# U S Football at Wembley

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-football-at-wembley/469642>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [October 26, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-football-at-wembley/469642 "2008-10-26T16:35:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-football-at-wembley/469642/41 "2008-10-30T03:51:31Z")

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> [@TheBoltEater](#):
>
> Joss Stone did an OK version of the English national anthem, I think, but she was totally drowned out by the fans singing. I mean, TOTALLY. The only time you really caught her was when she was out of time with the crowd. Part of that, of course, was due to the fact that the beautiful new Wembley has without a doubt the worst stadium sound system I have ever had the displeasure to listen to in my entire life. It is unfathomable to me that they could have spent so much money (and so much extra time than they were supposed to) on that stadium and come out of it with a PA system that is completely unintelligible to someone sitting, as I was, in the 20th row.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to an (association) football game before, but that’s pretty normal. Nobody gives a shit who’s singing the national anthem(s) outside the US, and there’s generally no random music playing as you’d get with a football game- hence the shitty PA.

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**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-football-at-wembley/469642/42 "2008-10-30T05:30:22Z")

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> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> I don’t know if you’ve ever been to an (association) football game before, but that’s pretty normal. Nobody gives a shit who’s singing the national anthem(s) outside the US, and there’s generally no random music playing as you’d get with a football game- hence the shitty PA.

All right, I’ll buy that, I guess. But they spent 798 million pounds on that thing - well over a billion dollars no matter what the exchange rate was at the time - and they somehow end up with a worse sound system than my '91 Toyota pickup?

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**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-football-at-wembley/469642/43 "2008-10-30T05:32:26Z")

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> [@TheBoltEater](#):
>
> Joss Stone did an OK version of the English national anthem, I think, but she was totally drowned out by the fans singing.

I’m not a big fan of national anthems at all, but if they’re going to be sung at sporting events, then this is how it SHOULD be done.

I’ve been at Wembley and Old Trafford for Rugby League internationals, and at Twickenham for Rugby Union internationals, and even “God Save The Queen” sounds good when it’s being belted out by over 60,000 people.

Far superior to the ridiculous American habit of having some over-rated teen idol trying to show off his or her vocal range, and mutilating the song in the process.

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