Battle of the worst anthems

[Toko_11]

Englands anthem is called god save the queen ??? no offense but... QUEEN ?? what about people.... Im not going to continue about that i might say something that will offend people....
Georgian anthem has to be the most motivating anthem there is although no one understands it cause its in Georgian...
Dideba Tavisuplebaaaas
Tavisuplebaaas Dideeebaa!
well besides Georgian i like Scottish and french anthems... especially when Scots use bagpipes

 

[ckell]

I'm not the biggest fan of Ireland's Call , I wish we were actually allowed to play our national team but of course we can't do that as it wouldn't be politically correct given the Northern Irish squad members... As for the best anthem: Either Russia, Italy, France, Wales or USA.

 

[j'nuh]

I'm not the biggest fan of Ireland's Call , I wish we were actually allowed to play our national team but of course we can't do that as it wouldn't be politically correct given the Northern Irish squad members... As for the best anthem: Either Russia, Italy, France, Wales or USA.

I really like the Star-Spangled Banner, I just find it really awkward to see some people/players stand facing the flag. I know it's somewhat traditional, but it feels way too political for a sport.

 

[CDN_Rugby]

no offense but... QUEEN ?? what about people....

What about the people? In countries like the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand we don't have an elected head of state so it would make little sense to say "god save the people" I guess Georgia is a republic, but none of the above countries are.

The monarchy though, she be a fine institution.

 

[Toko_11]

What about the people? In countries like the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand we don't have an elected head of state so it would make little sense to say "god save the people" I guess Georgia is a republic, but none of the above countries are.

The monarchy though, she be a fine institution.

well i just don't see how can that motivate you...

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

One thing I love about listening to the SA anthem in the rugby stadia is it becomes kind of a remix

Always pitching at Afrika for the first two verses, with ose booloooooke oooooohh, and mumbling in general.
Then it hits the Afrikaans part, and you would swear the amount of people in the stadium just quadrupled.

Funny stuff watching Afrikaans/ English people trying to speak any form of Zulu or other local languages, brings a smile to ones face.

I wonder if any New Zealanders have similar problems with the non-english* parts of their anthem?


* No malice intended, I just don't know the correct name for every different language in the world, before some hot-head starts calling me an ignorant, STUPID ***S, etc...

I actually learned the Xhosa, Sotho and Zulu parts from guys I worked with. It was during the 2008 Spring Tour, when we were watching and they helped me understand what the anthem means and how to pronounce it. Actually quite cool. I think I would do a better job than Ard Matthews

 

[Nicolaas]

I must say SA anthem suck ... that anthem doesn't motivate you like the previous 3 i mentioned... instead it makes you sleepy

the inevitable...poor kid.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

surprised not many mentions of the Nz one, not really a fan. It just seems really hard for people singing it to hit a good pace. I also dnt think it has been helped by no one singing it when it is played, even a poor song can sound good when 60,000 people are belting it out!

 

[bluealess]

I don't have a favourite anthem, I like many of them, but especially : Flower of Scotland, Nkosi Sikelel'i Africa, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau and the Romanian anthem. Obviously fan of Italian and French anthems...

Don't like the first part of the Argentinian anthem, but the second one is much better.

I think Italian fans could sing "Va Pensiero" (considered in Italy as a patriotic song), this is very powerful!

 

[Peat]

Which is exactly what that video is...

There is no connection beyond the similarities between the Empire and England.

That, and stealing other people's stuff and turning into a bedrock of our national culture is as English as curry and lager.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

i know all the words in all the languages to SA, NZ and Aus which is an indication of the type of sad trinations rugby tragic I am...

at least I have a new challenge now.... argentina's anthem

 

[Tricia McMillan]

i know all the words in all the languages to SA, NZ and Aus which is an indication of the type of sad trinations rugby tragic I am...

I wouldn't feel too bad about it. I happen to know all three of them (though one is my own country as well), because it's a bit of a hobby of mine to learn the melody and words to various national anthems. Here's the list of the ones I know:

New Zealand (obviously)
Australia
United States
Canada
South Africa (struggle with some of the Xhosa/Zulu/Sesotho words sometimes)
Russia (melody only)
Spain (no official words)
United Kingdom
Liechtenstein
Norway
Sweden
Finland
France
Germany
Austria
Japan
Denmark (melody only)

There are others I want to learn; I'm debating with myself at the moment whether to bother to learn the words to the Russian one or not. It's generally difficult for me to learn the words to anthems in a language I'm not at least familiar with (I'm familiar with English, French, German, Swedish, and Afrikaans well enough, the Finnish one I just had to brute-force memorize syllable by syllable without making much sense of it).

 

[Black Heart]

Obviously I love God Defend New Zealand and I've always liked Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika anf Flower of Scotland.

My personal non-favourite has to be God Save the Queen. Was there no other song in the whole of England any less dreary that could have been chosen for a national anthem? Even Swing Low barely makes the mark.

 

[Black Heart]

One thing I love about listening to the SA anthem in the rugby stadia is it becomes kind of a remix

Always pitching at Afrika for the first two verses, with ose booloooooke oooooohh, and mumbling in general.
Then it hits the Afrikaans part, and you would swear the amount of people in the stadium just quadrupled.

Funny stuff watching Afrikaans/ English people trying to speak any form of Zulu or other local languages, brings a smile to ones face.

I wonder if any New Zealanders have similar problems with the non-english* parts of their anthem?


* No malice intended, I just don't know the correct name for every different language in the world, before some hot-head starts calling me an ignorant, STUPID ***S, etc...

Some people do. I don't know why because Maori is like Japanese. It's one of the easiest languages to learn.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

yeah don't get your tane's and wahine's mixed up.... things could get messy

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Have to practise the NZ and OZ anthems a bit still. I do know the Welsh, English, French, German, Dutch, Argentinian and Uruguayan anthems

 

[Tricia McMillan]

Some people do. I don't know why because Maori is like Japanese. It's one of the easiest languages to learn.

Indeed. What I find interesting about Maori is its lack of consonant clusters. Written in the Roman alphabet, there's the "wh" and "ng" sound, but those are really consonants of their own rather than clusters.

 

[cardassian]

Don't really like our anthem.
Is so badly sung and nobody in the team or crowd sing along with it.
We should can it and just do a haka instead (which both the team and crowd get into).

 

[Black Heart]

Indeed. What I find interesting about Maori is its lack of consonant clusters. Written in the Roman alphabet, there's the "wh" and "ng" sound, but those are really consonants of their own rather than clusters.

Yeah, all Maori words are broken up into syllables of vowels. Even a long word like Tumatauenga is easy to say because you just break it up into 'Tu-ma-tau-e-nga'

 

[Black Heart]

Don't really like our anthem.
Is so badly sung and nobody in the team or crowd sing along with it.
We should can it and just do a haka instead (which both the team and crowd get into).

In most examples it is because it's sung at such a low tempo. If it's sung up-tempo it's beautiful: