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Is there an equivalent in English or American sports culture of the sarcastic song that originated among Italian football supporters, that they sing to the losing opposition team? It's like this:
which can be roughly translated to:
Any ideas? |
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It's targeted at an single player, rather than the team, but British terraces often ring out with...
...which as this link indicates, was sufficiently well-known to be referenced by an MP back in 1928. It's particularly likely if a player misses an easy shot at goal - in the case of a penalty, sometimes with supporters on both sides laying in to the hapless player who missed. Obviously it's easily adapted to the pluralised Why Were They Born So Beautiful?, so that's not uncommon either. |
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In the US, it's fairly common to hear Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye played on the loudspeakers or chanted at the losing team. The US sports culture has less singing in general than the Europeans, though - so it's not like it's ubiquitous. |
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I don't know of any chant that makes that particular barbed reference to the "winning isn't everything" idea. However, the general practice of sarcastic chants is very well known throughout Britain and Ireland. "You're not singing any more!" for example remarks on the lack of more positive singing and chanting that will happen when your team is doing badly, and you've given up hope". Some target particular players of another team, or even of your own team if you aren't happy with them, e.g. "He's bald! He's shit! He gets a game when no-one's fit! Pascal Cygan, Pascal Cygan!" Some such can be repurposed easily. While a particular goal-keeper was the first target of:
It can work for anyone whose fitness is waning. Of course the players and supporters aren't the only target:
In the days when terrace violence was more common, some would make outright threats like "You're going home in a bleedin' ambulance" or turning Liverpool's anthem "You'll never walk alone" into "You'll never walk again". (Targeting such threats specifically against Liverpool became something even many football hooligans considered beyond the pale after the Hillsborough disaster in which 96 fans died, and violence among fans generally declined since then). Many others I won't quote, for being extremely racist or homophobic, related to incidents where individual players where accused of rape or sexual assault, had some sort of relationship with people involved in organised crime, were dating a celebrity, had had an affair with a celebrity, had broken up with a celebrity, had been diagnosed as scizophrenic, had been diagnosed with cancer, and otherwise just aren't very nice. But the one I can think of that best matches yours sarcastically offering a pleasantry, is a variant on "you're not singing anymore" that sarcastically offers to do so for them. Simply:
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There really isn't anything in America that is so mocking a put-down of the other team. There are some obvious taunts such as the one Marcus pointed out, but normally the chants are of the "We are good" (see "We are the champions" by Queen) rather than the "You are bad" variety. |
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There's an English (or at least Am.E) saying:
It's not meant to be sarcastic, but rather to emphasize good sportsmanship, dedication, and effort. You could say it sarcastically to the losing side and they'd probably get your meaning. Be careful, though: most people would think you to be a very ungracious winner if you said that. |
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The best way to hear this sort of thing in US sports is to attend a college basketball or football game and sit where you can see and hear the band. The musicians are not allowed to perform during actual play, so they divert their creativity into ensemble taunts, usually entertaining and occasionally witty, of a character forbidden to the official cheerleaders. |
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Though I've never heard it chanted, there's an oft-used English (British English?) idiom used by participants and spectators of any sport. It is used self-mockingly by those who have lost at a game and as a withering put-down by those who have just witnessed or heard of someone losing:
What makes it particularly withering is that it's often used on children to let them know that winning isn't everything. It's therefore a patronising barb to inflict on any self-aware adult, especially in polite company. English football chants can often be funny and often offensive (sometimes, hopefully, both) and I can imagine this line being used but I've never heard it actually sung. Perhaps it's not original or rhythmic enough. Nonetheless, it's nice to see an Italian equivalent and to be aware of some Peninsular sarcasm! |
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I believe the origin of the song lies in the unofficial Olympic motto “The most important thing is not to win but to take part!” (which would be translated in Italian as “L’importante non è vincere, ma partecipare”, according to Wikipedia). That motto originated in 1908 when American Bishop of Pennsylvania giving sermon in London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral related, incidentally, to an Italian marathon runner Pietri Dorando who was first to cross the finish line, but did not win.
The runner who came in second, Jonny Hayes (ironically, American), lodged a complaint about the help that Dorado received on the finish line for which latter was disqualified. And so the pastor referred to Dorando as he did to emphasise that it is the effort invested by an athlete that matters most. But who knows, mayhaps he, being American, already then gloated over poor Italian’s misfortune. Regardless of the intent of the good pastor, Dorando’s fame proved much more lasting than that of Hayes’ (American also subsequently lost two special races against Pietri organized in the wake of this event). Arthur Conan Doyle was right when he proclaimed on the pages of Daily Mail:
The sentiment used by the bishop survives to this day. And while I cannot answer specific question about any sort of supporters’ chant, this phrase is used, often sarcastically, by fans and sport reporters the world over. |
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The closest jeering chant I can think of applies to baseball, not football, and I first heard it in the movie Rookie of the Year in 1993. To tease and distract the other team's pitcher, a main character sings
over and over in a taunting, singsong voice. TVTropes calls this a "Losing Horn," a term that includes quite a variety of musical responses to a losing team. While this tune does not give rhetoric as solid as the OP's Italian, it's the closest American example. |
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Singing at American sports events is relatively rare. Yes, we "sing" the Star Spangled Banner when there is not a soloist performing it for us. During the seventh-inning stretch in professional baseball, fans will sometimes sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Beyond those two songs (and perhaps the sing/chant "Here we go, Steelers, here we go," or something similar for fans of a different team), we don't generally sing, let alone sing songs with an ironic or sarcastic edge to them. I for one would not object if several famous quotations were to be made into sarcastic songs. First, there's the famous quotation, attributed variously to coaches Henry Russell Sanders and Vince Lombardi: "Winning isn't everything. Men, it's the only thing!" (or simply "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing"). Second is Pierre de Coubertin's quotation (he was the founder of the modern Olympics): "The most important thing . . . is not winning but taking part (in the Games)." While not a quotation, there is a third saying/aphorism common in America: "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game." Now that could be crafted into a sarcastic song! Perhaps we could just adapt the words to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." |
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