You've heard it a million times, and you'll hear it a million more. Will Grigg's on fire, your defence is terrified.
It's a football chant that has proven to be extremely popular, not just with the Wigan fans who made it their own, but with people that have no association to the club whatsoever, and don't even actually know who Will Grigg is, but it's so damn catchy that they can't help but spread the word about a Northern Ireland international in great form.
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Not since the infamous Kolo Kolo/Yaya Yaya chant has a song about a specific footballer (or footballers) been so universally accepted as something to blurt out while in a crowd with a few drinks on board, regardless of the context, and that is something that has clearly happened for 'Will Grigg's On Fire', which has already dominated social media in recent weeks.
Grigg's international teammates even had a go, on the request of the BBC:
All together now... 'Will Grigg's on fire'. Watch Northern Ireland players having a sing... https://t.co/A2MIdH50NO pic.twitter.com/mRLqVMY3s5
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 25, 2016
Again, it's a great football chant. Short, simple, based around an iconic 90s dance anthem in GALA's "Free From Desire"... But let's get one thing straight...
This is now Will Grigg's song, and Will Grigg's alone. Yes there were versions before this one, but now it will sound as though they have been taken from the one everyone knows.
It was coined for him by Wigan fans, and as it's not a song about Wigan, but Will Grigg, then it qualifies for Northern Ireland. Much like the Coventry fans who first declared their desire to see a team of Gary Breens, player specific chants translate easily to the international game.
What irks me, is effortless shoehorning of another players name into the song. I recently overheard an enthusiastic Irish fan suggest that 'Shane Long's on fire..' works just as well. But, please. Don't.
But isn't 'Will Grigg's On Fire' itself stolen from Newcastle fans and Alexander Mitrovic? Perhaps, but I would argue in this case that the 'Mitro's On Fire' chant was abandoned after it became painfully clear that Mitro was not on fire. The chant never took off as it made little sense to sing about a player who was always more likely to be sent off than score a goal. And was that even the first? It hasn't been commonly heard until very recently if so.
So let's not do what Arsenal fans are widely ridiculed for doing. Don't blatantly steal a cracking chant and ruin it by trying to make it fit every and any team. Shane Long has indeed been on fire in the second half of the season, but please Ireland fans, if you want to tell the world, find an original way of doing it.
Perhaps that's harsh on Arsenal fans, but in another much more accurate way, it's not harsh at all. Upon hearing the utterly embarrassing moulding of Samir Nasri's name to fit the tune of KC & The Sunshine Band's 'Baby Give It Up' it became clear that the London club's trend of woeful and unoriginal chants had reached it's peak.
Nana nana nana na na na, Samir Nas-a-ri, Nas-a-ri, Samir Nas-a-ri!
That is not even his name. There was outrage among West Ham fans earlier this season when their Dimitri Payet song 'We've Got Payet', admittedly not the first player to have the 'Achy Breaky Heart' tune applied to their name, which had lyrics that made sense for Payet was absolutely butchered and transformed into 'We've Got Ozil...'
Do not let this happen to Will Grigg.
In a world where photos and statistics are stolen on a daily basis, do not let the same thing happen to football chants. The Euros will be a magnificent occasion, and it is an absolute certainty that the Republic of Ireland fans will make many memorable moments everywhere they go, so there is no need to try and copy something because it'll get you on LadBible.
By all means, if Will Grigg scores the winner against Germany, then nobody will begrudge any fan from bursting into a rendition of his chant, but if Shane Long, Var-dy, or any other possible abomination from an English-speaking nation gets any love in France I am going to be trying to change the tune to something about Darren Randolph.
Is this just a pointless opinion that has been nagging away at me since that college student on the bus suggested that Shane Long was on fire? Yes, it is, but I for one am disappointed any time unoriginality on the football terraces is celebrated.
Let a good thing be a good thing.
