{"id":92910,"date":"2023-09-13T08:34:39","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T08:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/?p=92910"},"modified":"2023-09-13T08:34:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T08:34:39","slug":"scrap-rugby-world-cup-choirs-for-our-rousing-national-anthems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/rugby\/scrap-rugby-world-cup-choirs-for-our-rousing-national-anthems\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrap Rugby World Cup choirs for our rousing national anthems"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Scrap Rugby World Cup choirs for our rousing national anthems&#8230; and let&#8217;s see a Scottish haka! Singing school kids was a nice idea but they can&#8217;t do justice to France&#8217;s bloodthirsty Marseillaise<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>National anthems at the Rugby World Cup have been sung by school choirs<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>While a noble idea, the decision has stripped away the passion of the anthems<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The lyrics are often violent and rousing, making them perfect for fans to sing\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You don&#8217;t have to be much of a linguist to work out the French national anthem is a rumbustious ditty.<\/p>\n<p>In fact it&#8217;s as bloody a song as you could want, <span>La Marseillaise<\/span>, ending with the fervent desire of the French to sluice their fields with the impure blood of their enemies.<\/p>\n<p>The rousing climax consists of MARCHONS, MARCHONS (LET&#8217;S MARCH, LET&#8217;S MARCH, sung at volume 11 and in capitals, of course) before silencing the roar of the savage soldats who threaten them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Brutal stuff that has lifted the atmosphere, the pulse and the spirits of anybody who loves rugby as the prelude to every France international.<\/p>\n<p>For this year&#8217;s Rugby World Cup, not so much, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/08\/75371487-12512439-image-a-16_1694591026038.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The French team line up for their stirring anthem La Marseillaise ahead of their Rugby World Cup opener against New Zealand &#8211; but the pre-match ritual has been ruined by school choirs<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/08\/75371255-12512439-image-a-17_1694591063343.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Instead of the players and fans standing in unison to belt out their national anthems, the pre-recorded clips of schoolkids singing them dominates<\/p>\n<p>At some unknown decision-making point, the organisers of this mighty occasion thought it would be a good idea to remix all the anthems with an <span>a capella<\/span> Parisian school choir. Wholly commendable, I am sure, but maybe time for a rethink.<\/p>\n<p>You try singing La Marseillaise in time to some close-knit treble harmonies. Or <span>God Save The King<\/span> for that matter. Or the great Welsh anthem where GWLAD\u2026 GWLAD (again sung in capitals) sounds a little odd sung by youngsters who wouldn&#8217;t be allowed anywhere near the 14 or so pints most Wales fans will have poured down themselves by this point.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the hard-working kids at the choir school I feel sorry for.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Instead of spending the summer shoving their pencils into a baguette (or whatever it is French school kids do to get on their teachers&#8217; nerves), they have had to learn the anthems, some quite tricky, of 20 countries around the world before giving it their all in performances which might work for a John Lewis Christmas ad as some bug-eyed monster contemplates a snowy waste, but isn&#8217;t so effective for 65,000 rugby fans anxious to give it some welly.<\/p>\n<p>For some, the arrival of the anthems signals a moment to slip into the kitchen to uncork a bottle of rose. I am not one of those.\u00a0I love them, even the UK&#8217;s slightly dreary anthem.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a strange disjunction between the charm of the school choir and the savagery of most of the lyrics (not the UK&#8217;s of course).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/08\/75371249-12512439-image-a-18_1694591130861.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>French supporters get into the spirit at the Stade de France ahead of their opener<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/08\/75371253-12512439-image-a-19_1694591171467.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Scotland&#8217;s players sing their national anthem ahead of Sunday&#8217;s game against South Africa<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/08\/75371257-12512439-image-a-20_1694591194078.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Lewis Ludlam, Ben Earl and Joe Marler of England sing God Save the King &#8211; but fans and pundits alike have complained it&#8217;s difficult to sing along to the choir versions<\/p>\n<p>Even the Scots want to smash up King Edward&#8217;s army and send his soldiers back across the border tae think again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Italians announce, &#8216;We are ready to die, Italy has called&#8217;). It doesn&#8217;t sound quite right in the hands of the lower fifth.<\/p>\n<p>Oddly New Zealand&#8217;s anthem, God Defend New Zealand, has very pacific lyrics, requesting the deity to defend their homeland from dissension, envy and hate. That doesn&#8217;t sound too bad in the hands of the kids. The haka is different, though.<\/p>\n<p>Handily, for the opening match against France, the Kiwi scrum-half Aaron Smith had brought along what looked like a canoe paddle, though it might have been a spear I suppose, to help him with the haka.<\/p>\n<p>Quite why the All Blacks are allowed to intimidate opposition teams, who have to stand around watching it and looking a bit wet, is beyond me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Maybe all countries should have a war dance for rugby matches. I would certainly like to see the Scottish one.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/13\/08\/75371609-12512439-image-a-21_1694591286625.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Aaron Smith of New Zealand introduced a paddle to their famous pre-match haka<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12512439\/Scrap-Rugby-World-Cup-choirs-rousing-national-anthems-lets-Scottish-haka-Singing-school-kids-nice-idea-justice-Frances-bloodthirsty-Marseillaise.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scrap Rugby World Cup choirs for our rousing national anthems&#8230; and let&#8217;s see a Scottish haka! Singing school kids was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Scrap Rugby World Cup choirs for our rousing national anthems - stopsmokingway<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/rugby\/scrap-rugby-world-cup-choirs-for-our-rousing-national-anthems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scrap Rugby World Cup choirs for our rousing national anthems - stopsmokingway\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scrap Rugby World Cup choirs for our rousing national anthems&#8230; and let&#8217;s see a Scottish haka! 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