After a season that saw Wigan Athletic win League One with
a young, hungry squad playing brilliant football, it wasn’t likely to get any
better as we all settled into our summer break. It just has.
‘Will Grigg’s on Fire’ a ‘remix’ of the Gala dance classic ‘Freed From Desire’ apparently spread like wildfire after the Swindon game in March.
The song inspired fan Sean Kennedy to, quite randomly (and brilliantly!) film
himself singing the song and posting it online. Many ‘likes’ and ‘retweets’
later, a good portion of the Latics fanbase were organised enough to belt it
out en masse. Following the team’s great form and Grigg scoring goal after goal,
the song became a viral hit and captured the imaginations of many people online,
with Sean himself doing interviews with Sky Sports News (and getting a free
season ticket for next season, as well as helping the club to promote the new kit!) The whole craze seemed to start to go viral just hours after we lifted the
League One trophy, after the final home game of the season against Barnsley, as
a crowd of Latics fans brought Wigan to a standstill (well, at least one bus)
as they sang and bounced around to it in the street!
The last month has seen many parody videos – depicting scenes
from popular television shows mainly, overlaid with the audio of Latics fans
singing the song – continuing to grow in popularity, gaining well over half a million
hits. House music duo Blonde, who have had two top 10 hits in the last two years, were
just two of the many people caught up in ‘Will Grigg Mania’ and arranged with
Sean and Latics Chairman, David Sharpe, to produce a version of the song, with
the famous chorus, along with new lyrics and release it for Joseph’s Goal, a charity
that has been heavily-related with the club in the past (who could forget that
moment when Emmerson Boyce carried mascot Joe out, prior to the FA Cup Final?)
Joseph's Goal is a
charity set up to increase awareness of NKH (Non-Ketotic Hyperglycinemia) and
to raise funds for research to find better treatments and eventually a cure. We
are supporting Dr Johan Van Hove at the University of Colorado, who is the
world leader in researching this condition. Because it is so rare and so little
research has been done, literally every penny raised can and will make a
difference. – Joseph’s Goal
Aside from raising money for a great cause, it’ll actually
be quite an achievement to get the song in the top 40 and played on BBC radio 1’s
official chart show on Sunday – let’s make it happen! I’ve had it on good authority
that the teenagers rate it as a ‘banging tune’. Whatever that means, I’m sure it’s
positive. Well worth 79p of anyone's money.
At the moment you can purchase the song from the following
retailers;
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