Of all the stories to take hold in the build up to this week’s Guinness Six Nations the case of Delilah is perhaps going to be the biggest conversation starter.
The Welsh Rugby Union have banned choirs performing in the ground as part of the pre-match entertainment against Ireland from including the Tom Jones standard on the basis of its theme being one of jealousy fired revenge against a woman.
A Welsh Rugby Union statement issued yesterday said that “Delilah will not feature on the playlist for choirs for rugby internationals at Principality Stadium.”
“The WRU removed the song from its half-time entertainment and music play list during international matches in 2015. Guest choirs have also more recently been requested not to feature the song during their pre-match performances and throughout games.”
“The WRU condemns domestic violence of any kind. We have previously sought advice from subject matter experts on the issue of censoring the song and we are respectfully aware that it is problematic and upsetting to some supporters because of its subject matter.”
The song does not stand up well when looking at the lyrics. The protagonist looks like he was stalking ‘his woman’ and when he becomes aware of her having another man in her house he ‘went out of his mind’.
After the rousing chorus of Why, Why, Why, Delilah, the second verse goes as follows…
“At break of day when that man drove away, I was waiting
I crossed the street to her house and she opened the door
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more.”
That’s pretty tough to stand over when the issue of violence against women is front and centre stage, and while many will condemn the ban and any justification of it as political correctness gone mad, perhaps they should check in with women in their lives to see if that view is universal.
A poll in a prominent British newspaper has shown that only 9 per cent of those voting think the ban is justified and 91 per cent thinking it should be allowed.
Then again most of the readers would also dsupport the RFU’s decision not to ban Swing Low Sweet Chariot a number of years ago despite its links to the historic slave trade.
Stepping into the middle of culture wars is not easy but sometimes you do have to look at whether something that is ‘just a bit of fun and means nothing’ is actually that.
Thankfully when Pete St John wrote the Fields of Athenry the only people he risked offending were descendents of Trevelyn.
