England will adopt ‘Jerusalem’ as new national anthem, RFU announces

The RFU will ditch ‘God Save the Queen’ as England‘s anthem prior to international matches, opting instead for Jerusalem.

Voted the nation’s most popular hymn in a poll conducted by BBC’s Songs of Praise, a TV favourite among England rugby fans, the RFU has announced Jerusalem will no longer serve as a pre-cursor to the anthem formalities at Twickenham and will be their lead song with God Save the Queen dropped entirely.

The move pushes Jerusalem to the same level as Wales‘ Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau and Scotland‘s ‘Flower of Scotland’.

Popular also in cricket before England & Wales international matches, Jerusalem will replace God Save the Queen which was first written in 1744.

In a Top 20 rugby anthems feature compiled by TRP columnist Brendan Gallagher last year, God Save the Queen was not included.

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