Football fans have a long history of expressing their support for their favourite teams in a variety of colourful and creative ways. These include: the use of songs, chants, scarf waving, and traditionally rattles, although this has been out of favour with crowds for a number of years.
The use of banners is also a popular way to convey a message of support to the players on the pitch and to show the viewers on the television where their allegiances lie.
British football fans are especially well-versed in these different forms of communication. Crowds across the country keep finding new an inventive ways to express their emotions, beliefs or thoughts which will, in most cases, have some direct reference to the team they are there to support.
Chants and songs
While it remains somewhat of a mystery who in the crowd actually starts the chants and how exactly they catch on, they are often used as a means of mocking opposition players. Thankfully chants are more restricted to good-natured banter in the wake of FIFA and UEFA ‘Say No to Racism’ campaigns to combat hate speech and other offensive chants and songs.
Banners, posters and flags
The same goes for banners, which are becoming increasingly prevalent in the modern era of football, in which exposure to the world’s media is a given at the bigger matches. This means that fans at matches involving Premier League teams actually attempt to gain the attention of the TV cameras and often gain a reaction from viewers at home. Media commentators also make humorous and witty remarks that convey support for their team in some way.
Such is the popularity of banners at football matches, that a growing number of websites offer specialised services to make high quality banners and posters from weather-resistant materials, of which http://www.instantprint.co.uk/ is a good example.
One humorous banner this writer remembers is one from Tranmere Rovers that said: ‘Tranmere Rovers – no substitute’. While on the face of it was seemingly a traditional message of support, it was actually a reference to when Tranmere Rovers actually substituted a player who had just been sent off.