THE landlord of an Okehampton pub is asking his regulars and other locals to support a world cup anthem in the hope that it will be performed by the England Band currently supporting the England team in Qatar.

Rob Bass’s musically talented regulars, who call themselves the Kings Arms Collective, recorded When the Lions Roar for the World Cup back in 2018 in the bar of The Kings Arms.

It was set to music by record producer Richard Brown, a regular at the pub and featured Jordan Hookway on vocals and guitarist George Nixs, who has played for the likes of The Hollies, Suzi Quatro, Eric Clapton and Dire Straits.

The chorus, meanwhile, is provided by a choir of regulars.

The Kings Arms Collective went on to record another video of the song in Okehampton’s Simmons Park in 2019.

The video saw the group re-enact ‘what we felt were football’s greatest moments’ on the pitch in the park, with the backdrop of their anthem When the Lions Roar.

That video is still live on YouTube and Richard is urging people to now revisit the song on the site and give it the digital ‘thumbs up’.

He explained that the England Band, who give rousing support on a selection of brass band instruments, at all the England games.

Rob is in touch with a member of the England Band, and says that they have promised him they will play the song live if they get enough endorsement from England fans.

Rob said: ‘We got in touch with the offiical England Band last yearand sent them our song and they loved it.

‘The one I spoke to, John, said they get sent lots and lots of music and he said that ours was the best they had heard in 20 years.

‘It is catchy, they liked the beat to it.

‘They said they wanted to play it at the games but they needed the fans to know about it, so we are trying to get it out there, as widespread as we can. The more people who know about it, the more it will be shared.’

He said the song was getting new fans as it was aired once again in time for this year’s tournament.

‘One of our newer regulars listened to it and he came back later and said “I can’t get this song out of my head”.

He said that naturally local footie fans would be able to watch all the England games at his hostelry, in the bar as well on an extra large screen being rigged up in the beer garden.

Speaking last Thursday, he said: ‘We have got an extra TV as well for Sunday outside and we have got additional viewing areas which are out the back in the garden.

‘We have put in a smoking aera so people can watch it outside and hopefully they will not get too cold.’ The anthem will be played too, to get people in the mood. ‘We got such a good response the first time around,’ he said, ‘ we were laughing and joking about it this week.’

He urged everyone to get behind When the Lions Roar, and give it another listen, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaN5kax7PGg&feature=youtu.be