The English Football Association have agreed to Welsh demands for the Welsh anthem to be sung before the FA Cup Final between Portsmouth and Cardiff City.

BBC: Soprano Katherine Jenkins will become the first person to sing the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, at an FA Cup final on 17 May.

There are no plans to play an English anthem. You may like to ask the FA why.

The Famagusta Gazette:

A St George’s Day celebration in London is making a stand by omitting the national anthem.

A concert at the Barbican Theatre in London will instead finish with what they think should be the English national anthem - “Jerusalem”.

The British hymn, which is based on a short poem by William Blake, is considered by many to be England’s most patriotic song.

Mark Perryman, the author of the book, Imagined Nation: England After Britain, says he thinks it’s a suitable choice.

“It’s sung by the England rugby team, it’s sung by the Women’s Institute, it’s sung by the Conservative party…the Labour party [sing it] at their conference, it’s got a universal appeal,” he said.

GIVE FANS CHANCE TO VOTE FOR ENGLISH ANTHEM FOR THIS YEAR’S RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP - MULHOLLAND

Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West and Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Rugby League is calling for the England Rugby League team to use an English national anthem at this year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia in autumn.

Greg has written to the Chief Executive of the Rugby Football League, Richard Lewis, saying that rugby league, as a progressive sport, should lead the way on this issue and stop the situation where England teams use the British national anthem, which is particularly strange and inappropriate when England are playing the other ‘home nations’.

Greg has also suggesting that fans could be given the chance to vote for an anthem for the England team, this could be done by way of an online poll on the Rugby Football League website.

Commenting on the proposal Greg said:

“When England is competing separately from the other home nations, it is quite wrong to use the British National Anthem. The Scotland and Wales teams will fly out to Australia with their own anthems and England needs one too.”

“I am very excited about the Rugby League World Cup in October and as an Englishman, I want the England rugby league team to head off to Australia ready to sing an England national anthem. I look forward to them doing very well out there and doing England proud.”

ENDS

To support Greg’s initiative please write to the RFL in support of the plan to give the fans a say:

Richard Lewis
Chief Executive
Rugby Football League
Red Hall
Red Hall Lane
Leeds
LS17 8NB

The full letter is available in the forum.

In the Spectator’s St George’s Day special George Bridges asks should ‘Jerusalem’ be Engerlund’s anthem?

No. ‘Jerusalem’ is not a hymn for England, still less the Little Englanders…

Yes, I can well understand why the English feel taken for granted, and that the McMafia are taking the mickey. But an English national anthem will not help. We already have a national anthem — one that celebrates the monarchy, one of the few institutions that still binds us together as a nation. Yes, it is official in so far as we call it our ‘national anthem’, but there’s no law that enshrines its status. It’s part of the wonderful jumble of unwritten customs and traditions that make our constitution. Give England an official anthem, recognised by Parliament, and before long we will begin to unstitch another seam of our not-so-green and pleasant land. You can be English and you can be angry. But if we surrender ‘Jerusalem’ to the Little Englanders, those who believe in the United Kingdom would truly cease from mental fight.

The Welsh Sports Minister, Rhodri Glyn Thomas (Plaid Cymru), wants “common sense” to prevail so that the Welsh national anthem can be played alongside God Save The Queen when Cardiff City play in the FA Cup final.

In the absence of an English Sports Minister to call for an English anthem, common sense comes in the form of Cardiff City supporter Gwyn Davies:

“There’s no prouder Welshman than me but this is not the time and the place.

“It’s not Wales v England, it’s two teams in the English FA Cup final”.

Presumably both sets of fans will join together in singing Abide with Me.

Wayne Rooney has been criticised by Bob Peedle, Vice Chairman for Royal Society of St George, for not singing the British national anthem:

“The England footballer does not show the patriotism that I see from other players.

“I can only assume that he does not know the words to the anthem and is just not prepared to learn them.

“He just stands there stern faced. He sticks-out like a saw thumb and he is setting a bad example to the young people who idolise him.

“In America, every morning in school assembly they stand with the hand on their hearts and sing their anthem, The Star Spangled Banner.

“It is about time we started doing that in this country and then people like Wayne Rooney would know the anthem as second nature.

“I imagine Rooney has never been taught the words and does not know their significance.

“He can’t be embarrassed about his singing voice. He could take a leaf out of the book of the England Rugby team who really sing the anthem with a passion.

“He should learn the anthem and not just because he represents English football but because it is the duty of every Englishman to sing the anthem.

“I’d like to see him know the word of God Save The Queen by St George’s day and I would be very happy to teach him.”

Meanwhile the Dean of Southwark Cathederal has banned the hymn Jerusalem for being ‘too nationalistic’. If Wayne Rooney and the lads sang it instead of remaining silent during God Save the Queen I might well agree.

Astonishingly the Telegraph informs us that Jerusalem is the favourite hymn of Gordon Brown.

It may have been a dismal performance overall but England finally showed some flair against Ireland, and what a prospect Danny Cipriani looks!

As you may be aware the Prime Minister’s office has stated that ‘the choice of anthem at sporting events is entirely a matter for the sport concerned’. In other words the UK Government does not want to get involved with a debate over an English anthem.

As Alfie points out Jerusalem was sung before the match at the Rugby League Grand Final between Leeds Rhinos and St Helens in October.

Today Alfie has written to the Rugby Football League to request that Jerusalem is played as the English anthem at the Rugby League World Cup 2008 in Australia.

If you would like to write in support of a particular anthem you can contact the RFL at here.

Alfie managed to ask James Purnell, Culture Secretary for England, the following question:

‘Can you ask Mr Purnell when England is going to be allowed her own National Anthem?
God Save the Queen is not the English Anthem, it is the British one - England doesn’t have one and it’s about time we did. I suggest ‘Jerusalem’.

Scotland and Wales have their own anthems - and it is plainly bizarre to hear the Welsh and the Scots booing ‘God Save the Queen’ as the anthems are played prior to England playing them in the 6 nations tournament.

Mr Purnell is the culture secretary for England - he should start to champion our country by promoting our culture. Our own unique national anthem would be a start’.

You can read his pathetic reply here.

Writing in the Sunday Times Jeremy Clarkson muses over the state of the nation:

I looked at our players mumbling their way through the national anthem and realised they didn’t really care about playing for England. Because they don’t really know what England is. And truth be told, neither do I….

This is the only country in the world where the national flag is deemed offensive. Small wonder the England players were disinclined to sing the national anthem with any gusto. It’s in English and that’s offensive too.

Six months after our petition ended the Prime Minister’s Office has finally got around to responding.

You signed a petition asking the Prime Minister to “initiate a Parliamentary debate on the adoption of a national anthem for England that is distinct from the British national anthem.”

The Prime Minister’s Office has responded to that petition and you can view it here:

http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page13766.asp

There are currently no plans to introduce an official English anthem, but the Government recognises that the constituent parts of the United Kingdom may quite properly have national songs for which they have a particular attachment. However, the choice of anthem at sporting events is entirely a matter for the sport concerned. The English Cricket Board, for instance, made the decision to play ‘Jerusalem’ when the team took the field. Any such suggestions are best addressed to the relevant sport’s governing body.

So that, we must take it, is the official position of the United Kingdom Government. We will have to adopt another strategy in order to further the anthem4england campaign.

However, it is not inconceivable that the UK Government might be embarrassed into discussing the issue of an English national anthem in the wake of a debate initiated by the SNP administration up in Scotland. In opposition the SNP frequently raised the matter. Possibly this was a way of grabbing headlines, we shall have to wait and see whether in government they have the stomach to take on such a contentious subject.

In other news Radio Four’s Questions Questions broadcast a heavily truncated interview with Stuart Parr in which Stuart mentioned anthem4england. Our thanks to Stuart for his efforts, and our commiserations that they only played a brief snippet of the interview. I can sympathise because I was interviewed for half an hour by BBC Radio Lincolnshire back in March and only five minutes of the interview actually made it onto the radio.