With Hibernia Basketball signalling Ireland’s return to European club basketball, BiE editor Emmet Ryan has ranked the top five songs he thinks the team should use when they take the floor
There’s a problem in Irish sport that I like to call Dropkick Murphys syndrome. It’s where pretty much every sporting event in Ireland insists on using Shipping Up to Boston to get the crowd going. The problem is it’s everywhere and Irish fans have long grown tired of it. With that in mind I’m banning everything by Dropkick Murphys and House of Pain from contention here. Yes, Jump Around is great but it’s way too obvious. Likewise the Fields of Athenry is also out the window because that has been beaten to death. Irish basketball needs something different. In order from 1 to 5, I’m ranking the songs that Hibernia should run out to in FIBA Europe Cup.
1. Manic 2000 – Mark McCabe
If you’re Irish, this needs no introduction. It is one of the cheesiest songs ever and gets absolutely everyone from here to go nuts. For the non-Irish readers, Mark McCabe is a DJ who remixed Michael Sembello’s Maniac (from the movie Flashdance) and somehow made it even cheesier. What’s more, McCabe is performing it in person for the first time in years at the Electric Picnic festival. Get this man on the decks for the first home game in the National Basketball Arena and the house will go nuts while leaving CEZ Nymburk utterly confused.
2. Put em under Pressure – Irish 1990 football team
No song, none whatsoever, works up an Irish crowd like the anthem of the soccer team that went to Italia 90. The intro by Moya Brennan of Clannad kicks into a cover of the guitar riff from An Dearg Doom by Horslips before Jack Charlton audio clips are interspersed with all sorts of nonsense. This was released around a time Irish people thought it was weird when other countries chanted Olé Olé. I’m not joking. The only reason this isn’t at the top is because of its initial association with soccer but truth be told this is a de facto national anthem. Put this on and the arean won’t care, it will turn into the OAKA for 3 and a half minutes.
3. Bridging the Gap – Nas and Olu Dara
This one is more about the cultural significance of Hibernia. It’s been a long time since Ireland had a national team and we’re still waiting but this is seen as the last step. Throw in the simple fact that this is one of the best tracks of the last 20 years and we’ve got a good bet here.
4. Hold me Now – Johnny Logan
There are so many reasons. Defiant in the face of fate, a Eurovision winner, and… ok I’m done but it’s got all the pomp needed to work.
5. Notre Dame Victory March – The Band of the Fighting Irish
If we’re going to steal from an Irish-American assortment, go for the one where the school got its nickname from kicking the KKK out of South Bend.
Those are BiE’s pics, let us know what you reckon should be used by Hibernia for intro music in the comments or on Twitter.
Note: Some of you may have noticed things have been quiet on the BiE front lately. Under presure from prety much everyone in my life I took a break between the end of the season and EuroBasket. Normal service will resume shortly.
