Gala’s 1996 song has gone from forgotten rave classic to football terrace anthem – and was even used to protest against Rishi Sunak. The song’s creator and fans explain an unlikely revival

Gala’s jubilant pop-dance banger Freed from Desire was a massive hit across Europe in the peak stadium-rave summer of 1996. But the story of the track was only just beginning. More than a decade later, it would become one of those rare pop songs to transcend its origins. Beginning a new life at Wigan Athletic football club in 2016 and going international via its adoption by Northern Ireland fans at the European Championships that year, it would become ubiquitous: an anthem for football fans the world over. Tune into any game of Euro 2024 this month and you’re likely to hear the song’s inescapably catchy “Na na na na na … ” chorus, accompanied by crowds gleefully leaping up and down. Freed from Desire has crossed over into other sports and into political demonstrations, too. But how did it happen?

Gala Rizzatto (Freed from Desire singer and co-writer) When I wrote Freed from Desire, I was living in New York. I was studying photography, which is how I got into music because I was photographing dancers, musicians and DJs. It’s a very personal song. Three things aligned. First, observation of society: in Italy and in Europe, you have a feeling growing up that we’re more or less all the same. But when you come to New York there are drastic differences: there is poverty, there are people who have nothing. And around the corner, there’s a billionaire. Second, my story of reconnecting with my passion, because in Italy, doctors told me that I could not dance because of a back problem so I could not follow my dreams. And the third level was falling in love. My first love was an African dancer, from Senegal. This guy arrives from Africa wanting to dance, living with no money in Harlem. And Harlem had music, they had dance, they had community. And all these three came together in a song that, to me, represents resilience and alignment with your passion.

Teenager continues remarkable rise in an elite field at this weekend’s US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden

Five days after winning the Premier League Darts title by vanquishing world No 1 Luke Humphries with a sensational nine-dart finish before a mass of 14,000 roaring spectators inside London’s O₂ Arena, Luke Littler has found himself up against a far less forgiving opponent on Tuesday afternoon: Manhattan’s snarling rush-hour traffic.

An all-day media spree pinballing around New York City to promote this weekend’s US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden has careened off the rails after the hired driver of Littler’s black Cadillac Escalade ESV went to the wrong location for a live in-studio appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour podcast, leaving the show’s genial host treading water on air. When he finally arrives at the Financial District offices nearly 40 minutes late, the 17-year-old sensation known as Luke the Nuke calmly slides into his chair on set while an entourage including his parents, girlfriend and best mate crowd into the green room to watch, all of them smarting from the same lesson every New York neophyte absorbs early on: the subway is always faster.

• Littler overwhelms world champion Humphries 11-7 in final
• Seventeen-year-old celebrates triumph with tear in the eye

We are now through the ­looking glass. We’re over the frontier. We’re not in Kansas any more, Toto. For a 17-year-old kid is now a major darts champion, and it feels totally inevitable, and it still makes ­absolutely no sense. Whatever Luke Littler goes on to achieve in this sport, somehow nothing will ever quite match the sheer tidal wave of shock and wonder he has inspired in his first six months as a professional, an ­explosion of ­talent and coolness and colour and attitude and ­showmanship that is, quite frankly, beyond comprehension.

Littler beat Luke Humphries 11-7 to claim the Premier League title, clinching victory courtesy of a ­stunning and irresistible surge after the interval that left the world champion and world No 1 gasping. Along the way Littler hit a nine-dart finish – 180, 180, 141 – that brought a crowd of 14,000 to the very brink of rapture. For a player of his tender years, he already instinctively grasps the first rule of big-time darts: give the people what they want.

• Final four compete for the £275,000 top prize in London
• Michael Smith seals Premier League darts playoff spot

Littler 3-1 Smith No nine-darter – he managed seven perfect darts before missing T19 – but more importantly he has broken Smith already. He pinged his bestie D10 to complete a 12-darter, and now Smith is effectively two breaks behind.

Littler is six darts into a nine on the Smith throw…