Singing for Abramovich? No chants & no thanks
BIGGER THAN A GAME
FOOTBALL fans throughout the country have their favourite chants.
Mine features England legend Tony Adams when he was at the height of his powers with Arsenal.
Back in the day, the Gunners were facing Aston Villa at Highbury and his head had been magnified on the back page – complete with donkey’s ears that had been drawn on by the graphic designers.
Memory fades as to what he had done wrong.
Suffice to say that he messed up at Highbury that afternoon, leading to a chorus of: “What a waste of carrots” from the visitors’ enclosure.
Yeah, I know, it’s not laugh-outloud funny but it made me smile.
Pretty much like that banner at Anfield the other week when West Ham were on Merseyside.
Obviously, Anfield has seen a fair few over the years from “Joey eats frogs’ legs” to those eulogising Messrs Shankly, Paisley and, latterly,
Jurgen Klopp. But whoever took the time and trouble to come up with: “Cats lives matter” when Kurt Zouma & Co rocked up on Merseyside… I humbly salute you.
Now, using the phrase ‘banter’ is about as cool these days as the cardigan I was given for Christmas – but that’s what it is.
And the best lines are normally those which are clever puns.
Anyone dropping the
F-bomb isn’t funny – it shows the lack of an ability to come up with a cutting alternative. Yes, it’s a major wonder how
Gordon Ramsay managed to get away with it for so long. However, there remain lines that should not be crossed.
And despite the tribalism that makes the sport what it is – and also adds to what it should not be – surely it’s time for right-thinking people to take a step back. Only those with severe issues would think it’s OK to sing a song about an air-crash in Munich.
Or poke fun of the Hillsborough tragedy.
This isn’t a plea to go easy on the opposition – it’s part and parcel of the game –and every chant doesn’t have to be clean, funny or an intelligent play on words.
But surely, those Chelsea fans standing in the away enclosure at Burnley last week or Norwich on Thursday night must be able to see that voicing support for deposed owner Roman Abramovich (above) isn’t on point at the moment.
It was bad enough last week – but despite the outpouring of condemnation they persisted at Carrow Road.
The leading item on the national news that day was the bombing of a maternity unit in Mariupol, Ukraine carried out as part of Russia’s despicable war.
The knock-on effect of the invasion has now seen Abramovich, an alleged associate of the bloke who started it, hit with sanctions by our Government.
No one has any problem with Chelsea’s supporters celebrating their history. It might be tainted now, but those trophies were won fair and square. But let’s have some perspective.
It was to be hoped that in 2022, we were all better than that.
Just because there’s a club crest on the shirt doesn’t mean that honour must be defended or celebrated at all costs, crossing the boundaries of common decency without a backward glance. That’s tribalism gone mad.
Some issues transcend all of that. And this, right now – despite what some Chelsea fans might think – is one of them.