Caretaker England boss Lee Carsley stood in respectful silence as his players sang God Save the King ahead of their Nations League clash with the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.
The 50-year-old former Ireland midfielder had indicated in advance that he would not join in with the national anthem – as has been his practice throughout his career – as he took charge of his first game in the wake of Gareth Southgate’s departure.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said ahead of the match that, while he would sing the anthem, it should be a personal decision for Carsley and for any individual.
Carsley was in good company as Ireland’s Icelandic manager Heimir Hallgrimsson, also in the dugout for the first time following his appointment as Stephen Kenny’s successor in July, did not sing the Irish anthem, Amhran na bhFiann.
All the England players appeared to sing along amid raucous boos from the home fans, while many of the 2,981 travelling supporters chanted throughout the Irish anthem.
Read more:
- Craig Gordon is still Scotland's best goalkeeper, says former manager
- Steve Clarke must keep Scotland firmly on the front foot
Speaking during the build-up to the game, Carsley explained his reasons for not singing.
He said: “This is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland – the gap between your warm-up, your coming on to the pitch and the delay with the anthems. So it’s something that I have never done.
“I was always really focused on the game and my first actions of the game. I really found that in that period I was wary about my mind wandering off. I was really focused on the football and I have taken that into coaching.”
During his first official visit to Dublin, which Starmer said is a “moment for reset” of relations between the UK and Ireland, the Prime Minister was asked for his views on the issue.
Starmer said: “I will sing the national anthem and we are having a fantastic reset of relations between Ireland and the UK, but the Taoiseach and I have already agreed that for 90 minutes we will suspend the reset and put more energy into it afterwards because we will be cheering on different sides.
“So I will be singing the national anthem. What others do is really a matter for them.”
Asked then if he was not concerned about Carsley’s choice, the Prime Minister added: “I know what I will be doing and I will be singing it.
“I won’t just be singing it, I will be cheering the team on.”
Some critics had gone as far as calling for Carsley to be sacked should he refuse to sing God Save the King in Dublin, while a campaign group has called for the UK to select a new national anthem and given the interim England boss its backing.
Campaign group Republic, which wants the monarchy abolished and replaced by an elected head of state, said the furore over the 50-year-old’s admission is evidence the UK needs to ditch the current national anthem.
Read more:
- Graham Potter stays tight-lipped on England job speculation
- The one England player who made official Euro 2024 team of tournament
“Carsley has every right to not sing the anthem. But this is a timely reminder that we need a new anthem, one that speaks for everyone, that is about country and the people, not king and God,” the group said in a statement.
“We are a free country and freedom of speech includes freedom not to revere a king.
“We should be able to raise the roof singing our national anthem, we should not be put in a position where that conflicts with profoundly held beliefs.
“Whatever Carsley’s reasons, he should have the support of every democrat and everyone concerned about freedom of speech.”
Carsley had initially headed for the wrong bench after emerging from the tunnel before his players, and there was a minor disruption when a man in full England kit managed to find his way on to the pitch and stand next to Anthony Gordon as the teams lined up to be presented to Irish President Michael D Higgins.
Earlier, the England bus arrived at the Aviva Stadium some 90 minutes before kick-off and there was a smattering of boos from the few spectators inside for midfielder Declan Rice, who played three times for Ireland before switching allegiance, as he and his team-mates took a look at the pitch shortly afterwards.
Carsley joined his players to little fanfare and chatted to Jack Grealish, who represented the Republic at under-21 level but then opted to play for England, before heading back to the dressing room to finalise his preparations.
There were loud jeers from the home fans for Rice, Grealish and Carsley when the teams were announced and further boos when the England fans started to make their presence felt, and the game eventually got under way amid a cacophony of noise.
Rice scored in the 11th minute to put England ahead, the Arsenal player pointedly not celebrating the goal. Grealish was more animated after doubling the lead 15 minutes later.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here