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Amid a scathing look at English football’s more jingoistic and troublesome followers by singer, songwriter and political activist Billy Bragg in his 1991 song The Few, one line summed up the peculiar brand of ultra-nationalism on display at internationals during the 1980s.
They repeat the lies that caught their eyes,
At school in history books,
But the wars they think they’re fighting,
Were all over long ago,
What do they know of England that only England knows?
More than 30 years have passed since Bragg penned those words. In that time, English football has been transformed, largely for the better, with grounds that were barely fit for purpose back then having been cleared away and replaced by gleaming, state-of-the-art stadia.
Hooliganism is also thankfully nowhere near as rife as it was back then, and following England abroad is a wholly different experience. And yet, despite all these commendable steps forward, we’re still heading into a major tournament with the host nation’s police force appealing to England fans not to sing about a war that ended almost 80 years ago.
“Don’t be a dick!” pleaded Peter Both, the local chief of police in Gelsenkirchen, to the thousands of fans expected to descend on the German city this Sunday for England’s opening Euro 2024 group game against Serbia.
Gelsenkirchen, the home of 2.Bundesliga side Schalke, will welcome England fans for Sunday’s game (Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
His words echo a wider campaign by the Football Supporters Association (FSA) from several years ago, urging better behaviour on the road. An end to fans joining in with the ‘Ten German Bombers’ chant that mocks German casualties in the Second World War is Both’s specific target this time around.
Previous appeals have largely fallen on deaf ears, even when manager Gareth Southgate made clear in 2017 his disdain for the reworked version of the traditional folk song She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain that includes the line, ‘And the RAF from England shot them down’.
“Completely unacceptable,” Southgate said after a friendly in Dortmund had been marred by the chant. “We’ve moved on from those times. Or should have moved on from those times.”
Despite this and the Football Association (FA) subsequently threatening fans who sing the chant with bans from attending England matches, the offending song has not gone away.
Just last week, social media footage emerged of ‘Ten German Bombers’ being sung before England’s Euro 2024 warm-up match against Bosnia and Herzegovina at Newcastle’s St James’ Park.
This has sparked fears the chant could become an unwanted soundtrack to the tournament, especially on the U-Bahn to and from matches or in the public squares of Frankfurt, Cologne and possibly beyond.
“We would urge any fans travelling to Germany to be mindful and aware of the local culture and be good guests,” a spokesperson for the UK Football Policing Unit tells The Athletic.
“Wilfully acting in a way which causes offence could result in a heightened risk to your personal safety, and German police will take action against those breaking the law. This action can include heavy fines and custodial sentences.”
Chanting ‘Ten German bombers’ is not a criminal offence in Gelsenkirchen or any other German city. The same goes for the ‘Two World Wars and one World Cup’ re-working of the Camptown Races tune that was once the chant of choice when trying to rile German fans and players.
In a civilised word, nor should they have to be. But, as was shown by the inflatable spitfire planes brandished at Wembley during the delayed Euro 2020 finals, German-baiting never grows old for some.
England fans outside Wembley ahead of the Euro 2020 last-16 tie against Germany (Robbie Jay Barratt/Getty Images)
It wasn’t always this way. England and (West) Germany met in the 1966 World Cup final and then again four years later in Mexico at the quarter-final stage. The war was still so fresh in the mind that England manager Sir Alf Ramsey had been conscripted into the army within the first year of hostilities breaking out.
Despite that, any mention of the war in the stands was kept to a minimum. Football was a means of escaping the memories of a time no one wanted to relive.
Things started to change in the Eighties. The rise of hooliganism involving a generation that hadn’t lived through the horror of war and who revelled in notoriety meant the dial started shifting. And what better stick to beat the perceived enemy with than by chanting, “Two World Wars and one World Cup”?
The English tabloids didn’t help. Few will forget the Daily Mirror’s notorious ‘Achtung! Surrender!’ front page ahead of England’s semi-final against Germany at the 1996 European Championships, played on home turf. But this — and rival The Sun opting for ‘Let’s Blitz Fritz!’ on the same day — was merely a continuation of coverage that had been building for years.
Ahead of the Italia 90 semi-final between the two countries, for instance, The Sun had gone with the headline ‘Help Our Boys Clout The Krauts!’
Eight years before that, the same paper’s message couldn’t have been any more blatant. ‘Achtung Stations’ the country’s biggest-selling tabloid declared before England and Germany played out a goalless draw that sent the latter through to the World Cup semi-finals.
Things have improved markedly since then, though as recently as the 2010 World Cup, the Daily Star felt able to revisit the First World War to dig up a derogatory term with the headline, ‘Job Done… Now for the Hun’.
The leap from such xenophobic coverage and a desire to chant about the RAF picking off German bombers is not a huge one.
Likewise, a national culture that for so long dripped with war-time nostalgia. Be that Seventies comics such as ‘Battle Picture Weekly’ and ‘Commando’ or the beer advert from 1989 featuring a lone German soldier turning away ‘Dambuster’ bouncing bombs like a goalkeeper saving penalties that ends with the line, ‘I bet he drinks Carling Black Label’.
For some, of course, chanting an offensive song in a foreign land runs no deeper than simply wanting to get a reaction. To them, the actual words can be immaterial.
“F*** off to Europe… we’re all voting out,” they sang in France at Euro 2016, just days before the referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union was due to take place. But it was still difficult to imagine this boozed-up element had any intention of seeking out the ballot box once back on home shores.
A fan wearing a ‘Brexit’ shirt at England’s Euro 2016 match against Iceland (Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
Maybe a similar ‘up-yours’ mindset will be at play this weekend. Certainly, it’s hard to believe those continually intent on sticking two fingers up to the world will dwell too long on how distasteful ‘Ten German Bombers’ might sound in a city targeted relentlessly by Allied bombers.
Such was the perceived importance of the local coal and steel industries, that three-quarters of Gelsenkirchen had been flattened by 1945.
There is, though, still hope the few sung about by Bragg more than three decades ago may yet heed those pre-tournament warnings. Or, at the very least, be drowned out by the rest.
The last time Germany hosted a major finals in 2006, England bowed out at the quarter-final stage in the same Arena AufSchalke where Sunday’s opening group game will take place.
The defeat on penalties to Portugal came as a crushing blow to the estimated 100,000 fans who had made the trip. Nevertheless, those same supporters left Germany with praise ringing in their ears, World Cup spokesman Gerd Graus commenting: “The English fans are the world champions of partying.”
Gelsenkirchen police, while promising to “intervene” if “criminal behaviour has occurred”, are hoping for a similarly good-natured couple of days. “We look forward to all peaceful English football fans, who we warmly welcome as guests,” they say. “We wish all fans a successful stay and hope for a great fan festival.”
Also hoping for a successful tournament is the FSA, whose staff and members will be on the ground in Germany, distributing the ‘Free Lions’ fanzine that contains plenty of tips and advice for travelling fans.
“England were awarded ‘Fans of the Tournament’ at the 2006 World Cup and they travel in huge numbers giving the national team tremendous backing,” says a spokesperson.
“Germany is a great football nation and has a huge supporter culture just like England, so we’re sure match-goers will be made to feel welcome. In return, we’d always encourage travelling fans, whether that’s club or country, to respect their hosts while creating the atmosphere they can bring.”
(Top photo: AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)