Rugby World Cup national anthems replaced after ‘surprising’ kids choir versions did not work

New versions of the national anthems will be played at Rugby World Cup matches this weekend following a backlash from supporters after the opening games of the tournament.

Recordings of children’s choirs singing a cappella were used for the first eight games of the tournament last weekend, with fans criticising the lack of atmosphere generated.

Addressing the negative response to how the anthems had been performed, Jacques Rivoal, the France 2023 chairman, confirmed on Tuesday that new versions were being worked on.

“Today we have proposed new simplified versions while preserving the children’s voices,” Rivoal said. “These different versions will not have the way of singing which left spectators taken aback, and will offer a musical performance that is more affirmed.”

New versions of the anthems are now being sent to each team to be approved before the next wave of matches begin on Thursday, starting with France’s game against Uruguay in Lille.

Michel Pousseau, the tournament director, added that the committee recognised that the original concept “has not worked as well as we hoped”, with the new version “combining the best of” both the children’s performances and more traditional anthems.

Rivoal noted that the initiative had been the responsibility of the former tournament director Claude Atcher, who was sacked from his role late last year after fostering a ‘climate of terror’ within the tournament’s organising committee. Rivoal admitted that the initial proposal was “very ambitious”.

A total of 7000 children were involved in the project, with the children who took part attending matches over the opening weekend.

Describing feedback from fans to the anthems as “surprised” and “taken aback”, given they were used to different versions, Rivoal added that the France 2023 committee were there to prioritise fan experience and “concerned by the negative feedback”.

The committee also addressed other issues which arose across the opening weekend, which saw a record number of fans on the ground in France for the start of a World Cup along with a huge domestic TV audience for France’s opening game against New Zealand of more than 15 million. “Everything was not perfect,” admitted Pousseau.

Regarding long queues for beer at matches, Pousseau stressed that there was no shortage of beer, with the director general Julien Collette adding that because 50,000 beers had been consumed for the Top 14 semifinal in Marseille last season, organisers allocated 80,000 for the weekend’s Rugby World Cup matches.

The issues instead stemmed from keeping the supply cold enough to serve during the heatwave in France over the weekend. “The barrels were difficult to refrigerate,” Collette added. “We didn’t have supply problems so much as refrigeration problems. We are working intensively with [official beer supplier] Asahi to improve refrigeration and service.”

Rivoal also apologised to England and Argentina supporters who missed the kickoff in Marseille due to issues accessing the stadium. “It was our responsibility. We are looking to redeploy some volunteers to facilitate the fans’ trip to the stadiums, which is what we did in Marseille as soon as Sunday [for South Africa against Scotland],” said Rivoal.

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