Crowds attending international rugby matches in Wales at the Principality Stadium will no longer hear choral renditions of the Tom Jones classic Delilah after it was banned Wednesday by the game’s organizers.
The hugely popular song was first excised from half-time playlists in 2015 after critics said lyrics depicting the murder of a woman by her jealous partner could cause offence to those with delicate sensibilities.
A stadium spokesman told the BBC it was “respectfully aware that it is problematic” and now pre-match crowds in Cardiff will also be denied hearing it from guest choirs.
The decision follows a week in which the chief executive of the Welsh Rugby Union was forced to resign, following allegations of sexism, misogyny and racism within the organisation.
Wales winger Louis Rees-Zammit made an oblique reference to the decision via Twitter on Wednesday afternoon: “All the things they need to do and they do that first…”
Others joined him to point out the absurdity of banning songs.
But the Welsh Conservative shadow sport minister Tom Giffard called the decision “wrongheaded”.
“One that amounts to simple virtue signalling, designed to ease the pressure the WRU are currently under,” he said. “Calls to ban the song span at least the last decade, yet the WRU have chosen now to act.”
This is not the first time rugby fans have been scolded over their love of songs and community singing.
As Breitbart News reported, the unofficial anthem of England rugby, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, was branded “cultural appropriation” of a traditional African American slave song by a U.S. academic in 2017.
Watch below as rugby fans join to sing ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ at Twickenham:
Josephine Wright, a professor of music and black studies at the College of Wooster in Ohio, told the New York Times: “Such cross-cultural appropriations of U.S. slave songs betray a total lack of understanding of the historical context in which those songs were created by the American slave.”
The song was first adopted by English rugby fans in 1988 when England beat Ireland at Twickenham following an impressive come-from-behind win.
It has been sung at matches involving the national team ever since while artists including UB40, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Ella Eyre have released their own rugby-inspired versions.
Los Angeles-based Prince Harry issued his own call for a review of the song’s use in 2020.
Rugby fans have happily ignored the U.S. academic’s disapproval – and that of Prince Harry – and continue singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot at Twickenham to this day.
