Editor’s Column: Chelsea fans.. Why so much hate?

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There are arseholes of every kind in every fanbase, Liverpool included. Judging people on the team they support is a really clear example of basic stupidity. So, in many ways, I understand this piece is layered with hypocrisy. Before you read on, then, please accept that I’m fully aware, ‘It’s not all Chelsea fans’. 

I have some mates who support Chelsea. They’re sound. I know people who support Liverpool who definitely are not. Before the game on Sunday, I overheard a Liverpool fan say to his friend, ‘Shall I start the rent-boys chant?!’

His pal recommended against it. I stayed silent. So, again – I’m not coming from a place of superiority.

More than anything, I want to know why Chelsea fans, in large groups, seem to hate us so much.

I’ve been to Stamford Bridge lots of times. From my perspective, it’s easily the most vitriolic stadium in the country to visit as a Liverpool fan – especially one who on two occasions has hidden in with the home supporters. ‘Victims,’ ‘Murderers,’ ‘Sign on,’ etc. All the time, during every game.

But it’s not just the lyrics, it’s the delivery. Chelsea fans spit it out of their mouths with genuine, real hate. It’s horrible. There is enough information regarding tragedies in Liverpool’s past that there is really no excuse for the ignorance that still surrounds them. Perhaps it’s not ignorance – perhaps it’s an understanding which then makes it an even better opportunity for them to point-score and rile.

The homophobic rent-boys song is unacceptable, too. But in fairness, Liverpool fans have recognised this and you don’t hear it anymore. The young lad I saw before the game didn’t start the chant…

Journalist Daniel Storey pointed out how widespread and vicious the Chelsea fan behaviour was on the way to Wembley.

’97, we wish it was more….’ That has to be the most heinous of the lot. But it was chanted loudly and proudly outside the national stadium.

Liverpool have a rivalry with Manchester United, but I’ve always found there is a mutual respect between the groups as a whole, even if there is a long history of horrible chanting between the two clubs as well.

Manchester City still have a small fanbase and the rivalry is more of a sporting one. Everton are Everton and live in the same city; there can only be so much anger aimed at friends and family members from the same postcode.

But with Chelsea, it’s different – and pretty one-way…

Perhaps it has something to do with the South/North divide. Tory v Labour. Right v Left. Leave v Remain.

Just look at the hate when Liverpool fans booed the national anthem, in protest to the establishment’s treatment of the city over the years.

You can hear in the video below, tweeted by a Chelsea fan, the number of times Reds were labelled ‘Scum’.

https://twitter.com/FrankieBall_v2/status/1498043819446751251

What’s strange is that on the whole, people from London have much more in common with Liverpool than Scousers care to admit. The city is multicultural. It has more Labour boroughs than Tory ones.

But there is definitely an increasing nationalistic, right-wing element to many English football fanbases, which obviously makes the traditionally socialist Liverpool a target for abuse – emphasised by the fact we’re really good at football and probably quite annoying in how noisy we are about it.

The lad below, in a much shared and laughed at clip, is halfway through a post-match head-loss. He seems pretty angry about the game. He’s chatting nonsense obviously, as Liverpool won via a penalty shootout, not by cheating – but his mood is defined as much by the result as an ingrained hate of Liverpool.

‘Fuck every single fucking one of you,’ he says. It was a good game of football, lad, and it was decided in the only fair manner after 120 brutal minutes. Relax.

Paddy Power even picked up on the fury and made a compilation of the funniest stuff. In fairness, there’d be lots of drivel on various Liverpool forums had we lost – so there isn’t any harm in this.

I just find it… all a little odd. The best thing about the Final on Sunday was being around loads of Reds having fun. Singing for the team.

Nobody was acting like they were going into war. Battle-lines weren’t drawn.

The Chelsea lot who espouse so much hate should try it. It makes for much lower blood pressure and a much better Day Out.

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3 Comments

  1. As a Chelsea ST holder of more than 20 years, I shall not go into socio economic or other demographics of either team’s support, that way dragons and other glaring inaccuracies lie. I do , however, have a lot of experience of the Chelsea Liverpool rivalry which has sprung up in the last 25 years. And a big rivalry too – probably more on our side than yours for reasons of “historeee”. That will be the last time we mention the H word, it is nonsensical for the most part!

    I will not comment on CFC’s core support and their political or other allegiances for the same reason as that mentioned above. I will also not engage in whataboutery for some of the England chants viz the Irish, Scottish or Germans. What I can say is that it was an excellent atmosphere inside the ground on Sunday from both sets of fans and the best nil-nil I’ve ever seen live. Outside the ground you always get idiots, and we probably have more than our fair share. Idiots are always amplified and stand out when not inside the ground.

    I do not care for any of the Heysel or Hillsborough chants, and they are obviously in very poor taste. One must remember that none of these are new chants and until fairly recently, there was no final conclusion on the Hillsborough report. That of course does not excuse the taste of those chants. The people of Liverpool knew better and rightly don’t buy the Sun. I would argue they shouldn’t have been buying it in the first place but that is another matter.

    I shall end on a good note – these Hillsborough chants are considerably quieter inside grounds than they used to be. And I am really glad that I haven’t heard as much Rent Boy rubbish recently, since it has been focussed on in the media. Finally, and thankfully, after a long period of activism from within the club and within our support, the amount of anti Semitic rubbish that used to be rife is now almost non-existent , even on the trains and outside the grounds. Football support , a living and breathing complex organism, does change… just rather slower than perhaps people would like.

    Congratulations on your league cup, I look forward to our next meeting wherever that may be (Carefree!)

  2. It was a good game. Someone had to lose. It just happened to be Chelsea. You do not have the right to win everything.
    Any fan (I happen to be an LFC fan) who tries to make themselves better by making other fans feel bad, well, that says more about you than the other people. I would rather be singing songs about Salah, Jota and company than wasting my energy trying to slag off other fans. Quite frankly, you can support whatever team you like – I am a Reds fan through and through. Have been for 40+ years.

  3. I have to point out that the Chelsea rent boy chant is not a homophobic chant that chant is aimed at when Mr Abramovich took over and started throwing money in all directions to get the services of players hence the term rent boys

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