‘God Save the Queen’?
Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 12:27pm
6 responses
So, we’ve made quite a big deal here in Wales, and rightly so, about the fact that our athletes cannot fly the Welsh flag at the Olympics, despite a Welsh woman being the first of the team GB to win a Gold medal there this year. Adam Price MP has floated the idea previously that Wales should have its own Olympic team, and so too did Dr Geraint Tudur, general secretary of the Union of Welsh Independents when the news of the Welsh flag ban was released during the Eisteddfod last week. In fact, Dr Tudur went as far as to say ‘that this is contrary to the Olympic Charter itself which insists on “respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”.
Wales will surely continue the crusade in reversing this anomaly on the part of the Olympic organisers to ban the Welsh flag, and will push to further Welsh sporting achievements on an International level, but in the meantime, I am interested in finding out what your opinions are with regards to the fact that Welsh athletes must sing God Save the Queen at events where they represent Britain. The campaign group Republic (a group that lobbies for a directly elected head of state in the UK) has recently launched a new blog, the latest entry arguing the case for a new national anthem to replace God Save the Queen, that athletes and the like can sing at such events.
Now, many Welsh people may not take issue with the Royal family itself, but many representing the UK currently may equally wish to sing an anthem that directly reflects their success, and their appreciation of where they come from. Does singing God Save the Queen reflect this reality? Does it matter what people sing on such occasions?
We all know that the Olympics is going to London in 2012, and I believe that discussions about identity and Nationality within Britain should take place before that event. Could it not be argued that Welsh Olympians should be allowed to choose to sing ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’ instead of God Save the Queen, or as an addition to that anthem? This could of course be the case for those from Scotland and Northern Ireland who may too seek to sing their respective anthems.
For those of us who are Welsh Republicans and Nationalists, the British anthem does not reflect our identity at all, yet the status quo remains. For how long is the question, especially as there is now a tide of interest in the effort to introduce an alternative oath of allegiance.
6 Responses to “‘God Save the Queen’?” [latest first]
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“For those of us who are Welsh Republicans and Nationalists..”
Says the Plaid AM with a ‘.org.uk’ web address!! haha!!
Yes, until I can get a .cym web address, this is the reality of web addresses.
Couldnt you have used ‘.com’ or ‘.org’ ??
I’ve bought .org for my website, yes. I’m not sure it those domain names were available for the blog site. Jeremy at webs wonder- who helped build this site will be able to answer that question.
Originally back in the 1980’s .org (USA) and .org.uk (UK) domains were intended for organisations or individual who could not be classed as COMmercial and did not qualify for .com (USA) and .co.uk (UK). Nowadays such restrictions and conventions have all but broken down, although various second-level UK domains are reserved, such as .gov.uk, .ac.uk etc.
Personally I always recommend Welsh clients register UK domains rather than USA domains if their intention is to register only one domain. There are however often good reasons for registering other domains to protect a brand or prevent mis-use. I, for instance have about 10 variations of Webs Wonder registered.
As far as Plaid politicians are concerned, in my view .org.uk is probably a better ‘main’ domain than .org because even though they may not support a United Kingdom, I imagine few would wish to be mistaken for Americans.
.cym is the solution we are all waiting for. Until then, it’s a matter of choosing the least-worst alternative and not getting too hung up on the whole domain thing when there are far more important issues to focus on.
While I have been a long time follower of Paid, I have always shied away from the Republican/Separatist aspects.
In a Sporting sense I have always felt that when representing Great Britain, Welsh athletes should have the Union Flag and British National Anthem. Obviously in Commonwealth Games the more Welsh flag waving and anthem singing the better!
I do wholeheartedly condemn the decision to prevent non-national flags from being displayed. People in the stands should be able to wave whatever they like, and athletes should equally be permitted wave or drape themselves in anything from a dishcloth to County Borough Flag - wouldn’t that be something to see, a Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council flag on the breathless winner of a Gold Medal!
Anthem-wise I have no affection for God Save the Queen wherever it is sung. It is, to me the English National Anthem and really has no place in representing a devolved Great Britain. I would argue that rather than having ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’ replace or be sung before ‘God save the Queen’ for Welsh Athletes the creation of a British Anthem separate from that of England would be a better course of action.