‘Ras Dumisani has been dethroned!’ – Springboks fans blast Italy’s rendition of South Africa’s national anthem

Jared Wright
An Italian opera singer and Rus Dumisani perform the South African national anthem.

An Italian opera singer and Rus Dumisani perform the South African national anthem.

South Africans have hit out at the rendition of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika ahead of the Springboks clash with Italy in Turin.

While Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks romped to yet another victory despite an early red card to lock Franco Mostert, it was far from a showpiece event at the home of Juventus.

As per tradition, the day’s events was kicked off with the respective national anthems and first up was the away team, and unfortunately, the Italian opera singer failed miserably according to South African fans.

Worst rendition ever?

The reaction on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, was frankly brutal.

So much so that it was dubbed worse than Ras Dumisani’s infamous rendition of the anthem in 2009 ahead of the Boks’ clash with France.

“Reggae singer Ras Dumisani mauled, mutilated and murdered the national anthem in a hilariously off-key rendition before South Africa played France in a rugby international last Friday,” David Smith wrote in The Guardian at the time.

So to overcome that is some doing, but many believed it to have occurred on Saturday afternoon.

“That was the worst rendition of the South African national anthem I’ve heard since Ras Dumisani! An angry Oom from Oranje could have done a better job,” @scrumming_ten quipped.

@GavinMabie agreed: “Ras Dumisani has been dethroned as the worst ever anthem singer”.

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@AfrikanChefZA, added: “The second week of the Northern Hemisphere hosts butchering our national anthem, today was worse. They could’ve just played the instrument without vocalist.”

Matt More suggested that the Boks should invest in having a performer travel with the team to get the anthem right.

“With all the Springbok commercial success can SARU please provide a dedicated Anthem Singer All the brands that rushed to bankroll Mama Joy’s campaign can really help ensure our anthem doesn’t get butchered again and again,” he wrote.

While SuperSport’s Brandon Portnoy remarked: “Damn. My ears hurt after listening to the South African anthem in Turin.”

The brutal reactions continued: “Good Lord this lady just butchered the South African anthem. Took it out back and shot it, dead,” another fan wrote.

Capevoetsek added: “So the Italians get Pavarotti to sing their anthem and we get whatever that was,.”

READ MORE: Italy v Springboks: Five takeaways as Rassie Erasmus’ brutal calls and Bomb Squad saves Boks’ blushes after the ‘harshest of red cards’

 

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