Boris Johnson says Swing Low, Sweet Chariot should not be banned - but England fans should learn all the words
While many are against the ban, ex-England star Brian Moore says he would gladly see it axed as it has "no relevance to England".
Friday 19 June 2020 17:45, UK
Rugby fans should not be banned from singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - but they should learn all of the words, the prime minister has said.
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has said the song is "sung by many who have no awareness of its origins or sensitivities", and is reviewing its context amid the Black Lives Matter protests.
It is believed to have its roots in American slavery, with its credited author being Wallace Willis - a freed slave from 19th century Oklahoma.
Boris Johnson, a keen rugby fan, was asked about the song during a visit to a school in Hertfordshire.
"As for Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, nobody as far as I understand it seems to know the words - whenever I go to a rugby match... before we start complaining about Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, I'd like to know what the rest of the words are.
"You go 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home', and then it all dies out.
"How does it go on? That's my question.
"I certainly don't think there should be any sort of prohibition on singing that song.
"My curiosity is why don't people seem to know the rest of it - I'd love to hear the rest of it."
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Meanwhile, Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Commission for Racial Equality said any ban would be like "black people's own culture being cancelled".
He wrote on Twitter: "So "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", celebrating the Underground Railway, written AFTER the Civil War by a freed slave, made popular by the African American Fisk Jubilee Singers, sung at many black funerals and civil rights demonstrations, honoured by Congress, now to be banned.
"It was a favourite of Paul Robeson, of Louis Armstrong and of Martin Luther King. The last attempt to ban the song was in 1939, in Germany.
"So black people's own culture is also now to be cancelled. Please everyone, take a breath before you eliminate black lives from history."
The song became a popular spiritual song in the early 20th century and was popularised again among folk musicians during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
It has been sung by rugby fans since the late 1980s.
In 1987, it was sung by fans at Twickenham during a Middlesex Sevens tournament when Martin "Chariots" Offiah played.
The winger was given the nickname Chariots Offiah as a play on words with the movie Chariots of Fire, about two runners competing in the 1924 Olympics.
Offiah told Sky News he supported the review by the RFU but was against any ban.
"I don't think the RFU will ban the song... things like that are very divisive," he said.
"This is a song by black people, it wasn't something directed at black people... it has a history, a history I think that we should learn about."
However, Brian Moore, who played 64 times for England between 1987 and 1995, said he never understood why it became so popular among spectators.
"It can go for me; I hate it," he wrote on Twitter.
"This was sung in rugby clubs when I was still a colt and well before Martin Offiah and Chris Oti played senior rugby.
"It was sung because of the rude gestures that went with it and without any thought of its origins. The world has moved on and, rightly, things that were normal then should not necessarily be normal now.
"Had today's context be known then it might not have been sung. Amongst other reasons for the RFU encouraging people not to sing it, one of the main ones is that most people only know two verses and it's crap as a national song because it has no relevance to England.
"It should be celebrated in its rightful context."