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Football chants are repetitive chants generated by the crowd at football (soccer) matches, particularly professional ones. This is especially true in the United Kingdom, where it is considered normal for the supporters to spend much of their time shouting at the players, opposing spectators, the referee, or just the world in general. They are intended to encourage the supporters' team, insult the opposition, or just make a noise. The chants themselves can vary enormously, from the simple and repetitive to the insulting to the inventive to the traditional. They frequently contain vulgar lyrics.
The simplest chant is just the name of the team shouted over and over again, often with clapping in the gap; e.g. "Oxford" (clap clap clap); "Oxford" (clap clap clap). Chants being nothing if not competitive, opposing supporters may respond by shouting an insulting word in the gap.
The next simplest chant, used when your team is ahead, is just the score repeated, e.g. "two nil; two nil", particulary if one the teams has scored recently, sung to a tune approximating "Amazing Grace".
It is believed that one of the earliest chants was written by Edward Elgar (a fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers). Elgar set the words "He banged the leather for goal!" to music in praise of Wolves player Billy Malpas. Elgar reused the tune in his oratorio Caractacus.
Chants can also support particular players. A common one is "One David Beckham! There's only one David Beckham" (or whoever). When an England international squad included two players both called Gary Stevens the chant became "Two Gary Stevens! There's only two Gary Stevens". Both are sung to the tune "Guantanamera", as are "Sing when you're winning, you only sing when you're winning" and (when an easy shot or a penalty is missed) "Score in a brothel, you couldn't score in a brothel". Most chants can be adapted to the name of almost any player. The one supporting Eric Cantona, "Ooh! Aah! Cantona! say Ooh Aah Cantona!", is unlikely to be reused, although Republic of Ireland fans adapted it to their iconic defender of the 1990s, Paul McGrath (whose name is pronounced "McGraw").
The song "Go West" by the Village People provides the melody for the common chant "You're shit, and you know you are" and many, many others, including more specialised chants such as "One nil, to the Arsenal" (which popularised the usage of "Go West" in English football), "Go West Bromwich Albion" and "Posh Spice takes it up the arse", made famous when Victoria Beckham mentioned it in her autobiography as an example of the less-than-warm welcome shown to her by fans of her new husband's team, Manchester United.
Another melody for chants is that of the hymn Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer which goes "Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me now and ever more! Feed me now and ever more". The most famous incarnation of this is "You're not singing, you're not singing, you're not singing any more! You're not singing any more!" sung when the opposition's supporters have stopped chanting as a result of losing a goal.
Further examples include:
Some football teams also have songs which are traditionally sung by their supporters. Probably the most famous of these are Liverpool's (or Rodgers and Hammerstein's) "You'll Never Walk Alone" and West Ham's (or Jaan Kenbrovin and John Kellette's) "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles".
Some chants form part of protest by the fans against the management of the club, usually if the majority of fans believe the manager should be sacked. Some chants might be a protest to the chairman not to sell a star player.
Another chant is "Who ate all the pies?", to the tune of "Knees Up Mother Brown", which is aimed at a supposedly overweight player or official.
Very often chants are abuse directed at an opposition player, particulary if an incident has happened that has irritated fans of the other team, for example if the player has appeared to have cheated to get a penalty kick. Abuse is also commonly directed at match officials, usually only the referee after a controversial decision has been made.
On 11 May 2004, Jonny Hurst was chosen as England's first 'Chant Laureate'
Barclaycard set up the competition to choose a Chant Laureate, to be paid £10,000 to tour Premiership stadiums and compose chants for the 2004-5 football season. The judging panel was chaired by the Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, who said "What we felt we were tapping into was a huge reservoir of folk poetry."
External Link
Chants are less extensive in rugby union but the Oggy Oggy Oggy chant first became popular on the terraces at Welsh rugby matches. England supporters sing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" for reasons which are not clear. (One widely held theory is that the practice originated at the match between England and Ireland at Twickenham in 1988, during which the former's Nigerian-born winger Chris Oti scored three tries.) The Welsh sing "Cwm Rhondda", which is the tune of the hymn "Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer". The New Zealand team (the All Blacks) are known for engaging in a ritual Maori haka before international matches. The Fiji team performs the cibi; the Samoa team the siva tau; and the Tonga team the sipa tau.
Chants are also used in other sports, including:
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