Watch: Fans hit out over ‘butchering’ of the Welsh national anthem

The playing of national anthems before games has been a contentious issue throughout the Rugby World Cup and it looks like it’s set to continue.

After demands that organisers axe the use of kids choirs ‘ruining anthems’, World Rugby agreed to use remixed versions of participants’ national anthems.

Now the playing of the Welsh national anthem has come in for some fierce criticism before the game against Georgia.

Many fans took to social media to complain that Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau was played at the wrong speed and was rushed, with others posting that the anthem had been butchered.

This is how it sounded:

MAE HEN WLAD FY NHADAU 🎶

Amdani bois! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 v 🇬🇪
📺 @S4C
💻 https://t.co/NZ3mbXJs0H#RWC2023 | @WelshRugbyUnion pic.twitter.com/Rn7211LDCc

— S4C Chwaraeon 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@S4Cchwaraeon) October 7, 2023

World Rugby had previously released a statement on the Rugby World Cup anthems change which read: “Following a review, Rugby World Cup 2023 can confirm enhancements have been agreed to the national anthems moving forward.

“The France 2023 Organising Committee, World Rugby and the French Ministry of Sport, in agreement with the Opéra-Comique and participating teams have agreed re-mixed versions of the national anthems, performed by the Mêlée des Choeurs, an educational and artistic project that involves more than 7,000 schoolchildren in the 2022-2023 school year. The re-mixed anthems will retain the recordings of the children’s voices while boosting the instrumental elements.

“We would also like to thank the teams for their full support and look forward to fans getting behind their teams as the anthems are played.”

However judging by the many comments on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) this issue is set to rumble on.

@rugbyworldcup please stop butchering the Welsh anthem, either don’t have the recorded singing or get someone who can sing it at the right speed..

— Hazcomp (@hazcomp2016) October 7, 2023

@WalesRugby @WRU_Community @rugbyworldcup @JiffyRugby @ScottQuinnell someone please have a word with whoever to sort the pace of our national anthem out! Its way too fast!

— Martin (@Martin_Knights) October 7, 2023

Blimey, the French band galloped through our anthem! Do they not know, we like to take our time and savour it? 🙄🙄 #WALvGEO

— Rachel Jones (@digitj29) October 7, 2023

Butchered anthem again, sort the dj out

— Chris Walters (@cw_barbershop) October 7, 2023

They're still playing the anthem at 78rpm then! #Wal #HWFN #WALvGEO #RWC2023

— Helen Parfitt (@HParf) October 7, 2023

RUINED OUR ANTHEM AGAIN! Sort the timing out #RugbyWorldCup #GeovWal

— Jeni🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@jinifon) October 7, 2023

The French continue to butcher every anthem at the @rugbyworldcup.

What did they just do to our beautiful anthem @WelshRugbyUnion?!

— Chris Hawkins (@ValleysDev) October 7, 2023

@WelshRugbyUnion Why doesn’t the Welsh Rugby Union ask the @rugbyworldcup to play the Welsh anthem at a slower speed. One of the greatest anthems in the world destroyed again! 😡

— Emma Jones (@Emmacaemelyn) October 7, 2023

Jesus Christ, when are they going to get the speed of the national anthem backing music right?! Do they do it to irritate us?! 😂😂#WALES #WALVGEO #rugbyworldcup2023#Wal

— Carly Rees (@carlywarlyrees) October 7, 2023