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At Old Trafford and the Etihad, there were chants of ‘Chelsea rent boy’. Inside the Cardiff City Stadium came songs about Jimmy Savile. In the away section at Anfield, there were chants of ‘Feed the Scousers’. In other words, it was another weekend in English football.
Abusive, discriminatory and offensive chants are a stain on the national game that has been allowed to take hold for decades. However, statistics show that the number of people reporting the problem is now increasing. And it seems a tipping point has been reached this week, with the FA writing to clubs warning they could be charged over crowd singing, and the Crown Prosecution Service telling fans they face criminal actions.
Douglas Mackay, CPS chief sports prosecutor, told Sportsmail: “We are appalled that the beautiful game has been marred by hate-filled and abusive behavior in recent weeks.” While the chants create an incredible atmosphere, songs that include homophobic or racist language have no place in the sport.
FA bosses have written to clubs about the rise in abusive chants at matches, which were heard at Old Trafford during Manchester United’s FA Cup clash with Everton last week.
‘This illegal activity can be, and has been, prosecuted, with perpetrators receiving criminal records and football banning orders. The CPS will continue to work closely with the police, football authorities and fan groups to stop this.
Figures published exclusively on Sportsmail show that 123 chants were reported to football’s main anti-discrimination group, Kick It Out, from England’s top four divisions last season. That was more than double the 62 complaints made in the 2019-20 campaign, which took place in front of packed stadiums through mid-March.
In the first half of this season, 50 chants have already been reported. Separately, Home Office figures show the number of hate crimes, including discriminatory chants, reported at matches last season was 384, up from 287 in 19-20 and 193 in 18-19.
An FA source told Sportsmail they were “deeply concerned” by the frequency of offensive and abusive chants and tackling the issue has become a key priority for the governing body. “We are determined to eradicate this behaviour,” a spokesperson added.
Offensive chants were also heard during the FA Cup third round tie between Manchester City and Chelsea
The FA warned clubs they could face criminal charges over the crowd’s songs
The issue has come to the fore particularly since the turn of the year, with the ‘Chelsea rent boy’ chant being clearly heard over three different televised matches. It was sung by Nottingham Forest and Manchester City fans at their respective recent games against Chelsea, while Manchester United fans yelled it at Everton manager and blues legend Frank Lampard during the FA Cup clash at last Friday.
On Wednesday, the FA took the unprecedented step of writing to clubs to remind them that they can “take formal disciplinary action against any club whose supporters behave in a discriminatory manner, which now includes the use of the term ‘surrogate child'”. .
That comes after the CPS confirmed last year that the ‘rent boy’ chant, which dates back to the 1980s and rumors that a Chelsea hooligan was found in bed with a prostitute, is a hate crime and have already convicted and fined a Tottenham. and a Liverpool fan for singing it.
However, it is not the only homophobic chant heard on the grounds. Players and fans of Brighton, known for its large LGBTQ+ population, are regularly subjected to their own taunts. During the Seagulls’ game in Southampton on Boxing Day, two home fans were thrown out of the stadium and subsequently sent off after yelling, “You’re just a town full of poofters.”
Stuart Matthews, founder of Brighton’s LGBTQ+ fan group the Proud Seagulls, told Sportsmail: ‘It makes me very angry and discouraged. I’m sick of it now. We’re in the 21st century and football needs to move on.’
In the first half of the 2022-23 season, 50 abusive chants have already been reported
Another club that is frequently abused by fans is Liverpool, with songs directed at them that mock poverty, unemployment and, most surprisingly, Hillsborough. This has become a problem area for the authorities as, while they may take action against homophobic and racist chants because they are ‘discriminatory’, there is nothing in their powers to prevent generally abusive hymns, however vile.
That’s not good enough for Labor MP Ian Byrne, a survivor of the 1989 tragedy that claimed the lives of 97 Reds fans, who sent a letter to Premier League boss Richard Masters following chants of “killers from Manchester City fans at Anfield earlier this season.
He wrote: ‘These chants and the people behind them bring shame to the game. The Premier League has a duty to care for these supporters and the incessant chants that now occur on a weekly basis must be addressed at the root.”
Another sick song that hasn’t been questioned is ‘Jimmy Savile, he’s one of you’, which is aimed at Leeds supporters, who sometimes respond with even more abhorrent lyrics about the predatory sex offender who was born in the city and died in 2011.
Graham Hyde, former vice-chairman of the Leeds United Supporters’ Trust, said: ‘Why are they singing about a pedophile and serial rapist? He wasn’t even a Leeds fan. But part of the nature of football ‘jokes’ has traditionally been to try to provoke the other fans with something and if you get a reaction then you’ve won.’
Premier League CEO Richard Masters received a letter earlier this season about offensive songs being directed at Liverpool fans by his Manchester City counterparts.
Sportsmail revealed last week that Leeds are currently consulting fan groups about their chant for striker Willy Gnonto (pictured), which includes a line about the size of his penis.
Sportsmail revealed last week that Leeds are currently consulting fan groups about their chant for striker Willy Gnonto, which includes a line about the size of his penis, and has been condemned for perpetuating racial stereotypes. That’s one of 12 chants reported to Kick It Out this season for racism, including one that uses the N-word.
But it’s the songs that contain the anti-Semitic AND word that are the most reported of all, with 44 flagged last season alone. Tottenham fans have long used the word in chants about their own team, although the club told them last year to “skip on” the term following a review.
Another act of anti-Semitic abuse reported on Kick It Out last season was the ‘whistling’ to imitate the noise of Nazi gas chambers. Chants using the terms ‘pikey’ and ‘gypo’ were also flagged 14 times last year.
Anthony Burnett, Kick It Out’s chief executive, told Sportsmail: “Our numbers show that chant-related reports have remained consistently high over the past few seasons. You only need to look at the spate of homophobic chanting incidents in recent weeks to see that this is a problem that will not go away.
“While offensive crowd chants are often dismissed as mere pranks by participants, the impact this behavior can have on those it serves to alienate is significant. As long as this problem is allowed to go unchecked, there will be people who continue to feel isolated and unsafe within the game. It is essential that football urgently bring this problem under control.”