LONDON, 9 December 2003 — Braving icy temperatures and singing their hearts out, hundreds of thousands of fans thronged the streets of central London yesterday to salute England’s World Cup winning rugby squad on a victory parade of the capital.
Shop fronts were draped in England flags and adorned with balloons as fans hung out of windows to catch a glimpse of their heroes aboard two-open topped buses.
Under heavy police and horse escort, the buses crawled through London’s plush West End, passing the banks of fans dressed in England rugby kit, waving flags and singing the team’s unofficial anthem Swing Low Sweet Chariot.
A third bus, which like the others was emblazoned with images of the players in their official kit, carried journalists on the three-kilomter) journey.
The players and coach Clive Woodward were being honored after the team’s historic World Cup final win against Australia in Sydney last month. Queen Elizabeth II was to receive the squad later at Buckingham Palace for tea, ahead of an official reception at Downing Street hosted by Prime Minister Tony Blair. The one-and-a-half hour victory parade set off from Marble Arch at midday (1200 GMT), coming to a halt at Trafalgar Square where thousands more fans waited to cheer the players.
Standing aboard the buses, the players, including captain Martin Johnson and star of the tournament Jonny Wilkinson, paraded the golden Webb Ellis Cup in between waving to the screaming crowds and taking pictures of their own. England became the first Northern Hemisphere nation to win the trophy following their 20-17 victory over Australia last month thanks to a last-gasp drop goal from Wilkinson.
It was the country’s biggest team success since England’s footballers won the World Cup in 1966. Around ten thousand fans had already converged on London’s Heathrow Airport to welcome the rugby squad home.
Some fans waited through the night to grab prime viewing spots in Trafalgar Square, which had been specially fitted out with giant television screens. The squad and their families were to visit Buckingham Palace followed by an official reception at Downing Street with Blair, who returned a day early from a Commonwealth summit in Nigeria for the occasion.
Christopher Blakey, from Oxford, attended the parade with his two sons, Nathan, 9, and Connor, 11 — who like many children had taken the day off school to salute their heroes.
“We got up at 5:30 a.m. to come here,” said their father, holding a banner that read: “Thank you all Sweet Chariots”.
Jessica French, 17, from Kent told AFP: “I came to celebrate a unique day in England’s rugby history.”
