Today we welcome new contributor, Joe McKay, to the pages of G&GR and thank him for his opinion piece. Take it away, Joe.
For 20 years, Sydney’s rugby crowds have been mute when it matters most. It’s already cost us a World Cup and a Lions series, and history will repeat this year if we don’t fix it. This sad hoodoo dates back to the 2003 World Cup final—rugby’s night of nights, in our own backyard. My enduring memory of that game wasn’t Jonny Wilkinson’s drop goal, but the haunting, relentless chorus of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ echoing through the stands. It felt like Twickenham had been transplanted to Sydney. We Aussie fans? No response. Claps, cheers and the odd whistle, sure. But when it came to finding our voice we were silent.
A decade later, the same story. The deciding Lions Test of 2013 at the same venue was another overwhelming vocal performance, not from us but from the travelling fans. Sure, anyone living in the eastern suburbs will tell you there are a lot of British and Irish expats in Sydney, but this was unacceptable. The Wallabies were thrashed 41-16 but in the stands we’d lost long before the final whistle. The best we could muster in reply to the melodic barrage was a few feeble attempts at ‘Waltzing Matilda.’ If that’s all we’ve got, no wonder our emblematic jolly swagman jumped into the billabong and ended it all.
In 2025, the stakes are rising again. The Lions return this year. The final Test will take place at Sydney Olympic Stadium, a dry run for the 2027 Rugby World Cup final on the same hallowed turf. We cannot afford another choral capitulation. Now is the time to start tuning our voices.
The anthem problem.
Maybe it’s not entirely our fault. Maybe the problem lies in our anthem itself. Let’s be honest, when it comes to rugby anthems, ‘Advance Australia Fair’ doesn’t cut it. It lacks the fire, the fury, the raw emotion that Test rugby demands. From ‘aux armes, les citoyens’, to Ireland’s ‘shoulder to shoulder, together standing tall!’, ‘proud Edward’s army’ of Scots and ‘victorious, happy and glorious’ Englishmen, the ‘beauty rich and rare’ of our nation isn’t exactly the battle cry we need before a brutal Test match.
But it’s not only about the anthem. English fans at Twickenham have borrowed 90s dance hit ‘Freed From Desire’ from their round ball team as the latest people’s anthem. Last weekend’s 6 Nations Test against Les Bleus featured a bouncing, fun arrangement of trumpets in the stands – getting people (young and old) up on their feet and behind their team at every break in play.
Rugby is a game of stoppages, and our Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Gaelic cousins are experts at owning these moments, filling the stadium with their unofficial anthems. At every break in play you’re reminded exactly where you are: on their turf.
The best teams know aural ambience is a factor, too. In their docuseries, ‘Together We Walk’, the All Blacks coaching staff wheeled a boom box on to the training field blasting out ‘Swing Low’ in preparation for their 2024 Test at Twickenham. The preparation paid off, the All Blacks squeaked out a win by 3 points that day. Did neutralising the Chariot make the difference?
In a Lions year, with another home World Cup around the corner, Aussie rugby needs a new repertoire, an unofficial anthem that belongs to the fans. Something we can rely on and belt out when our team needs us. Whether it’s Horses, You’re The Voice or even Down Under, we have a wealth of unmistakeably Aussie anthems we all know the words to. Rugby Australia needs to pick one, take charge and start embedding the people’s anthem into the match day experience for Super Rugby fixtures all over the country this season. We need rehearsals.
It’s time we reclaimed our home turf, time we found our voice, time we gave the Wallabies a soundtrack worthy of the jersey. Yes, the Wallabies need a new coach. But more importantly, Australian rugby needs new music, and we need it fast.
