Kevin Kilbane and James McClean among leading figures to speak out over rebel song controversy

“Let the people sing their stories.”

James McClean and others have defended the Ireland football team who have come under some heavy criticism following video footage of the players singing a rebel song.

Ireland had just beaten Scotland to secure their place in the World Cup, a historic victory that caused wild and deserving celebrations from the panel, the management and fans.

In typical celebratory fashion, the party was continued in the dressing room, where the players dance, hugged and sang.

However, they began to sing the rebel song Celtic Symphony, and when a clip of it emerged online, it was met with heavy criticism from aspects of the media.

Players Chloe Mustaki and Áine O’Gorman were up in front of the press, the morning after and apologised for any offence they may have caused.

“Look, we’re all really sorry here in Dublin,” Mustaki told Sky Sports News.

“It was obviously a massive lapse in judgement on our end, you know, lots going on when the final whistle went and we absolutely didn’t mean to cause any hurt on our end so we do really apologise for that, absolutely.”

However, some leading figures in Irish football have come to the defence of the team, including former Everton star Kevin Kilbane.

The defender tweeted a clip of the interview, and underlined his annoyance at the presenter’s choice of questioning.

Very poor last question to ask re education. #knowyourhistory https://t.co/iVUNPYWCLL

— Kevin Kilbane (@kdkilbane77) October 12, 2022

Rob Wotton grilled the girls for singing the song, and then asked “Does it highlight the need for education on issues like this?”

That was the question that Kilbane took exception with, tweeting: “Very poor last question to ask re education. #knowyourhistory“

Current Irish international James McClean posted on his Instagram a picture of himself with the Wolf Tones, the band who wrote Celtic Symphony, and added the following caption with it.

“Let the people sing their stories, and their songs, and the music of their native land.”