It really is time West Ham fans ended that "We'll be running round Tottenham…" chant. It's no surprise after the Chelsea furore that someone videoed West Ham fans singing it on their way to Spurs. We were on a train from Seven Sisters to White
Hart Lane and you could hear a group of West Ham
fans singing it repeatedly. Any song that has a refrain of "fucking Jews!” is not
exactly ‘banter’ or a joke as the culprits would no doubt claim, even if some Spurs
fans do refer to themselves as “Yids,” having appropriated the insults thrown
at them in the 1970s.
What was very surprising was that the fans
walked past a large number of police at the station and were then given a
police escort to the away end, while still chanting that song. Not even a warning was given out by the police. It's also been sung at Palace and Stoke this season, and probably several other away games. The Harry Kane chant wasn't clever either.
No-one wants to see football completely sanitised and I’m generally in favour of crude, risqué and rude
chants as they often also result in humour. But that song on Sunday goes way over any
supposed line. I’m happy to dislike Spurs for trying to nick the Olympic
Stadium and getting a dodgy late penalty; but not for some racist
stereotype. Enough.
17 comments:
after 25 years of attended west ham matches- missing only two games- it was this chant that stopped me from attending. i couldn't, in good conscience continue to attend and give tacit approval to such obscene racist chanting
Great article - some people are just too stupid and have no interest in football. They just use it as an excuse to cause trouble
I've missed games at Spurs in the past for the same reason, Garry. And glad you agree Anonymous.
Absolutely no surprise that it's West Ham fans caught immediately after Chelsea's racist bunch. Sadly, they've been at it for the last forty years or longer. Two birds of the same feather.
Every club has problems, no club is immune. That's why it's Kick Rqcism Out of Football.
Spurs fan here for 40 years plus, coming from Lower Clapton I've always had a soft spot for the Hammers and the O's - it's a shame the West Ham / Spurs rivalry has taken on the same intensity as Arsenal and Chelsea... - the work place is full of Hammers, good solid blokes, loyal like us, dining out on every little bit of success, as we're both success starved. At 2 - 0 down, I was seriously considering bunking off work on Monday...- the stick would have been incredible... - thankfully I didn't need to...
Good luck the weekend after next, hope you stuff Chelsea, as long as you finish below us...
Cheers Anonymous. I'm all for a bit of baiting of rival fans, but not outright hatred that you hear at Spurs v West Ham. And as you say we all work alongside each other… We'll do our best to stuff Chelsea and fuel some more Mourinho conspiracy theories.
I have mentioned it on other sites, but well said, there are a number of disgusting chants that make our club look like its racist. I remember in the 80's getting into a fight and subsequently chucked out when we played Tottenham for telling a bunch of the idiots to shut up with their racist rubbish, at which point they decided to start a fight. In large part we have dealt with it but the same type of morons still seem to blight not only ours but other clubs and we have to continue to speak up against it.
Steve the yid.
Good article, and after the Chelsea video I didn't think anyone would be that stupid. Banter is Banter, your chant "when the spurs go 2-0 down" is banter, similarly our " 2-0 up & you f****d it up" was banter.
These supposed supporters forget your owners are Jewish! Who have said when identified they will be banned from the bowlyn, if that includes the Olympic stadium ( we didn't want it, levy used it as leverage to develop whl) we wait and see. But these racist and anti Semitic chants have to stop.
Do us all a favour and spank chelski in 2 weeks
It's funny how spurs take offence but sing, calling west ham 'pikeys'. That's a racial slur too ladies, people in glass houses and that...
Yeah calling someone a pikey is similar to hissing like a gas chamber, Hitler chants and running around with your willy hanging out...fucking jew. Complete West Ham cunt @ 15:14
Well the latter part of this debate illustrates the problem Pete alludes to in his excellent article all too well. You should both grow up and know better than to resort to that kind of trading insults like that , it's demeaning.
Back to the article, all London sides have their fan element who take the chanting too far - and has Pete says, this is definitely over the line. We all like a bit of edge to the banter and rivalry, but as supporters of West Ham , the club we love we need to speak out as Pete has to stop sensless and gratuitously racist chanting, and that which mocks disability. We can have a rivalry without resorting to that shit.
I say keep it up! As you drift into becoming the Millwall with celebrity fans, this is the kind of sub-Chelsea racism highlights the decline of a once decent team. Only the hard of thinking could equate singing about "fucking Jews" in Stamford Hill station has a moral equivalence in pikey chants, as abhorrent as they are. Any noise that fills that half empty stadium you'll be banging around in soon will provide atmosphere I suppose, even if it the atmosphere of nasty nightclubs in Dagenham at closing time.
Well said, Melbourne Matt.
You sound like a lovely man, I don't give my concent to either. I'm just saying spurs cant play the victim all day long. Acting like they've never sung a ill placed song. I am a 'West Ham cunt', I don't join in with these songs because that would make me a hypocrite.
I won't take offence if you come to westham and chant about us being fucking Christians either xx
It wasn't Spurs that were the victims though was it? That would be the families and kids from the Stamford hill Jewish community that had to listen to you knuckle draggers yelling about "fucking Jews" while they waited for the train at Stamford hill and Stokey stations. No excuses for racism.
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