Maybe this thread belongs in the BS section. Feel free to transfer it.

After I came home yesterday from the only pub in eastern Ontario that carries the Six Nations champiionship, still buzzing from Wales' great victory over France at Millenium Stadium, I decided to continue the celebration by watching a DVD of the Barbarians beating the All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park in 1973.

I was struck by a few things: the old style long sleeve rugby jerseys compared to the high tech gear of 2008; the Haka that looked as if the All Blacks had rehearsed it for the first time in the dressing room just before they came out on the pitch, compared to the blood thirsty, choreographed dance that the All Blacks do nowadays; a higher standard of kicking at goal in todays game - Phil Bennett missed almost every kick he tried that day at Cardiff Arms Park (perhaps he just had an off day).

The subject of the thread, however (yes, I am getting to it) is the clear superiority of the singing at Cardiff Arms Park in 1973 compared to Millennium Stadium in 2008. Thirty-five years ago, there seemed to be much better tone, better part singing, and more variety. I got the impression that today's rugby crowd knows only two scraps of songs: "Bready of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more (feed me till I want no more)" and "They were singing hymns and arias, Land of My Fathers, Ar Hyd y Nos". I could detect more complete verses from the 1973 crowd, and more songs, including Calon Lan and Sospan Fach.

Am I wrong? Was the old Cardiff Arms Park just a better place to sing? Or in 1973 was the old tradition of communal singing not quite so weak as it is now?

Edmund