Having sat next to an English fella on the train heading to a WSW game, he told me the truth as to why they chant.
They live in on a muddy, cold, damp island surrounded by miles and miles of squat housing commission on top of one another, where all they have - as many don't have an education or employment - is their football team. They barely get blue sky in the middle of summer and are severely Vitamin D deficient. They live vicariously by the fortunes of their team or X-Factor contestants. Individual football players make more money than some whole towns. But the team means everything to the town because if Town A beats Town B, with everything else being so even and so miserable, the only have the satisfaction of the one-upmanship of winning on a cold, dreary, damp Saturday afternoon. Everything is shit in England - the poor quality food (a diet of Tizer, hot chips, crisps and boiled sweets), the poor quality water (no fluoride - I mean, really?), the poor quality of their other sports in cricket and national football team. In fact, it won't be long before you're being asked to sponsor poor waifs in England and UNICEF to 'adopt an English kid'.
So be kind to the poor chanting English folk.
The poor fella then looks at me and notes that here in Australia we have endless blue sky, temperate weather, heaps of hot chicks and miles of beaches. We don't need to chant because we're comfortable in our own skins basking in the greatness that is Australia. Truly, it is awesome. Even if your footy team is running stone motherless last...f**k it's great to be Australian.
