In large crowds people often regress to the mean but I don’t think thats true of singing. There is no shortage of good singers, but for me the best voice is not from an individual, but the sound of a crowd, all different people, singing together in unison from the top of their lungs and the bottom of their hearts. When technical flaws and national accents are all overpowered by the sheer glory. Maybe Aretha Franklin can touch that, I’m not sure.
Rugby is about strength and endurance of course, and in a not insignificant way, rugby is also about singing. The Welsh invented the game, and nobody sings like the Welsh. they sing hymns all game long, because singing is in that people like sight is in the eye. They love Cwm Rhondda and when they sing it principality stadium is changed into a mighty cathedral. win or lose, it is always a religious experience. The Irish sing The Fields of Athenry, a lament. Beautiful. They smile when they sing it at Aviva Stadium. The Scots sing Loch Lomond at fortress Murray Field, every man, woman, and child knows it and joins in. The proud, ancient and gifted people of these Celtic nations are raised on songs and stories.
There are no songs at Canadian rugby games, but that it is not for lack of the common history, culture, and passion that they express. That there should be, is all I wish to suggest to you on this cold and lovely winter morning. These kinds of things must start small and grow naturally. And in what smaller way could it than with my humble submission of Waltz With the Woods. It is an authentic Canadian ballad about the many different aspects that make up the soul of Canada. Everyone loves a ballad.
As an international game rugby has a long reach, and between nations there are sometimes conflicts. There are more important things than rugby, we all know that, but do our songs when sung together not remind us of those things?
Matthew Cameron 
In large crowds people often regress to the mean but I don’t think thats true of singing. There is no shortage of good singers, but for me the best voice is not from an individual, but the sound of a crowd, all different people, singing together in unison from the top of their lungs and the bottom of their hearts. When technical flaws and national accents are all overpowered by the sheer glory. Maybe Aretha Franklin can touch that, I’m not sure.
Rugby is about strength and endurance of course, and in a not insignificant way, rugby is also about singing. The Welsh invented the game, and nobody sings like the Welsh. they sing hymns all game long, because singing is in that people like sight is in the eye. They love Cwm Rhondda and when they sing it principality stadium is changed into a mighty cathedral. win or lose, it is always a religious experience. The Irish sing The Fields of Athenry, a lament. Beautiful. They smile when they sing it at Aviva Stadium. The Scots sing Loch Lomond at fortress Murray Field, every man, woman, and child knows it and joins in. The proud, ancient and gifted people of these Celtic nations are raised on songs and stories.
There are no songs at Canadian rugby games, but that it is not for lack of the common history, culture, and passion that they express. That there should be, is all I wish to suggest to you on this cold and lovely winter morning. These kinds of things must start small and grow naturally. And in what smaller way could it than with my humble submission of Waltz With the Woods. It is an authentic Canadian ballad about the many different aspects that make up the soul of Canada. Everyone loves a ballad.
As an international game rugby has a long reach, and between nations there are sometimes conflicts. There are more important things than rugby, we all know that, but do our songs when sung together not remind us of those things?
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