FRANCE 98 – Marine Regiment Prepares for France-South Africa
The 72nd Marine Regiment (R.I.M) have been actively preparing for the FRANCE – SOUTH AFRICA (Group C) match, Friday 12 June, in MARSEILLE. The regiment will have the distinguished honour of playing the teams’ national anthems before the start of the match. “FIFA gave us the orchestral score a month ago and since then, we’ve been rehearsing the South African national anthem every day”, explained Major Lison, the R.I.M military band leader.
The R.I.M also has thirty other national anthems to learn, as MARSEILLE is hosting a last sixteen match, a quarter final and a semi-final and the qualifying teams are not yet known. “We even have to learn the national anthems of teams which have little chance of getting past the first round”, explained a member of the military band, smiling.
The French national anthem will not be a problem for the R.I.M as they perform it more than a hundred times each year. The Iranian and Jamaican national anthems will doubtless be more difficult to remember!
“We’ll be up to scratch if there’s an Iran-Jamaica match” concludes Major Lison.