AUTHOR: – Bricki
I witnessed two excellent games this weekend. I was lucky enough to be at Old Trafford for what turned out to be a very entertaining game against Arsenal and i was able to watch the FA Youth Cup game between Liverpool and United via MUTV.
Both games contained some fantastic skill, drama and what we all love to see… Goals. However, both games also contained an unsavory side of the game that needs to be addressed and has no excuses.
I am course talking about some of the vile and downright offensive chanting that took place at both games.
In the last few years Sir Alex Ferguson has had to use his programme notes on the chants that Arsene Wenger has had to face when he visits Old Trafford. I’m sure many of you are aware that the chant in question likens Wenger to a paedophile. It is a horrible chant and still occurred Saturday in the early stages of the game, it was replaced as the game went on by ‘Sit down you paedophile’ as he emerged from the bench. There is no justification for this chant and everytime it is sung it drags the club and its supporters down to a gutter level.
We then came to the game at Anfield between two ‘youth’ teams, lets not forget that point in all this. Any game between the two clubs will be hotly contested as it is a case of playing for the badge and local pride. This game was no different with 5 goals, 4 red cards and scuffles between players. However it could be said that both sets of fans let themselves down in the great contest that happened yesterday with the chanting that took place. Chants about Munich, Hillsborough and Heysel came from both sides so this piece is not going to take sides saying one side is right and one i’snt. As far as I’m concerned it is all disgraceful and nobody has any credit in the argument.
I am 28, i wasn’t born when Munich happened, don’t remember Heysel and have the slightest recollection of the Hillsborough disaster. Why would i need to chant about these subjects? It doesn’t affect the game today, doesn’t affect the rivalry between the clubs and is the most unimaginative way of trying to ‘taunt’ the opposition fans.
There is a ‘tribal’ element to supporting a club that has started to rear its head again in recent years after a decline of sorts during the mid 90s which i believe occurred due to the introduction of all seater stadiums and more families starting to attend games.
An ignorance of the behaviour that has started to come back into grounds is no excuse. Any discussion regarding this topic becomes a tit for tat affair amid claims of ‘well they started it’. That is not good enough in the society we live in today, we rightly condemn other countries that allow behaviour such as racist abuse from the stands to go largely unpunished. Whilst i am not suggesting that these chants are in the same bracket as racism/homophobia (that is a different topic altogether) we are breeding a new generation of fans who will grow up singing about these incidents and also singing things to players/managers such as the song aimed at Arsene Wenger and feel this is acceptable.
One of the most emotional moments i have witnessed in a ground was the Manchester Derby that occurred on the anniversary of the Munich disaster. All the build up before the game was about whether the Manchester City fans would observe the minutes silence at the start. This was never in doubt however and my view from the top of the North Stand was a magnificent one. Thousands of fans with red/black and blue/white scarves raised in the air as an amazing silence fell over the ground. I had a Manchester City fan in the United crowd with me, this lad was only 15 years old. He turned to me at the end of the minutes silence and just said that this moment would live with him forever.
For me this is what the game should be about, moments like Munich, Hillsborough and Heysel have shaped the clubs they have affected and also shaped the game itself in this country. For this reason i am proposing that as fans we are stand together and attempt to eradicate this from our game.
Crawley Town had an incident with a ‘fan’ on a club video prior to their trip to Old Trafford for the FA Cup game. The swift manner they identified and removed the fan, who was then subject to criminal prosecution shows it can be done and with the clubs we can fight this pathetic behaviour.
The question that needs asking now is…
If this is the ‘minority’ that we all say it is, why can’t we stand up and remove this from our game? Failure to act is as bad as the chanting itself, but by allowing this behaviour to happen are we allowing the minority to in fact become the ‘majority’?
The onus rests with us as fans, failure to act could result in this behaviour becoming commonplace and once the cat is out the bag its very difficult to catch it again.
We all talk about the Respect campaign for Officials but what ‘Respect’ can we have as fans if we fail to act on what is happening right in front of our faces…
Some great points raised.
It would be fantastic if fans could self-police and let those purveying this kind of abuse know that it is unacceptable. To an extent this does happen in terms of racist abuse/chanting (at least in England) – although as an Arsenal fan I have heard anti-semitic abuse from the crowd during Tottenham games that wasn’t challenged.
As a realist, however, I just don’t think self-policing is going to solve the problem. I really think the onus should be on the clubs to start removing perpetrators, en masse if needs be. Sure, it would be logistically difficult, particularly if there is a large number of people doing it, but after a few times surely the message will get through?
Very well said. Wholeheartedly agree. Sadly, it appears that in football no-one cares about morality, decency or fairness. All that matters is that you have hurt the other one. It seems that less and less emphasis is put on the actual football played. The media drives a lot of this in my opinion. They turn everything into being about personality, anxiety, mockery and insult. Could very well turn me off the game altogether 1 day. It is the football itself and the “sporting” values that we used to hold so dear in this country that I like. To be British used to be synonymous with fair play and decency. “I salute you sir, you may have lost but you gave it a jolly good go, bad luck old boy” etc etc. Bring back sporting behaviour. Life is too short for the rest.
Well said Bricki! I do remember Heysel, Hillsborough and the old Munich chanting and I was saddened to hear the chanting at the Youth Cup match. The United ‘supporters’ who were making the chants should be ashamed of themselves. As for the Man City semi, the last few times I have been to Wastelands the City fans have been willing to attack United fans for simply wearing a scarf. They just get giddy. Wembley is a day out and to be enjoyed. Can City fans actually behave when given a day out? I doubt it..but hopefully United fans will rise above the numpties.
Can I just say what an excellent piece that is. I am a Gooner and was at the game on Saturday. I’ve been to most of the games between Arsenal and Man Utd at home and away for the last 10 years or so. I think it has got a little bit better at O-T the last couple of years and credit to Ferguson for at least trying to do something about it. It really is an awful, vicious and completely bizarre song given there’s clearly no basis for it whatsoever. I also have to give the Arsenal fans some credit that I’ve never heard them sing the ‘Munich song’ in ‘retaliation’ which is almost surprising given the level many football fans stoop to. Have the MU fans ever considered that?? I’m glad we don’t as it really would be a depressing experience hearing both songs and it’s bad enough listening to the Minority of low-life MU fans who continue with theirs. Football fans are always at their best with witty/funny songs and should stick to those.
Well said. I must say some of the Adebayor comments I have had to read on the internet have disgusted me as much as the Wenger is a p***o chants and the Van Persie is a r****t chants (you know what they are). I must say unless my memory is wrong or I misheard it at the Arsenal vs Chelsea game where Kanu got his hat trick at the Bridge, one chant was “Graham Le Saux’s girlfriend is only four” Being seven at the time I didn’t understand the chant then, as I do ten and a half years later.
@1971Gooner Arsenal fans generally are good RE Munich chants, however political journalist, David Stringer said that on the train up to Manchester on Saturday… “On a train up to Manchester, packed with Arsenal fans amusing themselves by singing the Munich song. Despicable” – think that must have been a rare one-off incident though, can’t say I know of any other examples
Well said. That song is disgusting and says a whole lot more about the ‘fans’ that sing it than the great man himself. Have to say, have followed Arsenal home and away for the best part of 25 years and have never heard the munich song once. Worst thing about Saturday is that you can’t even argue it was a minority of fans – it wasn’t. Come on Man U fans fans, show just a little bit of class.
Sorry guys yet again you twisted the story to suit you. National papers and sky reported only unsavory chants from the united end for the youth quarter final at afield. And whilst you can’t blame the mostly family fans there a small element brings the game in to disrepute. Don’t blame Liverpool for this. As for the Wenger chants there again united vile. And completely unfounded. No class in some sections of the ground.
Regardless of press reports there were songs from both sides yesterday however my point is based along the point that both sets of fans have been guilty of these chants, the article doesnt attempt to blame one side or the other. If you choose to deny it happens then you are fundamentally part of the problem. In terms of the Wenger chant from Saturday it was still there but on a much smaller scale than usual so hopefully the message is getting through. As a previous comment states arsenal fans were apparently singing Munich songs on train up but I stress that’s rumour.
In the end every club has it’s fans of this nature and all need eradicating rather than denying or justifying…
Errr, you openly state that you weren’t at Anfield; I was I didn’t hear any Munich chants. Plenty of ‘Murderers’ chants though.
The point of the article isnt about the events of sunday, i was using that as merely a starting point for the ridiculousness of the chanting at a Youth game. Both sides have been guilty of the chanting regardless of when it occured so trying to say one side is worse than the other isnt the idea. Ive been at Old Trafford and heard both sides do it, ive heard lots of different fans do it. I am intending to raise awareness of the stupdity of all involved and the fact it needs cutting out so ‘Bricking it’ – continue to think it is just one side doing it but then you are as deluded as the fans from all clubs that actually sing this garbage…