Remember this? August 2001

We dig through the archives once again and recall some of the memories that have moulded us into a finely tuned PA team at the Madstad!

August 14th, 2001. England U21 v Holland U21. It's International night and the Madejski Stadium is playing host to the Dutch Under 21 side on behalf of the England Under 21 team and of course, the FA.

Acutely aware of the need to get the anthems correct for the pre match presentations, the PA team methodically go through the procedures for playing the correct music. With the help of a Dutch speaking RFC official and a CD box set entitled 'National Anthems of the World', all agree on the correct music.

At the appropriate moment the music is played. What the PA team fail to notice, and fail to look for, are the blank, almost shamed expressions of the Dutch team as the airwaves are filled with the 'Dutch' national anthem. The wrong anthem is being played.

Dutch FA officials hit the roof! The FA hit the roof! The wrong version has been played. The ignorant PA staff knew nothing of this, other that the aforementioned CD which included a long and short version of their anthem. Officials from all sides complain. Nobody takes the full blame, it is just another day in the lives of the PA team!!

The Times, Daily Express, The Sun and the Telegraph all take great delight in reporting the cock up in the following morning's match summary,

Strangely this cock up, didn't affect the Madstad's status as an international venue. Once all the apologies had been made, further internationals have been hosted there since at Under 21 and Under 20 level and on these occasions all national anthems were vetted and provided by the FA.