Athletes representing Scotland at the Commonwealth Games are to decide which anthem is played when the nation’s medal winners mount the victory podium in New Delhi next October.

With no official Scotland anthem there is to be a vote amongst competitors, starting with four tunes: Scotland the Brave, Flower of Scotland, Highland Cathedral and Loch Lomond.

These will be whittled down to two by guests attending the Commonwealth Games Scotland awards dinner in Glasgow on Saturday night. The four tunes will be performed by students from the Royal Scottish Academy of Arts, Music and Drama.

The process will conclude in January, when prospective members of the 2010 Commonwealth Games team will decide which tune is played whenever the Saltire is raised.

The subject of an official national anthem has always been a touchy one. Flower of Scotland, written in 1965 by the late Roy Williamson of The Corries, has nudged to the head of the rankings but is disliked by many Scottish audiences, who describe it as anti-English and a dirge.

It is played at all Scotland football and rugby internationals, with the singing often led by Williamson’s former Corries partner Ronnie Browne, but it has never been the anthem at any Commonwealth Games. Scottish team officials have preferred Scotland the Brave ever since it replaced Robbie Burns’s doom-laden Scots Wha Hae in 1958.

Neither Highland Cathedral, a pipe tune written by two German musicians in 1982, nor Loch Lomond, which is the oldest tune and was revitalised by the folk rock band Runrig in the 1970s, has featured as a sporting anthem at a major event. It is thought that they are likely to be voted out by the traditionalists on Saturday, even though Highland Cathedral is regarded by some as more befitting a modern nation.

Gregor Tait, who has won five Commonwealth swimming medals, including two golds at the last Games in Melbourne in 2006, has fond memories of Scotland the Brave. “To see the flag being raised to Scotland the Brave made me feel Scottish and proud,” he said. “Whatever anthem is chosen this time, it must be able to evoke those same feelings.”

Michael Cavanagh, chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland, wants the issue of an official anthem resolved by the time Glasgow hosts the Games in 2014. “Hopefully by that time one will be nationally recognised and endorsed through our Parliament. One that the whole of Scotland can unite behind,” he said.

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