Football chants and the continuity of the Blason Populaire tradition.

This study explores the role of football chants in the continuity of the little-known traditional linguistic genre of blason populaire. In brief, the term blason populaire refers to the traditional expressions of group identities and rivalries. While some older forms of blason populaire have declined significantly during the last hundred years, such as the older village rhyme and some county nicknames, it has emerged that football chants are a major vehicle keeping the genre alive in England today (Green and Widdowson 2003). Sung week in and week out at football grounds across the country offering boasts of the merits of one team against the deficiencies of the opposing team's representatives, they are an example of how blason populaire is being carried forward into the twenty-first century. Based on ethnographic data collected during participant observation at football matches and interviews with football fans, the study explores the nature of the football chants to assess how they resemble the themes and functions of blason populaire. as well as the ways in which they create, maintain and contest the identities and rivalries so crucial to the genre. Current issues surrounding the use of football chants, such as censorship, are also considered due to the wider implications they could have on the future of blason populaire.