Published January 08, 2015
The Football Association of Ireland's chief executive says he's sorry if he offended anyone by singing an Irish nationalist song in a pub.
A video posted on YouTube shows John Delaney in a pub singing "The Ballad of Joe McDonnell" about a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who died in a 1981 prison hunger strike.
Delaney told Irish broadcaster RTE "it's a typically Irish thing we do. We sing songs amongst our group and you expect it to be kept to the group."
But Delaney says "if the song offends anybody, of course I'm sorry."
The Provisional IRA killed nearly 1,800 people during a failed 1970-1997 campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom, then renounced violence and surrendered its weapons in 2005.
Delaney says he's "not somebody who supports violence."
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/irish-football-chief-executive-apologizes-after-being-filmed-singing-nationalist-song-in-pub