Ahead of Euro 2024, Sports Mole takes a look back at how Northern Ireland forward Will Grigg became a household name back at Euro 2016.
After a painful 30 years in the wilderness of international football, Northern Ireland finally got their moment in the spotlight, as they booked a spot at the 2016 European Championship by topping their qualifying group.
A nation that had never qualified for a European Championship before saw their players – alongside manager Michael O’Neill – launched into unprecedented levels of fame. But there was one Northern Irishman in particular enjoying the sort of moment in the sun not seen since Gerry Armstrong slew Spain in 1982. His name was Will Grigg.
The strangest thing was that Grigg had never even stepped foot on the pitch during the qualifiers. However, he was undeniably famous in League One, after leading the line for Wigan to deadly effect in 2015-16, during which he netted 28 goals in 43 appearances for the Latics.
A personal chant inevitably followed, with “Will Grigg’s on Fire, your defence is terrified, cos Will Grigg’s on fire”, sung to the tune of Gala’s single ‘Freed From Desire’ by Wigan fans after yet another strike. Whoever was the first to utter those creative chords unwittingly set in motion a mania that would thrust a small nation with a population of just 2m into newfound stardom.
A classic underdog story
Upon its UK release in July 1997, ‘Freed From Desire’ peaked at #2. It spent eight weeks inside the top-10, despite being in direct competition with several world-renowned Britpop bands in the prime of their lives. Thus, it seems fitting that Gala’s greatest hit should gain prominence in much the same way it would 19 years later, associated with an underdog spirit that embodied a determination to disrupt the big names at the pinnacle of their industry.
Certainly, nobody outside the country itself genuinely expected Northern Ireland to qualify for Euro 2016, given their long history away from international tournaments. But against all odds, they only lost once (to Romania) and ended up nine points clear. Grigg’s name was now sung throughout Northern Ireland, and though he was unused during the finals in France, his cult-hero status as someone key to reviving Northern Irish football’s profile survives to this day.
A newfound sense of purpose radiates
As a knock-on effect, others were more fortunate than Grigg and got to take on Europe’s finest. Stuart Dallas, for instance, was a solid fixture after coming on at half-time in their opening 1-0 defeat to Poland at Euro 2016. He went on to then assist a winner against Ukraine that sealed progression – and seemingly acted as a catalyst for club-level exploits, which saw him grace the Premier League with Leeds United in 2020.
Elsewhere on the field, ex-West Bromwich Albion man Gareth McAuley reinvented himself as a towering figure at set-pieces. When in France, McAuley scored Northern Ireland’s first-ever goal at a European Championships, and put them in control of their eventual victory against Ukraine. That rich form bled into the following season, as he netted six goals for West Brom in 2016-17.
The legacy left by ‘Will Grigg’s on fire’
Grigg has only amassed a further five caps for Northern Ireland since Euro 2016, failing to score in any of those matches. In truth ‘his day’ has come and gone, but the embers of his aforementioned cult status are still burning for now. Indeed, his later prominence in the Netflix series Sunderland ‘Til I Die, as the focal point of a transfer deadline day-focal episode also kept this curious fad’s momentum going into the new decade.
After becoming part of the post-match celebrations in England Women’s Euro 2022 triumph over Germany at Wembley, ‘Freed From Desire’ was also played there only last month, in the emotional moments after Southampton sealed a return to the Premier League via the Championship playoffs. And while Grigg himself had no part of that battle, one can only question whether the song would still have been played without the goal splurge that had revived its stardom nearly a decade ago.