‘People attack Ireland’s Call from time to time, but it works for me. It really does’

When Irish players lined up for a World Cup debut in 1987 — chests puffed out, ready to make history — they were played into battle by... ‘The Rose of Tralee’. Peter Jackson reports

WHEN they lined up for their first World Cup match on a manic May Monday in Wellington against Wales 28 years ago, the Irish pioneers stood to attention for the anthems.

They paid due respect as their opponents belted out ‘Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadua’, a familiar tune which hadn’t done Wales much good when virtually the same Irish team had beaten them at Cardiff Arms Park the previous month in the Five Nations.