Wednesday 1 February 2023

I felt the knife in my hand.....

I am not a great admirer of the Welsh and their attitude to rugby, English rugby in particular, so one would think i would be delighted to hear that the Rugby Football union are trying to ban the singing of Delilah at the National Stadium, but I am not.

Is this Woke going mad? Already this week Black Boy Lane, in Tottenham, was renamed without any consultation with the residents of the street, or the neighbourhood surrounding it. The consensus is that had such a study been conducted there would have been an over riding swell of opinion to keep the name. It is and was part of the history of the area, and that history cannot be changed or eradicated by the removal of something a right wing London councillor thinks might upset somebody.

The history of why the street is so named is more important than erasing the name from public view.

So more on Delilah. I have been known to lead the singing of the song on the bus from Richmond to Twickenham many times, my last public rendition was at my mate Stu's 70th birthday just before Christmas, and I  have a sneaky feeling that I will get to sing it again, maybe with Welsh supporters at Twickenham.

They are a fickle bunch, rugby supporters, and the last thing they like is somebody telling them what they can and can't sing at rugby matches. You pay upwards of £130 per ticket and reserve the right to sing. 

The RFU tentatively tried to stop the crowd singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot, a nergo spiritualist song, it was still sung, so they went quiet on their objection. They will probably try to get it banned now on the back of the ridiculous Welsh decision.

I would back my house on Delilah being sung by the crowd in Cardiff on Saturday, probably when the teams run onto the pitch. Sometimes you need to pick your battles more carefully.

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