FIFA and National Anthems

The 90 Seconds Rule

One of the most special moments of an international football match between national teams happens before the match itself! The national anthems ceremony is a special moment where fans from both teams give their best to sing their anthem and inspire their players with a sentiment of pride and bravery. We have seen this many times in recent world cups. However, there is something very sad that has been happening since several years…

Source: Flickr (warrenski)

FIFA and its pre-match protocols state that the national anthem of each country cannot exceed the 90 seconds rule, and therefore many national anthems are cut off in the middle of the melody. This is something that happens specially with South American national anthems. The most famous cases are the national anthems of Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. This was specially noticed in the 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup, where FIFA, unintentionally, created one of the most emotional and patriotic moments of the maximum football event (Giussani, 2014).

We need to understand that not every anthem is composed in the same way, and therefore, they have many differences. For example, some South American anthems were inspired in Operas (Marshall, 2015) and they are long. This is why it is very difficult to come out with a short version. Although some countries have found a way to play their national anthem respecting the 90 seconds rule (Argentina or Uruguay), others have struggled and have suffered disrespectful actions to cut their anthems, specially when travelling to other countries.

Some examples...

As many of you already know, I am Chilean, and that is why I put this example when I talk about this. The Chilean national anthem has been cut in every way possible: playing just the introduction, playing just the first verse, playing the first verse and playing the ending, playing the verse and just half of the chorus, playing the verse and start slowly lowering the volume of the music before the chorus, etc. We have seen this on several occasions, especially in international events. Even know the Football Federation of Chile does this in local games to obey FIFA protocols.

Here is a list of the situations that other countries are facing today:

• Argentina: Generally, just the instrumental introduction is played.

• Uruguay: Just the introduction and chorus is played.

• Paraguay: Usually the introduction is played and then it jumps directly into the chorus and ending.

• Brazil: The introduction and ¾ of the verse is played and then it jumps directly to the ending.

• Colombia: The introduction and chorus are played.

In the past, most of national anthems were played with their full versions. I can remember several football matches of the CONMEBOL qualifiers where the bands of every country played a full version or an appropriate short version of the rival country national anthem. However, it is true that in some cases the music could not be heard because of the fans booing. This usually happens in matches between countries that have a strong rivalry like Chile VS Peru or Argentina VS Brazil. I remember that the booing of the Peruvian National Anthem in a match in Santiago de Chile was so strong that no note at all from the music was heard in the stadium. Even the Chilean football commentators of that match, Pedro Carcuro and Sergio Livingstone, said that they could not understand the disrespectful scenes that were taking place and questioned why FIFA allowed national anthems ceremonies in high risk games like that one. If you ask my opinion on this, I think that we must separate things and do not believe that these ceremonies should be banned.

But these disrespectful actions taken towards national anthems by fans can be seen in other continents too. You can imagine what happens in Croatia VS Serbia match… This kind of actions could have been one of the key factors on the decision of the creation of the 90 second rule. The official truth is that FIFA started to apply the 90 seconds rule with the excuse that matches should start quickly (Sports Desk, 2017). And I think that in some cases it could be justified. For example, during the USSR VS Uruguay match of the Mexico 1970 FIFA World Cup, the full version of the national anthem of Uruguay was played, and at some point the Soviet players thought that the Uruguayan anthem had finished and ran onto the pitch (González, 2018). However, the music started to sound again, and they returned to the line or stayed in silence on the field waiting for the Uruguayan anthem to really end.

This leads us to the following question:

Should we always play the full version of a national anthem?

The answer is no. As we said before, every national anthem is different, and they cannot be cut in the same way in order to respect the 90 second rule. Every Football Federation should be given the opportunity to choose the most appropriate version for the national anthem of their country. In some cases, the versions will not need any modification (Uruguay’s current short version), in other cases a generally approved version could be used (Argentina’s only-introduction version), but in several cases the national anthem will have to be played entirely (Chile’s national anthem).

Will FIFA notice that this is a problem and make changes to the 90 seconds rule? I do not know, but I hope that they notice that things are not black OR white only!

Does your country have a similar problem with the national anthems rule? Tell us in the comments!

 

References:

Giussani, P. (2014). Stop the music if you want! Fans keep singing national anthems after FIFA cuts them short. Obtenido de Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/world/stop-the-music-if-you-want-fans-keep-singing-national-anthems-after-fifa-cuts-them-short

González, F. R. (2018). México 1970, del autoritarismo a la alegría. Obtenido de Vavel: https://www.vavel.com/es/futbol-internacional/2018/05/16/914059-mexico-1970-del-autoritarismo-a-la-alegria.html

Marshall, A. (2015). Republic or Death!: Travels in Search of National Anthems. London: Random House Books.

Sports Desk. (2017). FIFA U17 World Cup: Chile’s National Anthem Cut Short, Players Complete it by Singing. Obtenido de India.com: https://www.india.com/sports/fifa-u17-world-cup-chiles-national-anthem-cut-short-players-continue-it-by-singing-2522012/