I think the difference between banter and bullying is down to whether the effects will simply be funny or fuel long held and damaging prejudices. I have lived abroad and met someone prejudiced against the english.She was in a position of power and it was sh£t. I could not give a monkeys whether someone is gay or not.I like all decent kind people of all races. Gary Glitter is straight isn"t he.Was Saville a natural straight blond? Sh£t people are just that-including white,black,straight,gay,talented,talentless , wealthy and poor.Fortunately there are more good people from the same groups
I see. Banter is supposed to be a little insulting but if it is crossing that line then it should be easy enough to stop that chant. Part of what I find cool about your chants is how original they are. For instance my hockey teams chants go like this "C A P CAPS CAPS CAPS" That isnt original and isnt fun. In fact the clubs announcer says it on the sound system to get you to do it. Your chants seem to be a genuine expression of your participation in the game. Obviously you dont want the insults to be of the nature that people are offended in a way that it makes their game day experience poor.
There are some great chants and some are dire I had the pleasure of being on a bus to Reading a couple of seasons ago. The lads started chanting from the 60's, 70's and on to the PL, great confusing and totally iconic.
I agree but I'm sure it was better at City 4 or 5 years ago than it is now. It seems that we cling to the stupid songs now and sing them constantly throughout every game but when someone comes up with a funny or clever one we don't bother with it after that one instance.
As Manchester also has a large gay community but do we see Manchester clubs getting the same abuse, Melu Fan not thug. I mentioned my sexuality not as a big "look at the gay fan" comment but more as a general it isn't just one club who has such fans (if we are to believe the chants aimed at Brighton), and in the House of Commons you often hear MPs declaring that they have an interest before making their comment. As for humorous - that is a word which means different things to different people, for example I find Lee Evans as funny as a broken leg. As for straight community - I think that is most saturday nights in a Hull city centre pub, or a EDL march. And I don't (as will all gay man) find it offensive to say you are a straight man.
Oh dear. They aren't doing themselves any favours are they? Unless the majority of the Brighton fans are actually homosexual then they shouldn't be offended. Them putting a complaint in, and claiming homophobia clearly shows that they are gay so they've probably made it worse. A homophobia accusation has no grounds if those accusing aren't actually gay...
It's just a wind up, it's not meant to be serious comment on the gay community. At Barnsley, fans regularly sing there's only one Maggie Thatcher, they're not the only club in a former mining area, but that song got attached to them. Fulham and Chelsea get 'does your butler know your here' and 'you only drink white wine' and usually respond with 'we pay your benefits'. Or 'Hands up, baby hands up, show me your six fingers, show me your six fingers' sung by Blackburn to Burnley. Anyone who finds 'does your boyfriend know your here' offensive, needs to get out more.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2303125/Brighton-report-homophobic-abuse-rival-fans-FA--list-alleged-chants-including-Colin-Kazim-Richards.html Got to laugh at the Hull City (A) fixture. Which one of our lads did that? Sounds like Brighton fans are overreacting to most of them.
Swindon don't mess around, do they? "Response received from club who said that they would be vigilante..." I'm not entirely sure they should be practising vigilantism.
****ing hell, that's embarrassing, I wonder if they've considered putting up 'please don't be mean' signs in the away end? Some of the chants are a step too far, but if they wanted to be taken seriously they should have just targeted those, most of them(including ours) shouldn't have been mentioned.
.. enjoyable thread ... have to say I couldn't help but chuckle when one set of fans (and I don't remember who - possibly Leeds) had reportedly chanted to Brighton fans 'stand up, coz you can't sit down ..." does that make me a bad person? For me it's all about context ... most football chanting is good natured in that it's meant to be humourous ... bit like going to watch a stand-up like Jimmy Carr - sometimes I wince but mostly he makes me smile because, for me, it isn't meant to be taken literally ...
