Come on, Fulham!

Attended my first football game last night. Fulham v. Middlesborough ("Middls-bruh") at Craven Cottage stadium in London. Awesome, but much more so for the atmosphere and people watching than for the athleticism. Fulham isn't doing so well, and Middlesborough didn't look all that hot either. It was more like going to a triple A baseball game.

I had grand plans to take lots of photos but learned at the last minute that cameras are not allowed into the stadium, so I left mine home. And I had grand plans to record the chants to share with you, but long story short I screwed up and there are no recordings.

It's too bad, because we were in the rowdy seats, which was like the bleachers at Yankee Stadium, times ten, plus on crack. Apparently it was not all that rowdy as football games go. And they take protective measures: fans from opposing teams are segregated into different sections and they don't serve beer. But I still had the feeling, surrounded by a hoard of 20 year old guys screaming and swearing til their carotid arteries were pulsing visibly, that a fight could break out at any second.

The cops seemed to think so, too. There were plenty of them sprinkled in the stands, wearing earpieces and relentlessly scanning for the first sign of trouble. And there were droves of mounted riot police lining the street outside to corral any hooligans. (As an aside, did you know that they make riot visors for horses? Take a look.)

But anyway, back to the chants.

There's the classic, straight forward "Come on, Fulham"

Come on, Fulham!
Come on, Fulham!
Come on, Fulham!
(listen)

Then there's "We are Fulham" (FFC stands for Fulham Football Club. The guy screaming his head off in this clip was sitting right behind us last night, I think):

We are Fulham,
We are Fulham,
We are Fulham,
FFC,
We are Fulham,
Super Fulham,
We are Fulham,
Fuck Chelsea!
( listen)



Of course, it doesn't matter that they aren't playing Chelsea. They hate Chelsea and will take any opportunity to broadcast it from the rooftops, as in this little ditty which was repeated over and over:

Stand Up If You Hate Chelsea,
Stand Up If You Hate Chelsea,
Stand Up If You Hate Chelsea,
Stand Up If You Hate Chelsea..
(listen)

They're not super sophisticated, these chants. For example:

You're shit
And you know you are
You're shit
And you know you are

Or, after the Middlesborough fans in the opposing stands failed to respond, in song, to our section's chants:

Your support is fucking shit
Your support is fucking shit
Your support is fucking shit

While surfing around trying to find some football chant clips, I came across this song, Fields of Athenry, which is an Irish folk song about the famine that has become associated with Irish football. Quite a contrast.