celt & Saxon Kingdoms circa 500AD?

Sterling news! Some of the Hurley Clan have marched north to reclaim the Celtic Kingdom of Rheged from the Saxons and Danes who took it via intermarriage and stealth, even after it passed to the Welsh Kingdom of Strathclyde (from whence William Wallace - Wallace meaning "Welsh" - came to deliver freedom to the Welsh, Scots and Picts of Scotland).

They followed two pathfinders (codename Uncle Pat and Auntie Mary) who were brave enough to travel north into the icy wastes of what, incredibly, is today part of England!

Yes! The Welsh are marching to free the Cymry 'Men of the North' and I have reports back from an elderly man (codename Old Pa Hurley) that he has indeed discovered evidence of ancient Welsh culture "up North."

A pub serving Brains Beer* no less, has been confirmed back to base by two elderly men (let's call them Agent Joe and Agent Pat), reported to be "grinning widely" and with a strange gait in their movement.

At this stage, further reports of them painting half their faces blue and shouting "FREEEEEDOM!" whilst kicking a rugby ball up the high street, have yet to be confirmed.

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*I am still looking for sponsorship!

Why Do the Irish Sing Two 'Anthems' at the Rugby? After Tomorrow Will I Care?

And you thought my post on the English singing God Save the Queen before their Six Nations matches was controversial.

An Irish acquaintance (through work) sent me this reply when I asked him about the Irish national anthem (I always wondered why the Irish got to sing two songs - was this a ruse to unnerve the opposition, an aural war of attrition?).

He replied:

The second song they sing is We'll Answer Ireland's Call or something like that. It's about the same as the English supporters singing Swing Low, Sweet FA.

I'll leave you to take in those words as I use the defence of Pontius Pilot (moral cowardice) and wash my hands of all responsibility. 

I am, of course, part Irish and so (as opposed to last weekend) I will be supporting Ireland tomorrow, for its own sake, but also because if the Irish win (however against the odds that seems) the Welsh have a slim chance of still winning the Six Nations championship.

I know I'm clutching at straws, but while there is life there is hope.

Come on Wales! Cymru am Byth! Come on Ireland! Eirinn go brach!

A few years ago (1999) I was living in Scotland and the only chance Scotland had of winning the Six Nations was if Wales beat England, which they went and did. That very evening I think I was the most popular man in the bar and didn't have to pay for any beers. Ah! Sweet memories.

If Ireland did the same for Wales (and France continue with their abysmal style from last weekend) tomorrow, then I would think an errant Irishman in a Welsh pub might well find himself in the same situation... Now where did I put my Irish rugby top... ;-)

And do you know what, if Ireland do Wales this favour tomorrow I would petition the president of the Irish Rugby Union to allow them three anthems: even Brian Moore's favourite, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, if they wanted to! ;-)

Brian Moore Labels English Rugby Anthem a Negro Spiritual Dirge

An Englishman comments on English song choices

My recent post (Do the English Know Who They Are?) on the debate concerning the English anthem at rugby matches raised some (English) hackles, even though at least one of the sites (by English patriots) that linked through to it, lobbies for an English anthem in a way that mirrors exactly what I said (though some people had tried to make out I was being anti-English).

Now at the time I said nothing about the other "English anthem" (albeit unofficial) of English rugby, 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot'.

As that isn't official in any sense, it's not for me to "tell" English fans what they should or shouldn't sing.

But on live TV yesterday Brian Moore - during a very exciting and intense match (England V Scotland) - asked why on earth England had adopted a "negro spiritual" (his words, not mine) and I believe he also labelled it a "dirge."

Oooooh.

Now, Brian is English and a sporting legend. So no doubt the "controversialists" who lined up to have a pop at my comments will maintain a revered silence?

Probably not.

As it happens I tend to agree with Brian, but as I say, it is for the fans to decide what their anthem is. We in Wales have our own (one things of Calon Lan, Sospan Fach, Bread of Heaven and of course our beautiful anthem) all steeped in Welsh history and tradition.

Perhaps Brian Moore believes the English should do likewise instead of copying a UB40 chart hit, manufactured at the time (if I remember right?) of the rugby World Cup, with no connection to England, its traditions and history.

Answers on a postcard to Brian Moore c/o BBC TV.

I used to dislike Brian Moore for his one-sided commentaries on the TV, but since hearing of his autobiography and his overcoming sexual abuse as a child, I do believe he is someone who should be admired for getting through such physical and mental torment.

Like many others I now enjoy his one-sided approach and his "speak first, think later" approach which can add a bit of colour to a game and get us "armchair experts" shouting at the TV!

Greg Mulholland MP and the Call for English Anthem Usage

500 AD and Glastonbury is still held by "Welsh" tribes

After a minor kerfuffle from my last post, it seems that at least one MP agrees with me, that God Save the Queen is indeed the anthem of the UK and not of England.

As Wikipedia says:

On 20 April 2007, Greg Mulholland, the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds North West, introduced an Early Day Motion (EDM) in the House of Commons, proposing that England have its own national anthem. The EDM called for all English sporting associations to "adopt an appropriate song that English sportsmen and women, and the English public, would favour when competing as England."^[3] There has also been an EDM calling for "Jerusalem" to be given official status as the national anthem of England, proposed by Daniel Kawczynski, the Conservative Party MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham on 18 October 2006.^[4]

In April 2008 Greg Mulholland called for the England national rugby league team to replace "God Save the Queen" with an English national anthem at the Rugby League World Cup (RL World Cup) to be held in Australia in autumn 2008^[5] and on 28 April he put forward another EDM in the House of Commons, noting that Scotland and Wales who are also taking part in the RL World Cup, will all have their own national anthems, and therefore calling on England to use an English national anthem rather than the British national anthem, with the proposal that English rugby league fans should be given the chance to choose an English anthem.^[6] However, God Save the Queen was used.

On St George's Day, April 23, 2010, the Commonwealth Games Council for England launched a poll to allow the public to decide which anthem is to be played at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. Voters could choose between God Save the Queen, Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory with the winning song being adopted as the official anthem for Team England. ^[7] Jerusalem was declared the winner on 30 May 2010, securing 52% of the vote. ^[8]

If the English wish to have Jerusalem as their anthem who am I (Welsh, part-Irish and so devoid of any rights on such matters apparently) to say otherwise. It is certainly very stirring (moreso than God Save the Queen may I dare to opine?)

Of course, if Our Lord Jesus Christ did indeed come to the West Country, brought by Joseph of Arimathea so folk-tales say, then of course it was still part of Welsh Britain, where the native tribes would have spoke ancient Welsh, perhaps intermixed with some Latin).

The arrival of the English was some 400+ years away, apart from some mercenaries fighting for the Romans as the Empire crumbled, to protect the East Coast of what became England from raiders. Some historians say these mercenaries became the settlers that the "invading" Germanic tribes came to join - I believe it's a moot point. The West Country itself remained "Welsh" for much longer of course (eventually only Wales and Cornwall as we recognise them today were left separate of Anglo-Saxon tribal kingdoms and their vessel fiefdoms)

Still it's nice to think that Jesus Christ may have come to these islands and met the natives later called Welsh (or "foreigner" in old Anglo-Saxon English, they gave similar names to peoples in what would become Belgium and Italy). If only because the Welsh kept the Roman and Christian Faith, and via the Welshman St Patrick exported it to Ireland where monasticism really took off and thrived as Europe as a whole entered what has been called the 'Dark Ages.'


P.S. I don't know if Greg Mulholland is English or not. Does that negate his argument for asking for an English anthem as opposed to the British one?

Link:
Britannia After the Roman Withdrawal

Do the English Know Who They Are?

Mergers and Acquisitions

I have just watched a less than impressive Wales win their match in Rome against Italy. Not great, but a win is a win.

Then, after a swift stretch of the legs and my ablutions, I returned to the gogglebox to see the run-up to the start of the England - France game.

Now one of my bugbears: do the English know who they are?

At the start of every rugby match they will insist on singing the (anti-Scottish) God Save the Queen which is, of course the British national anthem (despite being against the Scots). That's why the Northern Irish sports teams sing God Save the Queen (because they don't have their own anthem, as a Protestant planter-enclave, they sing the British one to show they don't think they're Irish).

The English anthem is, of course, Land of Hope and Glory.

Why don't the English know that? Does it really take a Welshman of part-Irish extraction to tell the English what their national anthem is?

Now it's almost half time and France are holding the English at 9-9... Vive La France ;-)

St Pabo and the Welshmen of Northern "England"

Just a quick post this one (yes, OK, you needn't relish in the fact!).

I found this simply sumptuous post on the blog "Reluctant Sinner" and it ties in well with what I wrote previously about the Kingdom of Strathclyde being Welsh.

It further highlights the Welsh heritage of Cumbria, Lancashire etc. and how the Welsh kept Christianity flourishing after the Romans left in the 5th Century.

It is ironic that as the Pope was sending St Augustine to Kent, so Christianity was in turn taken to Ireland by the Welsh (most significantly St Patrick) and Ireland's Monasticism in turn spread to Scotland, the Picts and the Northern English.

Anyway, enjoy this article, it is sublime. Look out for all the Welsh names connected to St Pabo, both in Wales itself and his own lands in what is now England.

Link:
A Reluctant Sinner on St Pabo