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On television, the English crowds singing their songs is the EPL’s signature sound. People who attend a game for the first time say it sends a glorious shiver down the spine.
Last month however, some West Ham United fans made a noise that “sent a chill through the stadium”.
The singing that celebrated a team had descended into abuse of the opposition, Tottenham Hotspur. Nothing unusual about that given the tribal nature of the sport’s following, except they crossed a serious line.
Due to its large Jewish following Tottenham has often been a target of anti-Semitic chanting from opposition supporters, with Spurs fans – Jewish and non-Jewish – eventually claiming the title of Yid as their own. However fellow London club Chelsea took it to another awful level with chants like: “Hitler’s gonna gas ‘em again, we can’t stop them, the Yids from Tottenham”.
The aforementioned West Ham fans also made references to Hitler, but what chilled the people at White Hart Lane who heard it was the noise that followed: a hissing sound replicating the cyanide gas doing its work inside the Nazi death chambers.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said that incident highlighted a “lack of understanding or compassion within some sections of the British football world which needs to be addressed”.
Sadly, as The Times pointed out: “This was not ignorance – the fans who hissed knew perfectly well what they were doing and why it was offensive, that is why they did it”.
Most ardent sporting fans have felt guilty at some point for what their passion has made them do. Half way through an a abusive tirade at an opposition player, or umpire/referee you notice a child in front has turned towards you staring at with trepidation.
Did any of the West Ham United fans who hissed regret it immediately?
It’s important to remember that it is a small minority who take tribalism to this ugly extreme. These fans are somewhat estranged from their own clubs. The managers and players are wealthy stars who come from across the globe and many probably feel alien in their own club’s environment. They do their thing on the ground while the fans sing with, to and against each other.
The managers and players, of all people, would realise as they walk around the ground waving, that there are some ugly souls in that sea of adoring faces. West Ham’s own chairman David Gold is Jewish.
In 2002 British comedian and Chelsea fan David Baddiel said: “But I’m not blaming the club, there’s little that it can do. The mass nature of the anti-Semitism, the fact that it exists in songs and chants, is the key to its survival”.
These incidents are more common in football than the other codes. That is likely a result of the sheer number of the sport’s followers and the international nature of the game. Some say that because the game is non contact, the aggressive passsions generated by the contest are played out in the crowd, or on the street.
Just days before the White Hart Lane incident a gang of thugs attacked a group of Spur’s supporters in a Rome bar before a Europa League game against Lazio. It was assumed that the attackers were Lazio supporters but two of them who have been charged with attempted murder are, in fact, Roma fans.
But in a heartening address, the president of the Italian Football Federation Giancarlo Abete,apologised on behalf of the “whole Italian football family”, adding: “Once again unfortunately, football gave a handful of delinquents the excuse to take out their racist and antisemitic anger.” “I beg you to apologise on our behalf to all Tottenham fans and to those families directly
involved,”.
The songs of English football are clever, powerful and theatrical. At some stage against Tottenham the West Ham fans were probably singing: “I’m forever blowing bubbles/ Pretty bubbles in the air/ They fly so high, they reach the sky”. But then came the hissing. It was superbly theatrical as it affected all who heard it.
But it was a disgrace.
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