The Welsh supporters in Bordeaux

Bordeaux has good memories of the visit of the Irish and the Welsh supporters for the football tournament some years ago. Noisy, funny, but compliant and generally cleaning up after themselves, the city enjoyed hosting them. This year for the rugby the Welsh supporters were present in number once more.

Again, the city was impressed by the fact that the Welsh sing. A group had decided to cycle from Paris to Bordeaux, arriving at Place de la Bourse in time for the match, and this they did. They were greeted by a massive crowd who proceeded to sing from memory and in harmony the National Anthem, I bob un sydd ffydlon (and old temperance hymn), Calon lân (a clean heart, one of Wales' best loved hymns), Cwm Rhondda (this one in English), Yma o hyd (become a Welsh national resistance song) and Max Boyce's ever-popular rugby anthem "Hymns and Arias". 

I was impressed, and I grew up with it.

The match began at 9pm when it was 27°C. We find these heatwaves rather tiring, so I didn't stay up to watch, but by all accounts it was an excellent, well-played, well-fought and close game.

But now the Welsh are gone, and are not due to play any more games in Bordeaux. Instead we are hosting the Fijians for a couple of matches, along with the South Africans, Samoans, Romanians, Chileans and Georgians. 

Come on then. Show us how you sing. 

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