Rugby World Cup: fans delay at entry and anthems, organizers explain after the first failures

The organizers of the Rugby World Cup, this Wednesday during a press conference, apologized to the thousands of supporters blocked in front of the Marseille stadium (before England-Argentina, Saturday) and to those who had difficulty to go to the Bordeaux arena (to watch Ireland-Romania, also on Saturday), and promised to address concerns about the national anthems.

“We apologize to the supporters who missed the kick-off. It’s our responsibility,” summarized Jacques Rivoal, president of France 2023.

“We are very confident in our ability and that of the organizing committee to meet these challenges and find solutions,” added tournament director Michel Pousseau.

“We are considering redeploying certain volunteers to facilitate the movement of supporters to the stadiums, which we did in Marseille on Sunday,” said the general director of France 2023, Julien Collette.

Regarding the anthems, sung in canon by a children's choir, a highly criticized innovation, Mr. Rivoal indicated: “Our traditional supporters were surprised, destabilized because they are used to different versions of the national anthems. We now have simplified versions, but we kept the children's voices. »