No, those Leeds fans were not ‘tragedy chanting’

‘Looks good, looks good, looks fine, looks fine, Manor Solomon’s on my mind and he hates Palestine. Singing do a didi didi dum didee doo, running past defenders scoring one or two.’

Some Leeds United fans were singing this little ditty (to the tune of Manfred Mann’s ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy’) about their Israeli winger, Manor Solomon, on Boxing Day, during a 2-0 victory away to Stoke. After footage of the chant was circulated on social media, Leeds fans were heavily criticised by woke activists, right-thinking pundits and even warned by the club itself that they could be breaking the law by singing it.

Yet even now, it’s still not quite clear what everyone is so up in arms about. The chant itself is not obviously discriminatory – it does not pick out an individual or minority group for ridicule or abuse. It suggests that an Israeli citizen might ‘hate’ Palestine – a reference of course to Israel’s war with Hamas. Still, there is no evidence that Solomon himself ‘hates’ Palestine.

What exactly have the fans done wrong here? Is it because they invoked one person’s (real or imagined) hatred of another geographical location – almost certainly in jest? If so, surely Manchester United fans should be condemned for singing, as they still do on a regular basis, that Gary Neville ‘hates Scousers’?

Mainstream media seem determined to hang the Leeds fans for some crime or other. Broadcaster talkSPORT suggested in its coverage that the fans might be guilty of something called ‘tragedy chanting’. This new-fangled, deeply censorious term refers to something that football fans have long engaged in – namely, singling deliberately offensive songs about tragic events that have afflicted opposing clubs, from the 1958 Munich air disaster, which killed eight Manchester United players, to the 1985 Heysel stadium disaster, in which 14 Liverpool fans were convicted of manslaughter for the deaths of 39 mostly Juventus fans.

Yet it’s pretty clear that Leeds fans were not ‘tragedy chanting’. They were simply celebrating Solomon’s talents and, in a crude, unsubtle way, expressing solidarity with him over the war in the Middle East.

The mainstream media and officialdom’s real problem with the Solomon chant is that it flies in the face of acceptable, elite opinion. Above all, by singing this song, Leeds fans are refusing to go along with mainstream, establishment anti-Israel sentiment. That’s what sticks in the craw of the now outraged chattering classes. In the shape of this one chant, they have been reminded that not everyone shares their view of Israelis as evil aggressors who should be condemned at all times.

Sure, the Israel-Palestine debate is as contentious as it gets. Whatever side one takes, feathers are bound to be ruffled. The irony here is that it is precisely those segments of society complaining about the Leeds fans who have done their utmost to bring contentious politics into football stadiums in recent years. We’ve seen the institutionalisation of ‘taking the knee’ and the promotion of Black Lives Matter. And we’ve also seen the LGBTQ+ agenda advanced at every opportunity. But when fans sing a song with a vaguely political message the right-thinking classes don’t agree with, they cry ‘tragedy chanting’.

So, what should be done about the song? The simple answer is absolutely nothing. It is just football fans singing a song that only has real meaning within the context of football fandom. Fans should be free to express their support for their team in whatever way they see fit.

The fact that this chant has caused any comment at all is yet more evidence of the censorious instincts of officialdom and many in the media. They have shown once again that they are determined to police what people say. And they will leap on anything that transgresses what they deem to be ‘acceptable’, especially when expressed by the football-going masses.

Despite the authorities’ best efforts, however, football stadiums remain places where adults express themselves freely, often in X-rated language. If past attempts to quieten down fans’ celebratory chanting are anything to go by, this latest attempt will fail badly. There have been repeated attempts to stop Spurs fans describing themselves as ‘yids’ – a reference to Spurs’ historically Jewish fanbase. And these attempts have merely succeeded in prompting the fans to embrace the term more fiercely.

So don’t be surprised if Leeds fans, far from being cowed, belt out the Solomon song with even more gusto at the next game.

Steve Banks is a writer.