It's time to sing

[Set piece magic]

I'm sorry if this has been done to death, but tomorrow night against Wales we have a big occasion. The Aussie support bays kickoff. Now as your all aware, the ARU will be making the call on whether to continue these support bays based on how they go against Wales in the three games.

Therefore it's vital that support is strong.

In the lead up to tomorrow nights game we've heard a bit of stuff flying around on here and other sites about Waltzing Matilda. I've heard a few stories about flyers and stuff, but here's the deal; it's time to standup and forget about feeling self concious or anything like that and Just do it.

So if and when you hear Waltzing Matilda tomorrow night, stand the fuck up and sing, yell it out!

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

....................

Down came a Welshman to drink at that billabong
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that Welshman in his tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he shoved that Welshman in his tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Thank Christ I won't be there. It's bad enough copping our cringeworthy national anthem but then Waltzing-Fucking-Matilda. No wonder people get shit-faced before the game.

Still that's not anywhere near as bad as Betty Windsor's Jubilee Concert where Tom Jones sang the truly vile "Delilah", containing the appallingly misogynist lines:

At break of day when that man drove away, I was waiting
I cross the street to her house and she opened the door
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more​

Charming.
.

 

[qwerty51]

Let's just hope they don't fuck up the words of our national anthem again. What a disgrace.

 

[Set piece magic]

Thank Christ I won't be there. It's bad enough copping our cringeworthy national anthem but then Waltzing-Fucking-Matilda. No wonder people get shit-faced before the game.

Still that's not anywhere near as bad as Betty Windsor's Jubilee Concert where Tom Jones sang the truly vile "Delilah", containing the appallingly misogynist lines:

At break of day when that man drove away, I was waiting​

I cross the street to her house and she opened the door​

She stood there laughing​

I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more​

Charming.
.

And it's this, I'm just going to sit down and say nothing attitude, listening for that pin drop on the other side of the stadium that is destroying support for Australia.

England sing a song that is essentially one line repeated most of the time, and it talks about the slave trade.

But they sing it so loudly and proudly that no one gives a ****

 

[kiap]

You're jumping to conclusions, Bruce. He was surrendering to Delilah and handed her the knife and some money. Then she cut his hair.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Let's just hope they don't fuck up the words of our national anthem again. What a disgrace.

Different strokes for different folks. I thought it was the highlight of a very damp - in all respects - night. I did feel a tad disappointed because I was half hoping he'd go on to send up the rest of the lyrics. Where is our antipodean Roseanne Barr?

For me that's right up there with Sir John Kerr's Melbourne Cup speech. There can be no higher praise.
.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

I'm just glad Bruce he didn't draw it out like Bleeding Gums Murphy did with the US anthem. Ma & others around me were pretty much screaming "kick off already FFS!"

Speaking of Melbourne Cup speeches I think Kerr's was a lot less painful than the latest Governer-Generals speech. Whoever came up with it for her needs their head checked - it just wouldn't stop. She may still be delivering it now for all I know.

I personally wouldn't mind singing Walzing Matlida at the Rugby. Although I'm more the "person who yells individually type". Away games overseas I'd say "Still call Australia home" would be a better option. ACDC songs would get my vote but I'd avoid the song "Back in Black" if we were taking on the ABs....

I don't think lyrics need to be too complicated to be catchy, our club did "We're club of the year, we're club of the year, we're Newcastle Uni! we're club of the year!". We sung this over and over again, pissing every other club off in the process, at last years local GF as a club because we had no mens teams in any of the GF's (the women's team held up their end), but we won "club of the year" so as a bit of a laugh we sung that song. Pretty simple lyrics & we all had a good time singing it. Surely something similar can be replicated at international level.

 

[p.Tah]

I'm with spikhaza, people complain that Australian rugby games have no atmosphere yet they criticise if an initiative is put together to try and make the games more enjoyable. Anyone who has been to a Rebels game knows how much more enjoyable it is because of the vocal fans.

When the Home nations tour we do look on enviously when they start singing. Suddenly we've lost our home ground advantage to a much smaller group of spectators.

Waltzing Matilda may not be everyone's cup of tea (no pun intended) but it's a start. It's a song that most of us know. Other songs I think would work are 'Still Call Australia Home' and 'I am, you are, we are Australian'. Yes they're cliche, but we don't have much to work with.

 

[Penguin]

Any game I've ever been to at Suncorp and Ballymore have had atmosphere. Just because Aussies can't sing doesn't mean there is no atmosphere, chanting, cheering & plain old yelling out= atmosphere.... it's just a different atmosphere to the European experience, especially the British. I don't hear singing during Saffa matches & the Kiwi's are no different to us in my experience at the World Cup
Argies have some great chants going though.
Look, good luck to you blokes who want to go & have a sing a long, but don't look down upon us who go to watch the Rugby & just cheer our team. I also cringe at Waltzing Matilda being sung.
The only time I've heard home ground cheers drowned out by opposition is when playing the Kiwis..... it's just the pure weight of numbers of them living here. If the Poms or Boyos etc have a bit of a sing there is never enough of them to make the feel of the atmosphere swing to home ground advantage to them, it just adds to the experience.

 

[Scoey]

I can't get to the game tonight. Sad face. But for what it's worth, if I was going I'd be happy to belt out Waltzing Matilda.

As other's have said, it's not about the words to the song, it's the tradition. I was a young lad growing up back in the day when it was sung before each game, so for me it's more about that tradition. Towards the end when John williamson used to lead the song and it became more formailsed I started thinking it was more cringeworthy. So for this reason, this sort of initiative is important. To get it back to the crowd led experience that it was.

Don't hold up the kick off, while some bloke with a guitar stands out in the middle singing after we've already endured two national anthems! If it is just the crowd who gets it going, they can blow the whistle and the boys can start thier game with what I imagine would be that same link back to the past when the Wallabies were beating (almost) everyone, that I feel when I remember we used to sing it.

It was a sad day in '03 when the IRB canned it. A really good tradition in the making was comprehensively stamped into the mud.

As much as I loathe the "We Are Red!" call, I love what it does. Last season, at every single game, those three words were imense.

Get behind it people.

 

[kronic]

Pffttt... Bruce... Bruce...

Exactly what p.Tah said.

FYI, there is a massive thread dedicated to this: http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/community/threads/chants.8885/

 

[kronic]

Oh and get this going at the pub before hand. Just sing over the Welsh, make sure you've got another to follow if you start having "song-offs".

I recommend "County of England", to really ire them.

 

[Bagger288]

I'm sorry if this has been done to death, but tomorrow night against Wales we have a big occasion. The Aussie support bays kickoff. Now as your all aware, the ARU will be making the call on whether to continue these support bays based on how they go against Wales in the three games.

Therefore it's vital that support is strong.

In the lead up to tomorrow nights game we've heard a bit of stuff flying around on here and other sites about Waltzing Matilda. I've heard a few stories about flyers and stuff, but here's the deal; it's time to standup and forget about feeling self concious or anything like that and Just do it.

So if and when you hear Waltzing Matilda tomorrow night, stand the fuck up and sing, yell it out!

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

........

Down came a Welshman to drink at that billabong
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that Welshman in his tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he shoved that Welshman in his tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

I shagged Matilda, We all shagged Matilda,
I shagged Matilda and so did my mates,
She moaned and she groaned as she took it up the billabong,
We've all shagged Matilda and so have my mates.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Wonderful I'm sure all the kiddies will love that.

 

[tragic]

Two hours till game time and the welsh have been singing all afternoon in caxton st. Yet to hear an Aussie reply. Its gonna be a long night!! Dont care if we sing wiggly woo as long as we open our bloody mouths! Don't want a repeat of the British Lions tours where our boys thought they were playing an away game!

 

[p.Tah]

I shagged Matilda, We all shagged Matilda,
I shagged Matilda and so did my mates,
She moaned and she groaned as she took it up the billabong,
We've all shagged Matilda and so have my mates.

You do know Matilda is a sheep don't you? Bloody Welsh
I remember being at a Wales vs. NZ game in the 2003 RWC. Someone started making sheep sounds. I was thinking, which team are they paying out?

 

[kronic]

You do know Matilda is a sheep don't you? Bloody Welsh
I remember being at a Wales vs. NZ game in the 2003 RWC. Someone started making sheep sounds. I was thinking, which team are they paying out?

We... can see you shagging sheep!

 

[kronic]

So no-one had some balls in Brisbane I see? The Victorians will get it done.

 

[p.Tah]

We. can see you shagging sheep!

I've really got to work out how to turn that webcam off...

 

[RugbyReg]

So no-one had some balls in Brisbane I see? The Victorians will get it done.

Why this insistence that singing makes good fans? You know what? I go to the rugby to, guess what, watch rugby! You want to sing? Fine go for it, but don't live by the delusion that chanting dumb lyrics makes you some sort of uber fan.

Its like you Melbournians have this massive chip on your shoulder that you must consistenly live up to this ancient furphy that its the sporting capital of Aust and you rely on these ridiculous means to try and prove it.

Here's an idea. Try watching the game!