Ard Matthews

Unless you have been hiding under a rock you would have seen or heard about the National Anthem mishap last night.

Ard Matthews, founder and lead singer of Just Jinjer has been preparing for weeks for what he calls, “one of the greatest honours of my life”. Ard was requested to sing the National Anthem at the Springbok World Cup squad announcement.

He botched it up. He froze and he forgot the words and let’s be honest here, how many of us, including some of the rugby squad, mumble the parts where we can’t pronounce certain words or they are beyond our grasp of the language.

If you have watched it, you will know that it is not anywhere near the disaster that was Ras Dumisani. If you haven’t seen it and want to watch it you can view it here:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu6IG0Wx19w and you will realise that it was not anywhere near as tragic as the media and the nasty people, who jump at the chance to knock someone down, made it out to be.

I have been watching Just Jinjer perform since 1997 when they played their first concert in my hometown in KZN and I have been a devote fan since. Ard is a true performer who loves his music and his country.

John Smit, SA Springbok Captain and friend of Ard was interviewed by SuperSport and what he says is so true;

“People who know Ard know how passionate he is about South Africa; he even has a tattoo of Africa on his arm – he’s one of the most patriotic people I know. This was like a test debut for him. He was so excited to be doing this. Mistakes happen. Nothing I said could make him feel better.”

Ard; you made a mistake; I do not know one person who, in whatever work they do, has not made an error at some point or another.

So let the critics crit you and let the media trash you but never forget that those people make up a minority and all you have to do is check Twitter or your Facebook page to see just how much support you have.