Enchantment: The Power of the Futbol Chant
There are plenty of valid reasons to be disappointed in the United States but among my most trivial grievances with this country is our weak sports culture. Our “greatest” sporting event is nothing but a vessel for advertisements and live musical performances which really encapsulates everything we’re all about here in the good ol’ US of A: Family friendly entertainment that makes our corporate overlords wads of cash while we’re served diluted product (I did hear that Kendrick Lamar is about to call Drake a pedophile on live television though, that’s pretty primetime if you ask me but an anomaly nonetheless). You can argue that college football has a cult following and it does, but can they do it on a cold rainy night at Stoke? I don’t think so. Fortunately for you domestic readers, I carry the burden of knowing exactly what goes on beyond our bubble of spoon-fed American entertainment. And I fear it is infinitely more electric.
Like choirboys in a church (ok maybe not quite choir boys), football fans around the world worship their clubs like it’s a religion and belt out chants like they’re hymns. While this fanatical display of love can come across tribal and militant, this boisterous atmosphere is a way of life for many all across the world. It is a showing of community, a showing of passion, a true representation of the power of numbers. Truthfully, it’s exactly what it looks like sometimes and things can get primitive. Violent even (it’s a war call after all). But I think that holds true for all large groups of drunk men, it’s just human nature. Regardless of this, there is an undeniable magic to the football chant.
There’s nothing artificial about the roar of the ultras, who are a football clubs most loyal and dedicated supporter base. A beautiful aspect of this phenomenon is the ability to make change and have the common man’s voice heard. There are plenty of clubs with political ties such as St. Pauli and Union Berlin who voice their feelings so loud that they could not be ignored. It even leads to real change. Fans all over Germany successfully protested outside investment and commercialization of their league through various means, with chants being the backbone of their valiant efforts. On the flip side, not all ultras are virtuous, and a few groups of bad apples have perpetuated the right wing hooliganism that outsiders and casuals are warned about when traveling for games. A rapper who will not be named has even made a #1 song by integrating these proto-fascist themes in his instrumental and ironically cooked up the TikTok rizz party anthem. Chanting is a powerful action and ultimately strikes a chord in people that either elicits great joy or immense fear.
On the brighter side of things, the English have perfected the art of banterous chanting. Seemingly out of thin air they’ll have thousands of people singing a song that was created a mere 5 seconds ago, in unison and on beat, and it’s extremely impressive. A lot of these are hilarious, self aware, and would never fly at an American sports game, but as one YouTube commenter says, ”Self-deprecating jokes and banter is a part of British culture. Most Americans on the other hand, cant stand being a butt of a joke..” and it’s true. Could you imagine Americans singing “You’re nothing special, we lose every week”? It wouldn’t happen. Our obsession with winning is too ingrained into our collective conscious and it creates a lot of self serious, butt hurt losers. Not to say that doesn’t exist in England, but we are devoid of the brand of humor that makes English football fans so great. There’s also an extreme lack of creativity coming from our side of the pond. While we chant the incredibly boring “De-Fense” at every game, those blokes are singing about someone in the stands eating a pie. We are no match for the British football hivemind.
Whether it’s an attempt at change, rattling opponents, or simply to lighten the mood when your club is playing like shit, football chants are beautiful part of sporting culture that I wish was prevalent here. Sometimes they’re for the better and sometimes they’re for worse, but either we they go infinitely harder than our weak and corporately manufactured chants that are queued up for us to see on a jumbotron at predetermined timestamps. There’s an element of magic and an element of humanity that I feel we’re missing here, but maybe it’s for the better. We can’t have shit in America.
Stay up to date
Follow our Instagram
RELATED STORIES
NEW VIDEO
