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Chelsea fans on their way to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, where many mingled with visiting Burnley supporters. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images
Chelsea fans on their way to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, where many mingled with visiting Burnley supporters. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Back on home turf, Chelsea fans condemn club’s Paris racism shame

This article is more than 9 years old
Some say rise of nationalist chants at away games recalls far-right links of 1980s hooligans

It was “building bridges” day at Chelsea on Saturday. But most of those congregating on Fulham Road before the Premier League match against Burnley, which finished 1-1, accepted that the route to restoring the club’s reputation following the disgraceful scenes in Paris last week by a racist minority would require more than a “Support Chelsea, Support Equality” initiative.

The consensus was revulsion that the club had been shamed by the type of supporter for which it was once notorious.

Gary, 28, who for four years has been manning a memorabilia store close to Stamford Bridge’s Shed End, the former terrace where hooligan firm The Headhunters gathered, said: “The Paris Métro stuff was absolutely disgusting to all the black players we now have – 60% of the team is black and most of the youth team players are, too.

“Like Paris, London is multicultural; it’s embarrassing to the crowd, many of the stewards are black, many of the Chelsea pubs have black doormen, what must they think?”

Lifelong fan Keith Benson, 36, said the fact that captain John Terry had been accused in 2012 of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand had set a bad example to some younger supporters: “They look up to Terry. It might have made racism more acceptable.”

Perhaps mindful of his past, Terry moved to denounce the racists in Paris. Writing in the match programme, the 34-year-old said: “The club stand against all forms of discrimination. What happened on the Paris Métro is unacceptable.”

At the Butcher’s Hook, the pub where Chelsea Football Club was founded 110 years ago, Andrew has been manning the door since 2009 and has never experienced anything untoward because of his colour: “Chelsea is a business now, corporate, it’s quite sanitised,” he said. “You get a lot of tourists here and the club are pretty quick to hit back at bad behaviour. My view, everyone’s view, is that those guys in Paris should be taught a lesson and have their membership suspended.”

But while things are undoubtedly better, an ugly element remains affiliated to the club. Supporters on Saturday said that while they are rarely seen at Stamford Bridge, they can be conspicuous on away matches, particularly European ties.

Roy, from Dublin, has followed the team home and away for 30 years. He was in Moscow for the 2008 Champions League final, but had noticed recently a disturbing phenomenon.

The anti-IRA songs were hard to ignore, but part of a nascent nationalism that has been creeping into the repertoire of Chelsea’s away following.

“There’s a lot of English songs and an increasing use of the St George instead of the Chelsea flag,” he said. “They don’t come to home games; they go abroad where they just seem to plumb the deeper depths of behaviour.”

Even so Roy felt Chelsea fans were being scapegoated for a past reputation.

“Other clubs have murdered and got less stick, the anniversary of Heysel [when 39 fans died after Liverpool fans rioted in Belgium] is coming up and it’ll be interesting to see how that’s reported.”

Mike, who has been selling Chelsea scarves close to the Shed End for three decades, says that a similar conversation in 1985 would have been interrupted by flying bricks and rucking fans. “Things have improved, but you can’t get rid of them entirely,” he said.

One of his friends nodded, saying that in 2012 Mike’s stall provided a ringside view to a pitched fight against a mob from Cardiff City: “A certain group will always follow Chelsea and I can’t see that changing. But things are better.”

But others feel that some contemporary fans are working against attempts to distance the club from its historical far-right associations.

As the crowd began building before kick-off, some wondered if those sought by the Met in connection with pushing a black commuter off the train in Paris on Tuesday and chanting a racist song would have the audacity to attend. Or even the Chelsea supporter who allegedly chanted racist abuse at St Pancras station on Wednesday.

Gary was certain that they would be nowhere near Stamford Bridge. “It’s quite peaceful before games here; that sort of supporter would tend to avoid it,” he said.

Certainly anyone looking to interview a hooligan element would have been disappointedon Saturday. Asking which pub The Headhunters drank in was met with blank stares or a shrug of the shoulders.

But for some, the club’s brand remains untarnished. Standing beside stewards handing out “Support Chelsea, support equality” stickers was 19-year-old Abdul Rahman from Saudi Arabia.

He was studying English in London because Stamford Bridge was there. Wasn’t he nervous that some fans seemed to hate foreigners? “No, this is a family club, very friendly,” he beamed.

Some names have been changed

More on this story

More on this story

  • Police launch inquiry into claims of racist abuse by Chelsea fans

  • Police identify Chelsea fans involved in racist chanting in London

  • Police seek seven Chelsea fans over St Pancras chants

  • Ex-policeman caught up in Chelsea fans' Paris Métro incident denies he is racist

  • Chelsea fans allegedly involved in Paris Métro racist incident identified

  • José Mourinho spot-on with response to Chelsea fans’ Paris incident

  • Chelsea fans' Paris Métro victim: what happened has left me really afraid

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