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.