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ON THIS MONTH: FOOTBALL<br />
Come on you Rooks!<br />
Chanting at the Pan<br />
The thought of a<br />
<strong>Lewes</strong> Ultra doesn’t<br />
exactly strike fear<br />
into your average<br />
seasoned hooligan.<br />
But even at The<br />
Dripping Pan, we<br />
have an ‘element’, a<br />
small batch of singing<br />
veterans, ready<br />
to spit bars to get<br />
behind the boys in red and black.<br />
I have started a fair few chants in my ten years on<br />
the terraces. Some of the best are the most idiosyncratic.<br />
There Is a Light that Never Goes Out was<br />
a firm favourite in those desperate twilight years<br />
when the club seemed to be hitting the wall, until<br />
someone rightly pointed out that the late noughties<br />
were painful enough as a <strong>Lewes</strong> fan without<br />
throwing in additional Morrissey.<br />
Of course, there have been many rough and ready<br />
chants giving it large to the away contingent or<br />
one of the opposition players expecting a 9.5 from<br />
the Russian judge for a spectacular front somersault<br />
on the edge of the penalty area. Most are<br />
unrepeatable here, or else my asterisk key might<br />
pass out.<br />
“Oh when the Rooks, go steaming in, Oh when<br />
the Rooks go steaming in, I wanna be in that number”<br />
goes another famous tune, albeit with <strong>Lewes</strong><br />
variations such as “Oh when the Rooks are laying<br />
their eggs” or “Oh when the Rooks s**t on your<br />
car” - it's rather educational, and only a David Attenborough<br />
narration away from being a product<br />
of the BBC’s Natural History Unit.<br />
My favourite ever <strong>Lewes</strong> match also coincides<br />
with my favourite banterous exchange with away<br />
fans. Losing 2-0 after fifteen minutes against<br />
high-flying Dover<br />
Athletic on Boxing<br />
Day 2009, the<br />
heavily refreshed<br />
Athletic fans were<br />
singing a festive<br />
“Jingle bells, jingle<br />
bells, jingle all<br />
the way. Oh what<br />
fun it is to see Dover<br />
win away”. By<br />
half time we were winning 3-2… “Two-nil and<br />
you f****d it up”. We won 6-2.<br />
Over 70 Barrow fans made the trip down in 2007<br />
and delighted us with their world famous “Shoes<br />
off if you love Barrow”. You haven't lived until you<br />
have seen a couple of dozen Cumbrian stalwarts<br />
waving their size nines at the footie.<br />
Given that the Rooks are back on the up, seemingly<br />
heading towards promotion, this creates new<br />
challenges. Many new faces have turned up, whilst<br />
a decade of turmoil has seen many depart. This<br />
season, despite an electric atmosphere as Darren<br />
Freeman’s boys put in a wonderful shift, the singing<br />
has been more subdued.<br />
Spooky, a fan who has been there through thick,<br />
thin and non-existent, still tries to rev up the<br />
crowd in the Philcox but a gentrified club leads<br />
to a gentrified (and slightly sanitised) repertoire<br />
of safe options. “Come on you Rooks”, “Come on<br />
<strong>Lewes</strong>” and “<strong>Lewes</strong>”. It's like Mary Whitehouse is<br />
in charge.<br />
Things will change. Newly emboldened supporters<br />
will take up the mantle and sing ditties<br />
that confuse and confound, delight and distress,<br />
surprise and make you smile. It's not terribly sophisticated<br />
but it's artistic expression. “Come and<br />
join us over here…” Chris Mason<br />
Photo by James Boyes (Chris Mason centre of pic in blue t-shirt with pint)<br />
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