What to do When Jerusalem Plays?

Some advice for any medal-winning English at the Commonwealth Games: bring War and Peace to read, or the Lords of the Rings trilogy on an i-pad to watch as you stand for the anthems.

After the weird decision to use Jerusalem as England's official anthem you're going to need to find something to do with yourself, for quite some time.

Watching Fran Halsall listen to Hubert Parry's epic on top of the podium yesterday in Delhi was hilarious because a) she didn't know the words and resembled MP John Redwood fluffing the words to the Welsh national anthem and b) she started to look around nervously as Jerusalem went on, and on, and on, and on, and on, trying very hard not to burst out laughing.

The organisers of these Calamity Games will be hoping England do not win too many more medals or the Games, like the Ryder Cup, may need a few extra days due the constant playing of Jerusalem.

An on-line poll asking which anthem should be used for England decided to go for Jerusalem instead of Land of Hope and Glory. In turned out that this choice was made by 900 people representing an English population of some 55 million people. 900!

And so, good Sportsvibe followers, prepare yourself for another 9 days of Jersualem. If England win a further 30 gold medals, which is possible, that's a whole hour of listening to Jerusalem. Like I said, bring a book. A big book!