The renditions of the national anthems on the opening weekend of the Rugby World Cup have attracted widespread criticism, but the Guardian understands organisers have no plans to change the arrangements sung by children’s choirs.
La Marseillaise at Stade de France before France’s showdown against the All Blacks, in the first match of the seven-week tournament last Friday night, was a distinctly confused affair in which the home nation’s players appeared to be badly out of sync – and even out of tune – with the schoolchildren singing along with them in the stadium in Saint-Denis.
That may have been put down to teething problems on opening night, or perhaps even the disorienting effect of the intense late summer heatwave, with the Paris temperature peaking at around 35C last Friday. But at seven further matches over the weekend, recorded children’s choirs accompanied the singing of each country’s anthem, only to be met with an almost universally hostile response from TV viewers. Many of them posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) to express their disapproval, with various users calling the anthems “dreadful”, “a mess”, “shocking” and “awful”.
The anthems are part of a project that involves no fewer than 7,000 children from diverse backgrounds, called La Mêlée des Chœurs, an initiative by Rugby World Cup 2023 involving the ministry of national education, the Opera Comique and the French ministry of culture.
Tournament organisers said the children “will learn how to sing the anthems of all 20 countries participating in the tournament” and, guided by 300 teachers, “they also will be able to discover the culture, history and language of each of these countries”. While the aims of the project are clearly laudable, the end result has not been well received by millions of fans watching on TV around the world.
Brian O’Driscoll, the former Ireland and British & Irish Lions captain who is working as a pundit for ITV, said on the Off The Ball podcast: “The anthems have been terrible haven’t they? The two big anthems, if we’re honest, are La Marseillaise and the Italian anthem. Both of them feel as though they’ve been butchered.
“There’s no opportunity for everyone to properly get in behind them. There’s choirs, there’s kids singing them, and I know that was part of the concept beforehand, but it’s not working. “I think it’s taking a little bit of the shine off what’s meant to be a momentous atmosphere builder … the timing’s off. Where’s the bands, where’s the music? Where’s the opportunity for the crowds to weigh in?”
The pop singer Mika is the official ambassador of La Mêlée des Chœurs, and has said he is scheduled to be in Paris for the closing ceremony at Stade de France on 28 October – presumably along with 7,000 fellow singers.
The host nation France, meanwhile, will continue the quest for their first Webb Ellis Cup on Thursday against Uruguay in Lille, hopefully this time as in tune with the anthem as they are as a team on the pitch.
