Chelsea have took to condemn their own fans with ‘offensive chants’ sung at Liverpool just days on after an incident at Man City.
The Reds says tragedy chanting “has to stop” after Hillsborough songs were sung at Stamford Bridge, which played out to a lacklustre 0-0 draw.
Chelsea apologised, saying in a statement: “Chelsea FC condemns the inappropriate chants heard from some home fans during this evening’s game.
“Hateful chanting has no place in football and we apologise to anyone who has been offended by them.”
@premierleague tweeted: “The Premier League condemns the tragedy chanting heard at tonight’s match between Chelsea and Liverpool. We continue to treat this as an unacceptable issue and are seeking to address it as a priority.”
Liverpool wrote: “We know the impact these vile chants have on those who continue to suffer as a result of football tragedies. For their sake, this has to stop.”
So far we’ve heard…
– Sign on, Sign on
– Murderers
– Always the victims
And nothing will get said. It’s funny how if it was the other way around, it would be everywhere. What are you going to do? @premierleague @FA
— The Anfield Talk (@TheAnfieldTalk) April 4, 2023
Every match we have to support so many people because of these songs yet nothing is getting done to stamp them out. More needs to be done from all clubs
— Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance ( H.S.A.) (@HillsboroughSu1) April 4, 2023
Sadly, this is not the first time that Liverpool have been targeted by rival supporters, with it just days ago when in the 4-1 loss at Man City, a statement emerged from the hosts.
The season saw an increase in tragedy chanting.
Manchester City claimed they were “disappointed” by the “inappropriate” chants of their fans in Saturday’s 4-1 victory over Liverpool.
The statement read: “Manchester City FC are disappointed to have heard inappropriate chants from home fans during today’s game. We regret any offence these chants may have caused and will continue to work with supporters groups and officials from both clubs to eradicate hateful chanting from this fixture.”
Similar issues were raised in October at the Premier League match between Liverpool and City. Both clubs took the step of releasing a joint statement in advance of the Carabao Cup tie in December. It called on both sides’ fans to end the “unacceptable behaviour”, signed by City chief Ferran Soriano and Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan.
In a joint statement, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp demanded an end after chanting on tragedies, making the plea before they played each other earlier this season.
The FA raised concerns in November about the rise in “abhorrent” chants related to stadium tragedies. This included by City and United fans who visited Anfield.
Manchester United and Leeds United were “strongly condemned,” in February, for their chants on historical tragedies, heard at Elland Road.
97 Liverpool fans lost their lives as a result of a crush at an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, with the game taking place at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium, on the 15th of April 1989.
It remains the United Kingdom’s worst sporting disaster, with a jury at an inquest later ruling that the fans were unlawfully killed.
“These chants are highly offensive and deeply upsetting,” said the FA.
“We strongly condemn this behaviour. We support clubs and fans who try to stamp out this behaviour from our game.”
Ian Byrne MP, a survivor from the 1989 tragedy, wrote to the Premier League asking them to stop “obscene Hillsborough chants” during football matches.
Writing to the league’s chief executive Richard Masters, the Liverpool West Derby MP said: “I cannot stress the detrimental impact these chants are having on the families of the 97, the survivors and their families.
“Enough really is enough and we need actions now from the Premier League and all football clubs involved to ensure that this stops.”
On Wednesday Hillsborough campaigner Margaret Aspinall told the BBC “drastic action” was needed by the football authorities to stop the offensive chanting.
“It’s been really painful,” she said about the chants. “I try to ignore it because the more you answer these people, the more it encourages them. It seems to be getting worse.
“I’ve written to the FA and the Premier League because something needs to be done to make it stop.
“Fine the club or deduct points. Then it would soon stop. Then the fans would start policing themselves. I think we need something drastic. The statements are doing no good.”
This is what Twitter users said as Chelsea condemn own fans with ‘offensive chants’ sung at Liverpool days after the Man City incident…
@SauceLikeSharin: They wrote this before the game, they just knew that this would happen. Such a nothing statement, a sad story of how little other clubs and the governing bodies care about tragedy’s, this despite the effects on mental health of survivors and family members. Disgrace
@neilmryan1978: It gets stated every match now with no change. @premierleague are obviously content with it as it’s been years now & still no action. Apologies after the event seem to placate them. They don’t take action to punish it like they have already done with other offensive chants. Joke!
@familymanlfc: Make the strongest statement possible to us. The team and the manager walk off the pitch and straight down the tunnel. Premier League will do nothing if we do that. They did nothing to United breaking into the ground
@dambury67: Never going to stop until the governing body & broadcasters etc get serious & take a stand on it.. But particularly the clubs involved themselves..
@MissKaytee08: All talk and no action. Deducting points will get the job done.
@AaronSpratt20: It’s a load of shite, the same statements are put out everytime it happens. There’s never any action that is done to stop this kind of stuff from happening. Start removing fans, banning fans, fining clubs or whatever it takes to stop this stuff from happening on a weekly basis
@LFCFranciss: Slap on the wrists for them as per
@CrowtherMike: @premierleague @SkySportsNews – How long is this going to be allowed? You call out other chants but not these ones? How do you think the relatives and survivors feel when they here this?
@SDal63: So what are @ChelseaFC going to do about it, release a statement like @mancity every game we play the opposing team sing these disgusting chants, when will it stop, no other disaster in this country, has this response from opposing fans #EnoughIsEnough
@supermanelfc: The only way it will stop if @premierleague fine them and the next game they have a 10% reduction in home tickets. Then if it happens again should be banned with a punishment of 50% loss of tickets!
@EmreCanderson: Start cutting their away allocations
@Redsmail: All this condemnation is nice but it simply has no impact. The authorities have to take punitive action.
@gmac72_LFC: Unless clubs actually start taking a very hard line against this abhorrent behaviour, it will never stop. We need to pave the way and start taking action at the next home game where fans sing offensive songs/chants. This behaviour is sickening and must end.
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