Link: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/when-hear-vile-football-chants-31428917
Credit: Louise Sadler, Wales Online
Archive: https://archive.ph/wip/efOPr
Football coach Scott Hartley wants to see an end to what has become known as 'tragedy chanting'
Thirty-six years ago, the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield became the site of the UK’s worst sporting disaster. More than 50,000 fans gathered at the stadium on April 15, 1989 to watch the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
As the clock ticked closer to kick-off, a decision made by police to open the large exit gate at Leppings Lane to relieve the pressure outside the stadium led to more than 2,000 Liverpool fans pouring into the ground, with many headed straight down a main tunnel into the already-packed central pens. Like many stadia at the time, the stadium had standing terraces sectioned off by metal fences designed to prevent pitch invasions. But it turned supporters into caged crowds.
More than 3,000 fans had been funnelled into the standing-room-only area that had a safe capacity of just 1,600. There was no stewarding. No signage. No warning. The resulting crowd crush was fatal. 94 lives were claimed that day. Three more lost their lives in the days and years that followed.
“I’m back there again, fighting for my life, knowing that if I breathe out, I’ll never breathe in again,” Scott Hartley remembers the moment with terrifying clarity.
Originally from Garston, Liverpool, Scott, 51, moved to Cardiff in 1996. But he’s never really left Hillsborough behind. The grassroots football coach was just 15 when he stood in the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium on April 15, 1989. He survived, but carries the mental and emotional scars with him every day.
Decades later, football fans continue to use the event to insult Liverpool fans. These so-called tragedy chants include offensive songs, chants or gestures, and reference stadium disasters or fatal incidents involving the opposing team and its supporters.
And it’s not just about Liverpool. These tragic events are a part of every team’s past. Miming a plane in flight might reference the plane crash that killed Cardiff player Emiliano Sala to insult Cardiff fans, or the Munich air disaster which killed the Manchester United team. Other chants may refer to the murders of two Leeds fans in Istanbul, or, in this case, a hand up against the face as if against a fence may indicate the fatal crush at Hillsborough Stadium.
“I’m literally back in the stand and I’m trying to get out,” said Scott, describing what it feels like when he hears tragedy chants. “It can take me off my feet and literally affect my whole life. I’ll just curl up under a blanket in the bedroom for two days.”
Now living in Pentrebane and coaching Fairwater football club’s U14 team, Scott has launched a petition to make tragedy chanting at football stadia a specific criminal offence — a practice that continues to haunt him, other survivors and bereaved families across the UK.
“I lost friends on the day,” Scott said quietly. “You wouldn’t joke if someone’s mum got cancer, or if their dog was run over, so why this? It’s not acceptable to mock death and potentially risk someone else's life over what's classed as banter,” Scott said.
He said that for survivors like him, tragedy chanting triggers reliving the worst day of their lives, again and again. “It’s not a joke. It’s trauma. And it affects more people than they think - not just the people they’re targeting, but others in the stands.”
For Scott and his fellow Cardiff-based football coach, Stu Smith, this new petition builds on the momentum of a 2023 campaign that led to tragedy chanting being recognised as a public order offence. Under current guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), fans found guilty can face Football Banning Orders, which may ban them from attending matches, entering pubs during games, or travelling during major tournaments. Offenders can also face up to six months in prison or a fine.
But Scott wants to go further. He believes tragedy chanting is still far too common – and all too often ignored. He is calling for a dedicated law to specifically outlaw tragedy chanting in the hope that acts of this kind will be treated more seriously, more often.
“I’ve been called a murderer. I’ve been told ‘You’re doing this petition because you killed your own fans’. That hits me hard. I want there to be real-life consequences for these actions because there’s real life reactions to their actions. Survivors have been lost to suicide, and tragedy chanting hasn’t helped. I just want people to be held accountable” he said.
He is also unsure as to whether bans have a lingering effect on those caught: “If they just get banned from the ground, they’ll still watch the match on the telly.” But both him and Stu acknowledge that there is a line to be drawn: “We don’t want to stop chanting or banter, just to take it back 10 metres,” said Stu.
From left to right Scott Hartley, Stu's son Finn, Stu Smith and assistant coach, Taylor
The petition, launched in April, is gaining momentum. Scott’s efforts are backed by fellow survivor groups, football coaches, and grassroots supporters who believe the game must change. “Survivors come to me about it a lot,” said Peter Scarfe, the president of the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance (HSA), a volunteer-run group established in 2018, that supports those affected by the Hillsborough disaster through private, donation-funded therapy. “Nobody wants to spend £60 to go to a football match to be called a murderer or hear someone say you killed your own. None of us deserve that,” he said.
Peter was 20 years old on the day of the disaster. Like many survivors, he kept quiet for years. “I was in the crush from the moment the gate opened,” he recalled. “There was nothing - no signs, no one guiding us anywhere. The youngest of our group was 16, and when it started to get tighter and tighter in the pens, I knew he wouldn’t survive. I managed to get him up on my shoulders and he crowd surfed to the fence. I just kept saying to him, Don’t look back until you are over the fence’.
“Then it was my turn to save me. I stood tall and just tried to keep breathing. But there was a guy whose head was pressed against my chest. I couldn’t keep him up. There was no way of holding onto him. The next time I saw him, he was dead on the floor.” It wasn’t until 2016 that Peter opened up to his family about his experience. “It was then that I starting helping others, but it wasn’t until 2020 that I finally went to therapy.”
The HSA now funds therapy not just for Hillsborough survivors, but also for fans affected by the chaos leading to a crush at the Champions League final at the Paris Stade de France in 2022. But Peter said it feels as if tragedy chanting has escalated in the last 10 years, and believes social media may have something to do with it. Scott agreed: “I think I had X for a week. I was just trying to reach out to other survivors who maybe hadn’t spoken out. But when I saw tragedy posts, I broke down in my living room.”
“Some of the comments mocked death or denied the tragedy happened,” added Peter. Both Scott and Peter have since moved their organisations to Bluesky, describing it as a safer, more supportive space. They say the platform has stronger safety protocols and is far more proactive in taking down harmful content that breaches community guidelines — something they felt was lacking elsewhere.
Stu, 38, helped Scott launch his End Tragedy Now campaign to tackle the practice back in mid-February. At its heart, the campaign is aimed at urging football clubs, broadcasters and social media platforms to take a tougher stance against tragedy chanting. The pair are also promoting early education at the grassroots level across Cardiff as well as further afield to teach children to be more respectful, and recognise and reject tragedy chanting in football and online.
And they have had a lot of success: Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest, Swansea City and Cardiff City have all partnered with End Tragedy Chanting Now to take a firmer stance on the practice. Stu and Scott are also in talks with Aston Villa and Bradford City.
Scott and Stu are also set to launch a new football club in Cardiff this June, built around the values of the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance (HSA) and the End Tragedy Chanting Now campaign. The club will be called Undod Cryfder CPD, echoing the HSA’s slogan ‘Unity is Strength’ in Welsh. Their goal is to create a more inclusive, respectful environment within football, one that moves away from insults and taunts and towards compassion, education, and support.
“This is about educating children now so they can become educators in the future. We want to teach them morals before they even kick a ball,” said Stu, who works as a substitute teacher in the day and coaches his teams in the evenings.
Football coach and campaigner, Scott Hartley, coaching his players
The lifelong Cardiff City fan’s under-14s team in Fairwater already wears kit sponsored by the HSA. He hopes that he can reach out to more schools to talk about the campaign’s vision and is also looking to provide students training to be coaches with opportunities to coach at their clubs and carry their vision of respect and fair-play on.
Since 1989, Scott hasn’t stood with a fanbase in a stadium. His complex PTSD made football — once his “safety net” — feel unsafe. “I miss football,” Scott admits. “I miss standing on the Kop, singing and having a laugh. I tried to go to a game later that year in 1989. I left midway through the first half. I couldn’t do it. When the crowd moved, I kept thinking I was going to get killed. I was terrified.”
It wasn’t until a solitary visit to an empty Hillsborough stadium in November last year that he began confronting his demons. “For the first time in 36 years, I’ve actually started to love myself and love life again,” he says. “I want to show my kids that no matter what you go through, if you work hard and face your demons, you get to the other side.”
And with every signature, every lesson, every voice added to the campaign, Scott’s hope grows stronger. “I’m always going to have to live with the effects of Hillsborough, but at least now I can do something positive about it. I’d like to make everyone aware of it. I’m doing this for all of us. If I can make even a little difference,” he said, “then it’s all been worth it.” The petition must reach 10,000 signatures to prompt an official response from the UK government.
Credit: Louise Sadler, Wales Online
Archive: https://archive.ph/wip/efOPr
Football coach Scott Hartley wants to see an end to what has become known as 'tragedy chanting'
Thirty-six years ago, the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield became the site of the UK’s worst sporting disaster. More than 50,000 fans gathered at the stadium on April 15, 1989 to watch the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
As the clock ticked closer to kick-off, a decision made by police to open the large exit gate at Leppings Lane to relieve the pressure outside the stadium led to more than 2,000 Liverpool fans pouring into the ground, with many headed straight down a main tunnel into the already-packed central pens. Like many stadia at the time, the stadium had standing terraces sectioned off by metal fences designed to prevent pitch invasions. But it turned supporters into caged crowds.
More than 3,000 fans had been funnelled into the standing-room-only area that had a safe capacity of just 1,600. There was no stewarding. No signage. No warning. The resulting crowd crush was fatal. 94 lives were claimed that day. Three more lost their lives in the days and years that followed.
“I’m back there again, fighting for my life, knowing that if I breathe out, I’ll never breathe in again,” Scott Hartley remembers the moment with terrifying clarity.
Originally from Garston, Liverpool, Scott, 51, moved to Cardiff in 1996. But he’s never really left Hillsborough behind. The grassroots football coach was just 15 when he stood in the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium on April 15, 1989. He survived, but carries the mental and emotional scars with him every day.
Decades later, football fans continue to use the event to insult Liverpool fans. These so-called tragedy chants include offensive songs, chants or gestures, and reference stadium disasters or fatal incidents involving the opposing team and its supporters.
And it’s not just about Liverpool. These tragic events are a part of every team’s past. Miming a plane in flight might reference the plane crash that killed Cardiff player Emiliano Sala to insult Cardiff fans, or the Munich air disaster which killed the Manchester United team. Other chants may refer to the murders of two Leeds fans in Istanbul, or, in this case, a hand up against the face as if against a fence may indicate the fatal crush at Hillsborough Stadium.
“I’m literally back in the stand and I’m trying to get out,” said Scott, describing what it feels like when he hears tragedy chants. “It can take me off my feet and literally affect my whole life. I’ll just curl up under a blanket in the bedroom for two days.”
Now living in Pentrebane and coaching Fairwater football club’s U14 team, Scott has launched a petition to make tragedy chanting at football stadia a specific criminal offence — a practice that continues to haunt him, other survivors and bereaved families across the UK.
“I lost friends on the day,” Scott said quietly. “You wouldn’t joke if someone’s mum got cancer, or if their dog was run over, so why this? It’s not acceptable to mock death and potentially risk someone else's life over what's classed as banter,” Scott said.
He said that for survivors like him, tragedy chanting triggers reliving the worst day of their lives, again and again. “It’s not a joke. It’s trauma. And it affects more people than they think - not just the people they’re targeting, but others in the stands.”
For Scott and his fellow Cardiff-based football coach, Stu Smith, this new petition builds on the momentum of a 2023 campaign that led to tragedy chanting being recognised as a public order offence. Under current guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), fans found guilty can face Football Banning Orders, which may ban them from attending matches, entering pubs during games, or travelling during major tournaments. Offenders can also face up to six months in prison or a fine.
But Scott wants to go further. He believes tragedy chanting is still far too common – and all too often ignored. He is calling for a dedicated law to specifically outlaw tragedy chanting in the hope that acts of this kind will be treated more seriously, more often.
“I’ve been called a murderer. I’ve been told ‘You’re doing this petition because you killed your own fans’. That hits me hard. I want there to be real-life consequences for these actions because there’s real life reactions to their actions. Survivors have been lost to suicide, and tragedy chanting hasn’t helped. I just want people to be held accountable” he said.
He is also unsure as to whether bans have a lingering effect on those caught: “If they just get banned from the ground, they’ll still watch the match on the telly.” But both him and Stu acknowledge that there is a line to be drawn: “We don’t want to stop chanting or banter, just to take it back 10 metres,” said Stu.
From left to right Scott Hartley, Stu's son Finn, Stu Smith and assistant coach, Taylor
The petition, launched in April, is gaining momentum. Scott’s efforts are backed by fellow survivor groups, football coaches, and grassroots supporters who believe the game must change. “Survivors come to me about it a lot,” said Peter Scarfe, the president of the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance (HSA), a volunteer-run group established in 2018, that supports those affected by the Hillsborough disaster through private, donation-funded therapy. “Nobody wants to spend £60 to go to a football match to be called a murderer or hear someone say you killed your own. None of us deserve that,” he said.
Peter was 20 years old on the day of the disaster. Like many survivors, he kept quiet for years. “I was in the crush from the moment the gate opened,” he recalled. “There was nothing - no signs, no one guiding us anywhere. The youngest of our group was 16, and when it started to get tighter and tighter in the pens, I knew he wouldn’t survive. I managed to get him up on my shoulders and he crowd surfed to the fence. I just kept saying to him, Don’t look back until you are over the fence’.
“Then it was my turn to save me. I stood tall and just tried to keep breathing. But there was a guy whose head was pressed against my chest. I couldn’t keep him up. There was no way of holding onto him. The next time I saw him, he was dead on the floor.” It wasn’t until 2016 that Peter opened up to his family about his experience. “It was then that I starting helping others, but it wasn’t until 2020 that I finally went to therapy.”
The HSA now funds therapy not just for Hillsborough survivors, but also for fans affected by the chaos leading to a crush at the Champions League final at the Paris Stade de France in 2022. But Peter said it feels as if tragedy chanting has escalated in the last 10 years, and believes social media may have something to do with it. Scott agreed: “I think I had X for a week. I was just trying to reach out to other survivors who maybe hadn’t spoken out. But when I saw tragedy posts, I broke down in my living room.”
“Some of the comments mocked death or denied the tragedy happened,” added Peter. Both Scott and Peter have since moved their organisations to Bluesky, describing it as a safer, more supportive space. They say the platform has stronger safety protocols and is far more proactive in taking down harmful content that breaches community guidelines — something they felt was lacking elsewhere.
Stu, 38, helped Scott launch his End Tragedy Now campaign to tackle the practice back in mid-February. At its heart, the campaign is aimed at urging football clubs, broadcasters and social media platforms to take a tougher stance against tragedy chanting. The pair are also promoting early education at the grassroots level across Cardiff as well as further afield to teach children to be more respectful, and recognise and reject tragedy chanting in football and online.
And they have had a lot of success: Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest, Swansea City and Cardiff City have all partnered with End Tragedy Chanting Now to take a firmer stance on the practice. Stu and Scott are also in talks with Aston Villa and Bradford City.
Scott and Stu are also set to launch a new football club in Cardiff this June, built around the values of the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance (HSA) and the End Tragedy Chanting Now campaign. The club will be called Undod Cryfder CPD, echoing the HSA’s slogan ‘Unity is Strength’ in Welsh. Their goal is to create a more inclusive, respectful environment within football, one that moves away from insults and taunts and towards compassion, education, and support.
“This is about educating children now so they can become educators in the future. We want to teach them morals before they even kick a ball,” said Stu, who works as a substitute teacher in the day and coaches his teams in the evenings.
Football coach and campaigner, Scott Hartley, coaching his players
The lifelong Cardiff City fan’s under-14s team in Fairwater already wears kit sponsored by the HSA. He hopes that he can reach out to more schools to talk about the campaign’s vision and is also looking to provide students training to be coaches with opportunities to coach at their clubs and carry their vision of respect and fair-play on.
Since 1989, Scott hasn’t stood with a fanbase in a stadium. His complex PTSD made football — once his “safety net” — feel unsafe. “I miss football,” Scott admits. “I miss standing on the Kop, singing and having a laugh. I tried to go to a game later that year in 1989. I left midway through the first half. I couldn’t do it. When the crowd moved, I kept thinking I was going to get killed. I was terrified.”
It wasn’t until a solitary visit to an empty Hillsborough stadium in November last year that he began confronting his demons. “For the first time in 36 years, I’ve actually started to love myself and love life again,” he says. “I want to show my kids that no matter what you go through, if you work hard and face your demons, you get to the other side.”
And with every signature, every lesson, every voice added to the campaign, Scott’s hope grows stronger. “I’m always going to have to live with the effects of Hillsborough, but at least now I can do something positive about it. I’d like to make everyone aware of it. I’m doing this for all of us. If I can make even a little difference,” he said, “then it’s all been worth it.” The petition must reach 10,000 signatures to prompt an official response from the UK government.
