The Billy Boys is a
loyalistUlster loyalism is a militant unionist ideology held mostly by Protestants in Northern Ireland. Some individuals claim that Ulster loyalists are working-class unionists willing to use violence in order to achieve their aims...
song from
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, sung to the tune of "
Marching Through Georgia"Marching Through Georgia" is a marching song written by Henry Clay Work at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. It refers to U.S. Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's destructive March to the Sea late in the previous year.Because of its lively melody, the song became widely popular with...
." It originated in the 1930s as the signature song of a Glasgow street gang led by Billy Fullerton and later reflected the long running sectarian divide in the city. It is associated in particular with
RangersRangers Football Club are an association football team based in Glasgow, Scotland, who currently play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
football club, and
Linfield F.C.Linfield F.C. Linfield F.C. Linfield F.C. (full name Linfield Football & Athletic Club, is a Northern Irish professional football club playing in the IFA Premiership. Founded in March 1886 in south Belfast, Linfield play at Windsor Park, which is also the home of the Northern Ireland international...
, though variants are sung by fans of many other British clubs with their local rivals cast as the enemy.
The song is at the centre of the controversy surrounding "Ninety-minute Bigots"—an expression allegedly coined by Rangers chairman
Sir David MurraySir David Edward Murray is a Scottish entrepreneur, businessman and former chairman of Rangers Football Club.-Early life:...
—among Rangers fans.
The Billy Boys is a
loyalistUlster loyalism is a militant unionist ideology held mostly by Protestants in Northern Ireland. Some individuals claim that Ulster loyalists are working-class unionists willing to use violence in order to achieve their aims...
song from
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, sung to the tune of "
Marching Through Georgia"Marching Through Georgia" is a marching song written by Henry Clay Work at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. It refers to U.S. Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's destructive March to the Sea late in the previous year.Because of its lively melody, the song became widely popular with...
." It originated in the 1930s as the signature song of a Glasgow street gang led by Billy Fullerton and later reflected the long running sectarian divide in the city. It is associated in particular with
RangersRangers Football Club are an association football team based in Glasgow, Scotland, who currently play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
football club, and
Linfield F.C.Linfield F.C. Linfield F.C. Linfield F.C. (full name Linfield Football & Athletic Club, is a Northern Irish professional football club playing in the IFA Premiership. Founded in March 1886 in south Belfast, Linfield play at Windsor Park, which is also the home of the Northern Ireland international...
, though variants are sung by fans of many other British clubs with their local rivals cast as the enemy.
The song is at the centre of the controversy surrounding "Ninety-minute Bigots"—an expression allegedly coined by Rangers chairman
Sir David MurraySir David Edward Murray is a Scottish entrepreneur, businessman and former chairman of Rangers Football Club.-Early life:...
—among Rangers fans. "Ninety-minute Bigots do not hold sectarian beliefs but nonetheless sing songs at football matches which are sectarian, simply to join in with the rest of the crowd." Rangers have adopted several measures to tackle this behaviour with Murray speaking out against it on many occasions. In June 2006, Rangers were ordered by
UEFAThe Union of European Football Associations is the administrative and controlling body for European football. It is almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA ....
to make a public announcement at all home games, prohibiting the singing of the song. This is one of a number of directives aimed at stamping out sectarianism yet to this day most have failed at stopping the song being sung.
Background
The term 'Billy Boys' is usually assumed to refer to "Billy Fullerton" (the gang leader of the Brigton Boys), but has its origins in the 1920s, as the signature tune of a Protestant street gang led by Fullerton during a time of upsurge in gang membership and violent crime in Glasgow. The "Billy Boys" often had fights with
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
gangs such as the "Norman Conks". Fullerton was a former member of the
British FascistsThe British Fascists were the first avowedly fascist organisation in the United Kingdom. William Joyce, Neil Francis Hawkins and Arnold Leese were amongst those to have passed through the movement as members and activists.-Early years:...
, and was awarded a medal for strike-breaking during the 1926 General Strike.
The song's geographic roots relate to Bridgeton Cross in
BridgetonBridgeton is a district to the east side of Glasgow city centre. It is bounded by Glasgow Green to the west, Dalmarnock to the east and south and Calton to the north-west at Abercromby Street/ London Road...
, an area of Glasgow historically associated with the city's Protestant population, and with Scottish unionism.
Brigton is the
ScotsScots or Lowland Scots is the variety of Germanic language traditionally spoken in lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster. It is not to be confused with Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language varieties traditionally spoken in the Highlands and Hebrides....
form of Bridgeton.
FenianThe Fenians, both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish nationalist...
in the context of this song is understood by some to refer to Irish republicans, and by others to all Irish Roman Catholics—the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
website describes it as an "anti-Roman Catholic song". The highly controversial song remains popular among loyalists today particularly with some supporters of Rangers.
Billy Boys is the title of a book on the history of Orangeism in Scotland. It is also the title of a painting by
Jack VettrianoJack Vettriano
OBE born Jack Hoggan , is a Scottish painter.-Early life:Jack Vettriano grew up in the industrial seaside town of Methil, Fife. He left school at 16 and later became an apprentice mining engineer...
, although in this case the painting has no obvious connection with the song or loyalism.
Lyric
- Hullo, Hullo
- We are the Billy Boys
- Hullo, Hullo
- You'll know us by our noise
- We're up to our knees in fenian blood
- Surrender or you'll die
- For we are
- The Brigton Derry Boys
In the final line the word "Brigton" is often substituted for the name of the singer's hometown/estate. Example, "Govan Derry Boys"
Alternative versions
The song is used with slightly different lyrics in other football grounds in the United Kingdom, often without associating its lyrics with sectarianism. At Tottenham Hotspur, for example, the song is often sung making reference to
ArsenalArsenal Football Club are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London...
or other London clubs. At some other clubs like Chelsea FC, however, the song is sung (with altered lyrics) as a form of support for or conviviality with Rangers FC.