A heartbreak for “La Mêlée des Chœurs”. Following widespread criticism from the public during the first round matches, the World Cup organizing committee decided to cancel live performances of the national anthems by children. From now on, each federation will have the choice between a recorded version of the anthem produced by the choir but without the canons and a classic instrumental version. A strong decision which saddens the 7,000 young people involved in the project for several months.
“My daughter cried when we told them that they would no longer sing live,” explains to RMC Sport the father of Noëlla, a CM2 student, who was to sing for the Chile-Argentina match in Nantes. “We involved our children in a project which in the end is unlikely to achieve anything (…) It’s a fiasco from start to finish.”
If the children of “La Mêlée des Chœurs” will attend the planned matches from the stands, not everyone will have the chance to hear themselves singing in the stadium. The XV of France, which challenges Uruguay this Thursday in Lille, still opted for the revisited version of the children. A lesser evil for Gabriel Montagard and his comrades. “It was in the back of my mind to sing for a World Cup, it’s magical. We didn’t put all our heart into a recording, we put all our heart into singing live,” regrets the 10-year-old boy who learned fifteen hymns by heart for the event.
“My daughter told me: It’s good we got t-shirts but what we initially expected was to sing on the pitch and now we are worried that the federations won’t even choose our anthems” , concludes Cécilia Ancèle, mother of Shanéa (13 years old), illustrating the sadness and frustration that affects the group of children, for whom the first round of the World Cup will remain the start of an unfinished adventure.
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