The song ‘Celtic Symphony’ has reached number one in the Irish charts following the controversy surrounding the Irish women's soccer team.
The hit song by the Wolfe Tones re-entered the charts again on Wednesday and has since climbed to the 1st and 2nd place in the iTunes Irish top 100 charts.
The women's national soccer team claimed a historic 1-0 win over Scotland on Tuesday night which sent them to their first ever World Cup finals, which will be held next year.
However, a video of the post-match celebrations surfaced that appears to show some of the players singing the song, which contains the lyric 'Ooh ah, up the Ra', in the dressing room.
READ MORE: Wolfe Tones member slams 'cranks' and claims Irish women's team 'forced' to apologise for chant
The song's apparent 'pro-IRA' lyrics have offended some and as a result, the FAI and manager Vera Pauw apologised.
Written 35 years ago in 1987, the song is one of the Wolfe Tone's most famous numbers and was created for the centenary anniversary of Celtic Football club.
The Wolfe Tones tweeted last night: “Celtic Symphony No. 1 in Ireland, and has just entered UK charts, good night …”
The song has also re-entered the UK charts and currently sits at number 12.
People took to social media to react to the song reaching the number one position, with one person saying: “I have been blasting it all day in work.”
Another asked: “Would it be possible to get Celtic Symphony to number 1 by Christmas?”
In response to the controversy, Irish manager Vera Pauw said in a statement released by the FAI: “We apologise from the bottom of our hearts to anyone who has been offended by the content of the post-match celebrations after we had just qualified for the World Cup.
"We will review this with the players and remind them of their responsibilities in this regard. I have spoken with players this morning and we are sorry collectively for any hurt caused, there can be no excuse for that.”
However, Wolfe Tones singer Brian Warfield told Newstalk's Lunchtime Live that the women’s Irish team were free to celebrate however they wanted.
He said: "We live in a country called Ireland. We are Irish people and we have suffered terribly over the years. I am suffering this since the 60s. I started way back in 1963 and ever since then, Irish music and Irish song and Irish ballads – Irish historical songs you might say – have been blackened all over the place and it goes back years.
He added that he believed it to be a "stupid kind of argument" to suggest people should be prevented from singing about the IRA.
"It is a great song, that’s why they sing it," he said.
"They have the right to sing a song of their choice and no crank should be on there telling them what to sing and how to sing it.
"This is a free Ireland. It is not an Ireland where we stop people from singing a song – ‘You can’t sing that because it mentions the IRA; that is a stupid kind of an argument.
"They were forced (to apologise) by people complaining. It is all these cranks around the place that complain about everything Irish."
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