Tim Worstall

No Singing!

Official advice for those attending the soccer World Cup in Germany this summer:

The guide also addresses the spectre of unpleasant behaviour
involving English fans and specifically the problem of anti-German
sentiment among a hard core of supporters.

In an introductory letter to the fans, Sven-Göran Eriksson,
the England manager, writes: “This rivalry [with Germany] must not be
allowed to go beyond decent behaviour.

“I’d particularly like to call on you to avoid any anti-German
singing and chanting during the World Cup. The song which we really
don’t want to hear is the one about ‘Ten German bombers’.” The
unsavoury chant, which celebrates the RAF’s success in shooting down
Luftwaffe planes during the Second World War, was widely sung by
England fans during the Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal. A later
chapter in the booklet, written by the Home Office, emphasises the
improved behaviour by English fans in recent years.

We did indeed hear it a lot down here. Just to remind you, so that you can brush up on it and know what not to sing, here’s how it goes:


The particular focus of the Football Association’s concern is a song to the tune of She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain.


The lyrics say: "There were ten German bombers in the sky…", the next
verse being: "The RAF from England shot one down…" The song
continues, counting down from ten bombers to zero.

 

In

12 responses

  1. The Remittance Man Avatar
    The Remittance Man

    So I guess “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” will be banned as well. I mean a negro spiritual could well offend non-christians (or even racists, for that matter).
    Will the frogs be banned from sing La Marseillaise? After all a song all about rousing a rabble and killing people must be pretty offenive. Don’t they have any respect for the memory of victims of the Terror? Deutschland Uber Alles is quite a nationalistic ditty as well.
    I know: How about we have a World Cup with empty stadia? Then nobody could be offended by the fans’ behaviour. Then again, since competitive sport is so damaging shouldn’t we abandon the whole event in favour of a global arts festival?
    Don’t these muppets realise that by highlighting this “problem” all they are doing is spurring the knuckle-ground interfacers to sing louder, more frequently and with more offensive lyrics?
    RM

    Reply
  2. Tim Newman Avatar
    Tim Newman

    Typical bloody English. Get outsung by the Welsh in every year’s 6 Nations, so have to resort to offensive lyics instead.

    Reply
  3. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    Don’t worry; the football fans will be for the most part white and non-Muslim, so there is no chance at all that a riot will start because of some silly, minor provocation, because as we have read over and over again in blogs this last month or so it is only Muslims who do that.

    Reply
  4. The Remittance Man Avatar
    The Remittance Man

    Don’t you start Mr Newman. I’m sure it wouldn’t take too long to teach the fans that little number about Taffy’s nationality and his fondness for other people’s property.
    RM

    Reply
  5. Tim Newman Avatar
    Tim Newman

    Don’t you start Mr Newman. I’m sure it wouldn’t take too long to teach the fans that little number about Taffy’s nationality and his fondness for other people’s property.
    Taffy was a Welsman/Taffy was a thief?
    Hey, I’m up for singing that. Not sure I ever heard it put to tune though. But us Welshmen wouldn’t get offended, we’re too idle to take offence. That takes effort, you know?

    Reply
  6. johnny bonk Avatar
    johnny bonk

    Easy to forget the underlying truth here.
    We are the greatest football fans on Earth, We drink more beer and We sing more songs.”

    Reply
  7. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    It’s full of shit, it’s full of shit, England’s full of shit …
    Always shit on the English side of the bridge …

    Reply
  8. Toque Avatar
    Toque

    This one is better.

    Reply
  9. The Remittance Man Avatar
    The Remittance Man

    As an optimist with a sunny disposision I should like to thank Dave and his fellow countrymen fror contributing so much fertiliser to English farmers. Our corn grows tall and our cows grow fat and at market time we sell it all back to you.
    Free tarde in a nutshell.
    RM

    Reply
  10. The Remittance Man Avatar
    The Remittance Man

    By the way, Mr Newman, I did a bit of research on that particular nursery rhyme (yes it’s meant for kids). Well I went to the first site I could find on Google.
    Apparently its all about Celtic Mythology. There was this god, Amaethon, who looked after Welsh farmers. Since he was a sort of proto-CAP he used to nip down to the underworld and nick another god’s stuff to give to the poor farmers (wild aimals were his forte). Quite what a sheep farmer would do with a bloody great bear and a couple of wolves I wouldn’t know, but there you are. Who are we to question the reasoning of the gods? Or the CAP for that matter.
    Now according to this site the name Taffy derives from Amaethon (yes I found that a bit of a stretch too) and thus the whole Taffy = thief thing is explained by Celtic mythology.
    So for all of you who thought that this jolly little ditty was some sort of nasty, racist diatribe made up about naughty Welshmen nipping over Offa’s Dyke and pinching English stuff. Nyatch! You’re wrong, wrong, wrongitty, wrong!
    So next time I sing it in a Cardiff pub I don’t expect to be beaten up!
    RM

    Reply
  11. The Remittance Man Avatar
    The Remittance Man

    Second PS
    actually, Tim N, I thought we responded to the singing by winning.
    RM

    Reply
  12. Reading FC & England Avatar
    Reading FC & England

    Yet more PC garbage, no one will tell us what we can and can’t sing, not least the Swede! Sven, do the decent thing and shut up and manage the team, not tell the fans what to do.
    The German bombers song will be sung in Germany without doubt, and thanks to the extra press it will be ‘the’ chant to sing.
    Cheers lads.
    Get ready Krauts, we’re coming!

    Reply

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