Disgraceful Fan Chants Are Shaming English Football

When I first started going to football matches in England, in the mid-1980s, the specter of hooliganism loomed large. Two decades of violence had seen to that, and for a parent taking their child to a game, it must have been an unnerving experience at times.

My initiation was a derby between Brighton and Crystal Palace at the now-defunct Goldstone Ground, complete with fencing to separate the fans from the pitch—and the fans from each other.

As I stood beside my dad that day in the Brighton end, the Palace fans were spitting through the bars like rabid animals. The Brighton fans returned the favor, and trouble flared at the train station shortly after the game.

In the years since, English football has done a decent job of marginalizing hooligans. Stadiums at the highest level are all-seaters, unruly fans are swiftly dealt banning orders and policing has advanced to ensure particularly volatile sets of supporters are kept apart if there's a potential for violence.

There's still trouble, and probably always will be, but if you're an average fan going about your business you probably won't see it. Let's put it this way—the chance of an innocent victim being beaten up by a fan at a Premier League game is virtually nil.

Hooligans generally fight other hooligans, and the prominence of surveillance cameras, along with the risk of criminal charges, means that typically happens away from the stadium.

All of this has made going to football matches a much more family-friendly experience in England than it was 25 years ago. At Old Trafford recently I saw toddlers and babies everywhere—their parents without the slightest concern that anything untoward could befall them.

But now there's a new problem. While our impressionable youth will likely be spared the sight of fans charging streets, armed with bottles and ready to fight, they are frequently being subjected to the kind of sick abuse you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

In recent weeks, the English game has witnessed a glut of disgraceful, distasteful fan chants, and we desperately need to do something about it.

In the Carling Cup tie between Leeds and Manchester United, groups of supporters on both sides of the rivalry crossed the line. Leeds fans mocked the Munich air disaster of 1958, United retorted with songs of their own about the murder of a Leeds fan in Istanbul.

On Sunday, the north London derby was marred by a similar lack of morality in the stands. Arsenal fans taunted Emmanuel Adebayor by singing about the ambush on the Togo national team bus, which killed three people. Tottenham supporters called Arsene Wenger a pedophile.

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"It should have been you, it should have been you, Shot in Angola. It should have been you." - Arsenal fans to Adebayor on Sunday.

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Both incidents have prompted investigations by the English Football Association, while Spurs and Arsenal released a joint statement promising to search out the perpetrators and deal out swift justice in the matter.

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"Neither club tolerates foul language, racist chanting, homophobic chanting or any anti-social behavior from its supporters. We shall be working closely with each other to identify the individuals involved." - Spurs manager Harry Redknapp.

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It's clear something needs to be done. Match-going fans will tell you these weren't isolated incidents, and there seems to be an escalation in how far select groups of supporters will let their hatred go.

Perhaps what used to be mindless violence is now being channeled into mindless verbal abuse?

The problem the authorities have is how to deal with it. Match-day stewards can't be expected to put their safety on the line by pulling offenders out of their seats, and it's probably not all that easy to catch somebody in the act.

The only hope is that CCTV, used retrospectively, can identify the guilty parties and they be dealt banning orders immediately from all football grounds.

English football needs to find a solution before a song sparks a riot and we find ourselves back in the 1980s.