Entertainer to launch campaign against RWC song

Incensed over the choice of a British song for the 2011 Rugby World Cup theme, a well known NZ entertainer and poet is starting a campaign to change the song to a New Zealand one.

A cover of the Jesus Jones' song Right Here, Right Now would be performed by The Feelers, it was announced yesterday.

The Christchurch band's take on the British group's hit would be heard on advertisements for World Cup tickets, the first of which would go on public sale on April 27,

McCormick told NZPA the choice of song "reeks of all that colonialism again".

"The people of New Zealand are stumping up a couple of hundred million dollars so far and rising towards this World Cup and it's being held in New Zealand, the very least we can do is have a New Zealand song for the anthem for the World Cup...

"It's been sort of foisted upon us. It's not ours, and the very least we're entitled to hear is our song."

His preferred song was Loyal by Dave Dobbyn, which "would sound wonderful reverberating round the stands".

Loyal was used by Team New Zealand in its 2002 America's Cup campaign, and was chosen as New Zealand's greatest song ever in a 2006 survey.

Right Here, Right Now was being used in a campaign by Ford Motor Company this year, and had previously been used by Kmart, American cable channel TechTV, and a Canadian political candidate.

McCormick's intended campaign would be run through the website of radio station More FM, where he co-hosted a breakfast show.

He was aiming to create a petition which would be passed on to the Rugby World Cup organisers, but he did not believe it had a great chance of success.

Rugby World Cup 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden said yesterday that he was confident the song would catch on.

"I think it is something that, come rugby World Cup time, we are going to hear people singing from the terraces, from the embankment and maybe even from the stands."

Snedden said Right Here, Right Now was chosen because it told the story of a significant moment in history, which was worldwide in its importance but also enormous for one particular country.

The song, originally released in 1990, was inspired by events that led to the end of the Cold War, including the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The lyrics include: "I was alive and I waited for this

Right here, right now, there is no other place I want to be."

Prime Minister John Key, who attend the unveiling in Auckland of the World Cup ticketing process, had no qualms about an overseas song, rather than a New Zealand one, being used, saying it was a catchy tune.

"It's an international event and sometimes using an international song that's so well known make a lot of sense," he said.

"It's a decision that the various organising bodies have made. We are going to support that and it's going to be part of the package that people will hear right around the world."

- NZPA