It’s a venerable football equation: English defeat = Irish glee.
Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin leader, reflected this tradition when she posted “Olé, Olé, Olé” and celebrated Spain’s victory over England in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin on Sunday. “Felicidades! Comhghairdeas to the champions of Europe,” she added, using the Irish word for congratulations.
For many it was harmless banter and arguably restrained given Ireland’s tangled history with England – conquest and famine were mentioned.
Critics disagreed and called the Sinn Féin leader’s post obnoxious trolling that did not help bilateral relations. “This is pathetic. At a time when we need leaders to build bridges,” Pippa Hackett, a senator and junior minister in the coalition government, posted on X.
The spat prompted others to wade in on either side, some accusing McDonald of bad manners, others accusing Hackett of lacking a sense of humour.
The taoiseach, Simon Harris, who has welcomed the Labour government as a chance to reset relations between Dublin and London, steered a neutral course by congratulating Spain while commending England for a hard-fought match.
The Belfast hip-hop group Kneecap, in contrast, uploaded a video of weeping English players and shared an extract of the Pogues’ song Fiesta. “Come all you rambling boys of pleasure, and ladies of easy leisure, we must say adiós! Until we see Almeria once again.”
Lindsay Robinson, the wife of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson, said her family received vile messages after she posted a picture of her husband and her 10-year-old son rooting for England. “I’m not a big fan of the sport but his love of it seems pretty normal to me. Some of the nasty, hate-filled responses to it are anything but normal. Sort yourselves out.”