Football is certainly rock and roll these days and it’s equally fair to say that music and the beautiful game are a match made in heaven.
 
That’s clearly the view of Steve Banyard, a football commentator for TV, who has put together an England song before the start of next month’s World Cup.
 
Entitled ‘Let’s Hear It England’, this is nothing like World Cup anthems of yesteryear when the likes of Kevin Keegan, Glenn Hoddle and John Barnes tried to show they could hit the high notes in a recording studio as well as on the football pitch.
 
And while they had better voices than many an X Factor wannabe, Banyard was determined to go down a very different route ahead of Russia 2018.
 
So he got together a group of school pupils from Cheltenham, a very well-known male voice choir and some leading football commentators to form a group called The DC Klub, who have released a charity football single that Banyard says is “a bit of fun”.
 
The pupils are from Dean Close, the choir is the Cotswold Male Voice Choir and the commentators – Steve Wilson, Ian Darke, Guy Mowbray, Martin Tyler, Rob Hawthorne, Clive Tyldesley, Peter Drury and Jon Champion – are all well-known names in the football world.
 
Banyard, 54, wrote the words and music to the song and is a former member of the Cotswold Male Voice Choir, with whom he used to rehearse at Dean Close.
 
“I knew they had a brilliant music department at the school,” said Banyard, “and I wanted to give the song a youthful and energetic feel.”
 
The Cotswold Male Voice Choir and the eight commentators add healthy weight to the final production and Banyard added: “It’s very light-hearted. We wanted it to be fun and really catchy. Hopefully people will enjoy it.”
 
Banyard’s decision to have school pupils fronting the song – there are 12 aged 14 to 18 who took part in the recording and there are five featured singers – was motivated by England’s World Cup wins at under-17 and under-20 age groups last year.
 
“What we saw last year was a great energy and enthusiasm from England’s youngsters,” explained Banyard, who lives in the Cotswolds. “The teenagers set the tone, and I wanted that kind of energy and enthusiasm to front the song.”
 
Banyard, who has worked at three of the last four World Cups, won’t be going to Russia next month so he will get the chance to be a fan again.
 
So how does he think England will do?
 
“I think because of our recent record the expectations aren’t so high now,” he said. “But I think we’re in quite a favourable group with Tunisia and Panama.
 
“Belgium are our biggest obstacle and we play them last, but I’d hope that we’d get out of the group. 
 
“Then it’s the knockout stage and the possibility of penalty shootouts, which we reference in the song.
 
“We all want England to do well. I’ve worked with Gareth Southgate in the past and I’d love to see us win it.”
 
That’s a sentiment shared by every English football fan, of course.
 
And if they did, then surely Banyard and his pals will produce a follow-up single to ‘Let’s Hear It England’ – maybe an updated version of ‘We Are The Champions’!
 
To listen to ‘Let’s Hear It England’, visit www.theDCKlub.com