5 of the most disrespectful crowd chants in football

PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 13:  France fans walk outside the stadium prior to the International Friendly match between France and England at Stade de France on June 13, 2017 in Paris, France.  (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Fans at Tuesday’s France vs. England game were respectful, but that isn’t always the case

When England played France on Tuesday one of the most memorable moments actually came before the game started, as the teams walked onto the pitch to the sound of Oasis’ Don’t Look Back In Anger, a tribute to the victims of the recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester. The memorable part? The crowd singing along with every lyric and then observing the minute’s silence perfectly.

Unfortunately, football fans aren’t always that respectful. Not only have fans in the past been heard to sing some despicable songs referring to events outside the realm of football, but they have also been heard to poke fun at some of the game’s most terrible tragedies over the years. It’s impossible to put these in order, but here are five of the most disrespectful crowd chants in football history.

#1 England fans chanting about World War II

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The football rivalry between England and Germany is one of the most memorable in the game but it’s also one of the most respectful, at least on the pitch. Both sides have seen massive wins come against the other and the pendulum always seems to swing back and forth between the two depending on the generation of players, but across all of the games, the players have always shown nothing but respect for one another.

The same can’t be said about the fans, particularly from an England point of view. Despite World War II coming to an end well over seventy years ago now – meaning practically none of the current fans can remember the horrors that occurred – England fans just can’t seem to forget about it, not can they seem to allow the German fans to forget either.

Whenever England play Germany, chants of “Two World Wars and one World Cup!” can be heard from the fans of the Three Lions, as can a shameful song about “one German bomber in the air....and the English RAF shot him down”. It’s not exactly a fine use of history inside football and the World War II references make both chants some of the most disrespectful in the game.

#2 Anti-Semitic chants against Tottenham Hotspur

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Traditionally, the fanbase of Tottenham Hotspur has had a large Jewish contingent, namely due to the club’s popularity in its early days with the Jewish immigrants who settled in North London. Despite the club being far more global these days – and most likely, sporting more non-Jewish fans than genuinely Jewish ones – it seems that the rival clubs of London – namely West Ham, Chelsea and Arsenal – can’t focus on anything else, regularly using anti-Semitic songs to taunt the Spurs faithful.

Sure, it’s one thing for them to sing “where’s your foreskin gone?” in reference to the Jewish custom of circumcision. It’s almost funny in fact, as far as quasi-racism goes. Singing about the Holocaust, Hitler and the gas chambers though – as West Ham fans did in 2012 - is a step way too far in the wrong direction. The fans were heard to be singing “Hitler’s coming for you!” and also imitated the hissing of gas chambers. It’s pretty despicable.

Some would argue that Tottenham fans bring it on themselves by using the term ‘Yid Army’ to describe themselves, as the word “yid” is a racial slur to describe a Jewish person, but surely Holocaust references are too disrespectful, even for the most hardened hooligans?

#3 Liverpool and Leeds using the Dambusters theme to refer to the Munich Air Disaster

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1958’s Munich Air Disaster was one of the most tragic incidents in the history of football. Manchester United – returning from a European Cup match against Red Star Belgrade – were taking off from Munich airport following a refuelling stop when disaster struck and the aeroplane they were flying in crashed on the runway due to slush on the ground.

Eight of United’s players – including the legendary Duncan Edwards – died that night, decimating Matt Busby’s side. It’s an incident only remembered as a tragedy, but unfortunately, as far as some of Liverpool and Leeds United’s fans are concerned, it’s fuel for a sick chant.

The fans imitate aeroplanes flying with their arms outstretched while singing the theme song from the old movie The Dambusters. The word ‘Munich’ is admittedly never mentioned but everyone knows what the song means – after all, Liverpool and Leeds are probably United’s most heated rivals outside of their neighbours Manchester City, who unfortunately as of late have used other inflammatory songs about Munich.

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It’s quite despicable but United’s fans certainly aren’t innocent when it comes to disrespectful chants, as we’ll see next.

#4 Always the victims, never your fault

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While Liverpool’s use of the Dambusters theme is highly offensive to the fans of Manchester United, they seem to have found an equally deplorable chant to aim at the fans of the Reds in retaliation. “Always the victims, never your fault!” or so the chant goes, and it’s a highly offensive reference to arguably the most infamous and tragic incident in English football history.

The Hillsborough Disaster took place in April 1989 and saw 96 Liverpool fans killed when the South Yorkshire Police attempted to alleviate overcrowding in one of Hillsborough’s stands by opening another gate, which simply led to an influx of even more supporters, in turn causing a major incident inside the ground that crushed a number of people to death.

Despite inquests since the incident proving that Liverpool’s fans were not to blame and the incident was caused by mistakes made by the police force as well as the state of football grounds at the time causing general overcrowding, the idea of Liverpool fans making themselves into the “victims” still holds strong with United fans, who regularly use the disrespectful chant to upset Liverpool’s contingent.

Even more painfully, Liverpool’s city rivals Everton – usually a friendly rivalry – have been heard to sing the song too, despite many calls for fans to stop using the “sick” chant.

#5 England’s singing about the IRA

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While England fans referring to World War II and taunting the Germans only tends to happen when the Three Lions play against their German rivals, offensive songs referring to the ‘Troubles’ in Ireland and anti-IRA chants can usually be heard at any England game against any opponents.

The usual song tends to be an adaption of the hymn Give Me Joy In My Heart with the lyrics slightly changed. “Keep St. George in my heart, keep me English” and then “No surrender to the IRA”. Other songs involving flutes and offensive chants towards the Pope have also been heard, too.

Again, it’s a gross misuse of history in football; the IRA has barely been active since at least the late 1990’s now and the ‘Troubles’ largely ended when Tony Blair’s government and the political parties of Ireland drew up the Good Friday Agreement in 1999 and ended open hostilities.

Since the agreement England have only played the Republic of Ireland twice a 1-1 draw in 2013 and a 0-0 draw in 2015 – but the chants still persist. I have no idea why this is, but there’s no denying that they’re some of the most disrespectful chants in football.

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Edited by Staff Editor