Eurovision Betting Odds - Iceland & Ireland

Time for another morning blast of Eurovision Song Contest 2006 betting odds, and we're almost at the middle of the alphabet. 16 down, 21 to go!

This year, the Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Athens, and it's going to be presented by Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas, basically the Greek Will & Grace. And say that with the greatest authority after looking at a single photo of them for about a millisecond.

Here are the Eurovision betting odds for Iceland and Ireland…

Iceland - (pop. 293,291, a borderless country in the north Atlantic) - Silvia Night, Til Hamingju Ísland. Now, it's a deeply stereotypical, and fairly offensive, thing to say that all Icelandic people are nutters. But, really, Iceland isn't doing itself any favours by being represented by Silvia Knight. She's a heavily made-up whirlwind of glitter and sparkles and she's got the best lyrics for any song in all of Eurovision. Til Hamingju Ísland (Congratulations) contains lines like "My song’s totally cool no yesterday’s news/ Really hot okay, really not too gay," and - genuinely - a telephone conversation with God where the Almighty tells Silvia that he wants her to win Eurovision. For us, this is up there with the Terrifying Finnish entry for solid gold quality. Current Eurovision betting odds - 33/1

Ireland (pop. approx 5.7 million; the third larhest island in Europe) - Brian Kennedy, Every Song Is A Cry For Love. When it comes to Eurovision, Ireland is a byword for bland, stupid countrified nonsense. Remember Donna and Joseph McCaul from last year? Thought not. This year, Brian Kennedy is going for gold. He was discovered by Van Morrison, and he sang at George Best's funeral. Thank God he didn't sing Every Song Is A Cry For Love at the funeral; it's so bad that the audience would have all tried to hide in the coffin to get away from all that turgid bad noise. Current Eurovision betting odds - 33/1

We’ll be listing all the other Eurovision entries in the run-up to the contest. If you can’t wait, check out the Novelties section of Paddypower to see all the latest Eurovision betting odds. Don't forget that Paddypower give you a free £10 bet when you open an account with them. Good luck!

[story by Stuart Heritage]