Billy Boys
"Billy Boys", also titled "The Billy Boys",
Origins
Billy Boys originated in the 1920s as the signature tune of the Billy Boys, who were a
The Brigton Billy Boys and their youth wing, the Derry Boys, started to attend association football matches in the late 1920s and early 1930s. During this time, they attended Rangers matches and Rangers fans started to sing the Billy Boys song as part of a perceived affiliation with the Billy Boys.[3]
Despite
Football song
Rangers
Even after Fullerton's death, Rangers fans continued to sing "Billy Boys" to commemorate Fullerton and the Brigton Boys.
The song was at the centre of a controversy surrounding "ninety-minute bigots", an expression allegedly coined by former Rangers chairman
In 2011, "Billy Boys" was included in a list of chants that had been banned from Scottish football grounds as part of new legislation from the Scottish government. It was specifically banned because of its "Up to our knees in Fenian blood" line.
Despite the ban, "Billy Boys" has still been sung at Rangers matches,[21] including their match against Queen's Park at Hampden Park in 2012.[22][23] Other Scottish football clubs, among them Heart of Midlothian, Kilmarnock, and Dundee, use versions of "Billy Boys" adapted to support their own clubs.[22]
Northern Ireland
The Billy Boys song has also been used in Northern Ireland, which may have arisen as a result of the Brigton Boys' march in Belfast.[8] It is often used by supporters of Belfast club Linfield[24] due to historic links with Rangers as "Blues Brothers".[25]
The song was sung in 2013 by supporters of the
Lyrics
Hello, Hello
We are the Billy Boys
Hello, Hello
You'll know us by our noise
We're up to our knees in Fenian blood
Surrender or you'll die
For we are
The Brigton Billy Boys[29]
The 'Derry Boys' were a smaller, youth faction of the Billy Boys, and the original version used the term Brigton Billy Boys in its place.[30]
References
- ^ a b c d "Irish FA bans 'Billy Boys' song for Linfield fans". BBC Sport. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ "Evil faces of Glasgow's gangsters revealed". The Scotsman. 19 July 2004. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
- ^ ISBN 157181227X.
- ^ Petrol bomb pensioner shows old gang hatreds die hard, Janey Godley, The Scotsman, 6 January 2008
- ^ "Resistance to fascism". Glasgow Digital Library. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
- ^ a b Razor gangs ruled the streets but even in the violence of pre-war years, one man stood out, Daily Record, 19 October 2007
- ISBN 978-1844860500.
- ^ ISBN 978-1444739787.
- ISBN 978-0571278510.
- ^ "Hurrah! Hurrah! We are the Billy Boys / We are the Billy Boys". Glasgow Guide. 12 April 2006. Archived from the original on 31 January 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "Performing Sectarianism: Terror, Spectacle and Urban Myth in Glasgow Football Cultures" (PDF). Goldsmiths, University of London. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
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: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ISBN 978-0748670369.
- ^ Jack O'Sullivan (14 July 1999). "Scottish FA stands by its coach". The Independent. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "'First steps' on end to bigotry". BBC Sport. 14 February 2005. Retrieved 14 January 2007.
- ^ "Rangers revive traditional songs". BBC News. 4 August 2006. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "Bigotry a Scottish problem – Uefa". BBC Sport. 13 April 2006. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "Rangers told to axe 'Billy Boys'". BBC Sport. 9 June 2006. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
- ^ "Rangers fined after Uefa appeal". BBC Sport. 24 May 2006. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "Bigotry Bill: Fans told the songs they can't sing". Daily Record. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "Panorama – Scotland's Secret Shame transcript". BBC. 27 February 2005. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
- ^ McNally, Brian. "Why Rangers fans must put the Billy Boys song to bed". The Mirror. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ a b "Rangers fans sing sectarian Billy Boys song at Queens Park game". Scotzine. 30 December 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ Queen's Park 0 Rangers 1: Onwards and upwards, The Herald, 30 December 2012
- ^ "Union flag erected by Linfield fans at Dublin stadium". News Letter. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "Linfield to make history at Rangers". News Letter. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ Black, Rebecca (13 September 2013). "Loyalist flag protester Jamie Bryson defends alleged singing of sectarian 'Billy Boys' song". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "'No more Billy Boys' – Linfield". UTV. Archived from the original on 18 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "Irish FA bans the "We are the Billy Boys" song". When Saturday Comes. Archived from the original on 18 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ "The bitter divide". BBC. 2 June 1999. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
- ^ "The history of Glasgow's street gangs: Brigton's Billy Boys". Glasgow Live. 13 November 2018.