Crowd - singular or plural?

[El ringo feroz]

Hi,
Is crowd singular or plural? I mean: which of the following is the right one?

The crowd was shouting.
The crowd were shouting.
​

Thanks a lot!

 

[dexterciyo]

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1345394

 

[sound shift]

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1345394

According to this link, "crowd" takes a verb in the singular. I have no objection to "The crowd was shouting", but in British English, "crowd" can take a verb in the plural: "The crowd were going wild."