As they say in France: ils en ont fait tout un fromage. The first great outrage of the Rugby World Cup turned out to be not some hotly disputed try, nor a game-changing red card issued from the TMO bunker, but the singing of the national anthems. These were, depending on which former player you asked, “terrible” (Brian O’Driscoll), “butchered” (Andy Goode), and “a shambles” (Rob Kearney). Such was the ire they aroused from fans in the stadiums that one week into the tournament they have been ditched, consigned to the graveyard of failed musical experiments where they will quietly return to dust alongside Kiss’s orchestral concept album and Elton John’s disco phase.
Let’s be clear: this wasn’t the kids’ fault. There was nothing musically suspect about the voices of the young children who made up the various cappella choirs that provided the backing tracks. La Marsellaise, while an absolute banger, is a marching tune that demands a loud and discernible downbeat, especially if you’re going to keep 80,000 voices singing along in time. A vocal ensemble of prepubescents also, by nature, lacks the deep resonant bass that provides a necessary melodic anchor, which is why Joe Marler struggled, so very audibly, to stay in key during England’s pre-match routine against Argentina.
