Wolfe Tones star Brian Warfield admires Argentina football bosses for standing up for their men’s football team – taking a swipe at the treatment of the Irish women’s side.
The Argentina squad sang about Brazil and England after securing their place in the World Cup final on Wednesday night, including making a dig over the Falklands War.
The victorious group burst into song following their emphatic 3-0 win over Croatia, hitting out at their rivals to the cry of a popular chant sung by Argentine fans which slams Brazil for being beaten in the 2021 Copa America final and England for the country’s part in the Falklands War.
Read more: Wolfe Tones frontman slams 'begrudgers' who called on Ireland women's team to apologise
The lyrics include a line saying “Ingleses putos de Malvinas no me olvido”, which roughly translates as “f***ing English in the Falklands, I don’t forget.”
The scenes echoed the same scenes just two months after the Ireland’s women’s football team landed in hot water for chanting Up The Ra in their dressing room during celebrations after they qualified for the World Cup.
The FAI has since received a €20,000 fine by UEFA for the chant.
Dubliner Warfield, left, – whose Wolfe Tones song Admiral William Brown is also about the Falklands – said: “You notice the way the Argentinian officials stood up for their footballers and they didn’t back down or apologise or make any reference to anything – that is what the FAI should’ve done.
“They should’ve stood up for them and said it was an Irish song, it was jubilation, it is known by everybody in Ireland half the world likes to sing it so why couldn’t the girls sing it in celebration.
“The only reason why they couldn’t sing was because some cranky unionist politician got on and started complaining about it.
“They had no right to complain about anything because they are forcing people to wear poppies during football matches, forcing people to wear poppies on television. It’s bullying across every media in the UK and across Northern Ireland, so I don’t think they have anything to complain about.”
The Wolfe Tones’ Celtic Symphony – that includes the lyrics chanted by the Irish squad in the dressing rooms – shot to No1 on the Irish charts and No2 in the UK charts after the controversy.
On Wednesday night teammates including Man United’s Lisandro Martinez and Manchester City’s two-time goalscorer Julian Alvarez could be seen joining in on the chant on Wednesday night.
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