When rugby answered 'Ireland's Call'

Ireland hope to end their Rugby World Cup quarter-final curse when they face New Zealand on Saturday, and before the game their players will stand shoulder to shoulder to sing "Ireland's Call", but it's a song which is not the official Irish anthem.

The national anthem is "Amhran na bhFiann" (The Soldier's Song) but for a team representing the whole island, the anthem often caused debate.

Ireland was partitioned in 1921 with the southern 26 counties then becoming the independent Irish Free State, later the Irish Republic, and the northern six remaining under British rule.

Soccer was unable to remain united. A number of disputes alleging Belfast bias led to a split in 1921, and there were now two separate associations.

The Irish Rugby Federation (IRFU), however, was able to agree on issues such as where games would be played, the anthem, and they introduced their own flag.

Many other sports have maintained one governing body, including cricket, hockey, basketball and tennis.

Originally, when Ireland played rugby in Dublin the Irish anthem was played, and "God Save the King" was used in Belfast. As no games were played north of the border between 1954 and 2007 the debate subsided somewhat, at least until 1987.

This was the year of the first Rugby World Cup, but in April, as players from Northern Ireland travelled to Dublin for training they were caught up in an IRA bombing, which ended the playing career of Nigel Carr.

When Ireland arrived in Australia and New Zealand for the tournament, the IRFU decided against using the Irish anthem, but players complained that they would be the only team without one.

A recording of an old Irish ballad, "The Rose of Tralee", was found, and as the crackly cassette version played over the speakers