I watched the Wales v England rugby massacre (sorry, match!) on television  last weekend. It was a momentous occasion and the sound of the passionate Welsh crowd singing their hearts out to their national anthem brought tears to my eyes and I’m not even Welsh – although by the end of the ensuing eighty minutes I almost wished I had been!

The English by contrast, dutifully sang, as they always do, the British national anthem, God Save The Queen and there’s the rub. They sang the British national anthem, the anthem of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which, of course, comprises England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Now the non-English members of the Union (who for the purposes of simplicity I will henceforth refer to as the Celtic Nations) are members completely equal in every way to their English brothers in all but the physical size and population of their countries. As such they surely have a right, equal  to the English, to sing the British anthem, God Save The Queen, at sporting events in which they participate, but of course they do not.

However when the Celtic Nations join with England to represent the United Kingdom or just plain Great Britain (this must be so complicated for foreigners!) they all sing along heartily to God Save The Queen, the British national anthem. What therefore, I wish to know, gives the English the right to use the British national anthem as their own property?  In particular, how condescending and patronising  of the English to sing it when playing sport against the Celtic Nations. It is as though we English are saying, this is our anthem but we’ll gladly share it with you when we all represent the United Kingdom together. Is there any wonder so many Celts feel the way they do about us? Arrogant English? In this respect, probably so.

I am proud to be English and when I see an England team competing in any sporting event I want to hear the players and crowd sing an English anthem, an anthem peculiar to and exclusive to England. There are several candidates for an English anthem and any one of Land of Hope and Glory, I Vow to Thee My Country, Rule Britannia or Jerusalem would do. My own choice would be the former but whichever one we choose, it has to be ours and ours alone. Just think of the additional pride this would create and who knows, maybe it would even spur one of our sports teams to go on and actually win something!