Shame about the mic
Choir would have been better
Most people don't know the words
But I was still proper choked.

According to Clare Balding on twitter it was all the rhinos players fault abide with me sounded so shocking



[url=http://twitter.com/clarebalding1"Poor Camilla Kerslake who sang Abide With Me not helped by whole Leeds team inadvertently standing on the microphone cable. Oops "[/url

The mic problem was a great pity. However, on TV I could hear enough to tell that the poor girl sang Abide With Me beautifully.

Apart from when she fell out of tune!

You should've gone to Lugsavers.

She was pitch-perfect daft lad

Listen again!

Presumably, like most live singers at large venues she was wired up and listening to the feed from her mic rather than the "live" backing, I'm guessing the feed from her mic would have confused anyone.

why on earth didn't they use a radio mic?????

She's no Hayley Westenra or Katherine Jenkins.

Why would you want to sing it? It has little meaning in a multi cultural society where religions plays such a small part in the lives of most citizens.

I fail to understand why we should be subjected to it anyway - it is the same as the RU song we have at the GF.

Tradition - this has very little meaning to 99% of the crowd and as such should be scrapped.

The whole "Entertainment" was a joke on Saturday - the RFL needs to improve it or scrap it.

I expect you're part of the movement to scrap [iThe Last Night of the Proms[/i as well? Tradition and history is everything in a major sport. Maintaining a tradition like the singing of [iAbide with Me[/i unites 2010's Wembley with every other previous cup final there going back to 1929 ( no, I don't know for sure if it was sung in 1929 ). Most people are moved by the metaphorical words and stirring melody even if they are not of a religious frame of mind. Scrap tradition and you may as well go the the 2010 street hockey final.

So why place the cable in such a position in the first place ?

Or, if you've got a cable in a place where it's likely to get trampled by thirty-odd rugby boots, why not protect it in some way ?

RFL need to take a look at the NFL and put a real show on, not stupid songs abide with me ffs it's like a WI meeting, and scrap god save the queen load of crap

Dont shoot me Im just the messenger



This is the BBC remember, you know the channel that had scalextrix qualifying on when the rugby should have been starting



I wouldnt mind but the actual "racing" was over and it was just that prat Eddie Jordan and the Scottish feller with the huuuuuge jaw talking

Talking bollox.

Indeed.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but don't they start the Super Bowl with something like Star Spangled Banner ?

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot?



Abide With Me is part of the whole Challenge Cup Final build-up, it wouldn't be the same without it. We can continue, and will, as a sport to evolve, but we will always have traditions that'll be there forever.

Back in the 90's we tried the Americanised bollox, such as Diana Ross singing from the rear of a white open top limo, twas $hite.

Good crowd though.

Ermmm - & Wakefield!

Anyone who wants to scrap Abide With Me wants their head checking. One of the few traditions left in this sport, and I can't believe anyone with any true feeling for the cup, their club or the sport in general can't be moved by the fact that it's been sung before every cup final for so long, and long may it continue.

Indeed.

spot on lad - singing Abide with me at the cup final is as important to the day as handing the cup over to the winning captain .........scrap it ??? pah !!

I think the singing of 'Abide With Me' goes back to the days of community sing at the final and the hymn was a regular inclusion. When community singing was stopped fans campaigned for the singing of the hymn to be continued.
One TV view on Saturday showed a lady in a Wire shirt cying her eyes out during the singing.

I do prefer the Grand Final build up where singing and presentations take place whilst the players are still in the dressing room, they enter the field and go immediately to their starting positions. The national anthem and hand shaking at Wembley must be a pain to the players wanting to get on with the game.

The NFL do put on a better show but its hardly suprising with the amount of money they generate and the size of the audience, comparing it to Rugby league is just






This is quite correct good Sir.

If you want the showbiz razzamataz stuff, go to the Grand Final

If you want the tradition and celebration of the 113 years of the Challenge Cup then you go to the Cup Final and sing Abide With Me.

I got chocked up singing it at Twickers, why, because thats the moment when I knew we were actually at the Cup Final.

Id rather they scrapped singing the national anthem unless one of the sponging krauts actually turns up. Land of Hope and Glory is a far better tune.

Oh, and get a choir to sing it, not a soloist. Soloists, no matter how good, get lost in the volume of wembley.