Row Over Anthem As Irish Rugby Prepares for Match in Belfast

An unusually discordant note is reverberating around the world of Irish rugby after the governing body ruled that God Save the Queen should not be sung at the first international to be held in Belfast for more than half a century.

Rugby is one of the few sports to be played on an all-Ireland basis. The game has always avoided sectarian and political strife. But a decision by the Irish Rugby Football Union not to play the UK's national anthem at the first game to be held in Northern Ireland since the 1950s has upset the Democratic Unionist party.

Ian Paisley Jnr, who plays rugby, has expressed dismay that only the IRFU's song Ireland's Call will be performed at the Ravenhill Road ground in East Belfast next August when Ireland play Italy. The game is a warm-up for the 2007 World Cup. Ireland usually play at Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin or Thomond Park in Limerick, which are being renovated. The Ravenhill Road stadium is smaller but available. The Irish national anthem is still sung, along with Ireland's Call, whenever matches are held in the republic.

"It appears that there's been a policy change since the 1950s," Mr Paisley told the Guardian. "I don't want to make a big issue out of it, but it's a matter of protocol to have the national anthem if they are playing in Northern Ireland."

Karl Richardson, for the IRFU, said there had been no objections from the organisation's Ulster branch. "Symbols and emblems should be put to one side," he said. "This is a game and a sport." Before 1995 God Save the Queen was played at Irish rugby matches in Belfast and the Irish anthem in Dublin. And no song was played at international games.