Gratuitous Football References in Pop Songs

[CollegeTillIDie]

" Hearts of Oak are charred and blistered...." That Was Then This is Now ABC 1983

Ghana's finest football team namedropped by Sheffield's finest Pop group :D

[tetsujin1979]

Kaiser Chiefs take their name from a football club in South Africa
There's a band in Brighton called Zamora, after Bobby's move there and scored tons of goals for fun
Dario G are named after Dario Gradi, the Crewe manager.

[wws]

Half man half biscuit - All i want for christmas is a dukla-prague away kit

The Undertones - that derry strip on the front cover and all the subbuteo references

The Proclaimers - Cap in Hand includes the great lines:
'I cant understand why Stranraer lie so lowly
They could save a lot of points by signin Hibs goalie'
sung in a scottish accent its hilarious for some reason.....


Rod Stewart - Celtic and United refs

Matt Busby name checked in The Beatles Dig it

theres loads - havent all day

[stojkovic]

Keane !

[wws]

Rivelino!

[Lionel Ritchie]

Half man half biscuit - All i want for christmas is a dukla-prague away kit
The Undertones - that derry strip on the front cover and all the subbuteo references

The Proclaimers - Cap in Hand includes the great lines:
'I cant understand why Stranraer lie so lowly
They could save a lot of points by signin Hibs goalie'
sung in a scottish accent its hilarious for some reason.....


Rod Stewart - Celtic and United refs

Matt Busby name checked in The Beatles Dig it

theres loads - havent all day

the biccies have tons more including ...

"Even Men with steel hearts love to see a dog on the pitch"

"Paintball's Coming Home" (which includes the line "if I were a Linesman/ I would execute defenders who applauded my offsides")


"1966 and all that" ("If only youd give me my Lev Yashin poster back
six months ago i returned your brown anorak
but you keep forgetting
and its far too upsetting
so baby Ferenc Puskas to you, to you
Baby Ferenc Puskas to you")

"The referees alphabet" ("The A is for my authority
which many players seem to question,
thinking theyre somehow going to make me change my mind
B is for babies
which a lot of managers cry like
after a decision has not gone their way
C is for the continual criticism i recieve from the touchline
get back in your technical area!
D is for the dunderheads
who seem to think we have a conspiracy
against their particular team
E is for the eery silence that echoes around the ground
after I've booked the home teams player
and its obvious to everyone that he deserved it
F is the farce into which most games would descend if we werent there
The G is for the gnarled face of someone whos on £90,000 a week
and reckoned he should have had a throw in
H is for handball
which has to be intentional and very rarely is
if only people would study the rules more
I is for innocence, pleaded by many a doe-eyed defender
after theyve just scythed down that tricky winger
J is for ju-jitsu, which i quite intend to display given a dark alley
and some of the narky blerts ive encountered
K is for the kissing of the badge
how ridiculous that looks 6 months later when theyre at another club
L is for lip reading, at which you dont need to be an expert
to see how odious some people are
M is for the mistakes we sometimes make
surely a bit of controversy is part of the games appeal
The N, the N is for the numbskull who during the boxing day game
asks me what else i got for christmas besides my whistle
an afternoon with your wife mate
The O is for offside
which many forwards tell me they simply could not have been
The P is for the penalty shootout
great drama and no pressure on me
Q is the quiet word i sometimes need to have
with some of the more fiery participants
i usually choose the word 'pleat'
R is for running backwards
a difficult skill which the pundits never seem to appreciate
S is for the suggestion that i should have awarded a card of some sort
to a player whos just been awarded a free kick
sorry i got all that wrong the S again
okay the S, the S is the suggestion that i should show a card to an opponent
by a player whos been awarded a free kick
he himself is more in danger of getting one for that
T is for the 21 man brawl
whiuch is basically an embarrassing scene of pushing and shoving
U is for the umpire which i sometimes wish id been instead
you never hear a cricket crowd shouting whos the ******* in the hat
The V is for vitriol vilification vendetta and volley of verbal abuse
some good bird noises there by the way
W is for walter pidgeon
whos mr Griffiths in 'how green was my valley'
i may have started to sound like during this song
'where was the light i thought to see in your eye'
he says that to a young huw played by roddy McDowall
The X
The X represents the sarcastic kiss planted on my forehead by the swarthy potugese center half
who i just dismissed
The Y is for Yate
the kind of town referees come from
And the Z
Well the Z could be for Zidane, Zico, Zola, Zubizaretta, Zoff
Even Zondervan
but is in fact for the zest with which we approach our work
without this zest for the game we wouldnt become refs
and without refs, well zero
See also Zatopek, Zeus
and Zeal Monachorum
I have a caravan there
static naturally

Wouldnt it be fun if the gave the ref a gun")

[The Good Son]

Shakhtar Donetsk and Tony Adams both by Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros.Neither with anything really to do with football.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Kaiser Chiefs take their name from a football club in South Africa
There's a band in Brighton called Zamora, after Bobby's move there and scored tons of goals for fun
Dario G are named after Dario Gradi, the Crewe manager.

The Kaiser Chiefs took their name as a tribute to Lucas Radebe apropos of nothing :)

[Pat O' Banton]

the biccies have tons more including ...



The 'referees alphabet' is indeed a classic, my favourite football song from HMHB is probably 'Dead Men don't Need Season Tickets.'

Frank Sidebottom sould get a mention for; 'Manchester City Medley', 'Estudianties (Striped Shirts Black Panties'), 'The Robbins aren't Bobbins' and 'Guess Whose Been on Match of the Day'

'Billy's Bones' by The Pogues mentions Billy 'knowing his Arsenal from his tottenham crew'

[ken foree]

great pink floyd song 'fearless' on the meddle album has 'you'll never walk alone' sung by poo fans toward the end (also chants of 'liv-er-pool!')

[Roo69]

Keane !

Not after Roy or Robbie. They called the band Keane after an old women who used to mind them. They also used to have (before they made it big) a Guitarist from...........BRAY !

[fosterdollar]

Moz's 'Roy's Keane'

[Sheridan]

" Hearts of Oak are charred and blistered...." That Was Then This is Now ABC 1983
You don't think it's more likely to be an allusion to the venerable sea shanty whence the Ghanaian club's name derives? (Hearts of oak are our ships/Hearts of oak are our men/We always are ready/Steady, boys, steady/We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again)

Ghana's finest football team namedropped by Sheffield's finest Pop group :D
But...surely that title belongs to Pulp? :confused:

[Pat O' Banton]

The Ballad of Franie Lee - The Shirehorses

...and also not strictly a song but, The Wedding Present's album 'George Best'

[sylvo]

Billy Bragg's song Sexuality,

''I had an uncle who once played for Red Star Belgrade''

Pretty much any song by The Sultans of Ping FC you could add more so ''Give him a ball and a yard of grass'', all the lyrics were sayings of Brian Clough.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Billy Bragg's song Sexuality,

''I had an uncle who once played for Red Star Belgrade''

Pretty much any song by The Sultans of Ping FC you could add more so ''Give him a ball and a yard of grass'', all the lyrics were sayings of Brian Clough.

Another song by Billy not sure of the title
"... how can you lie back and think of England/ when you don't even know who's on the team" :)

[The Good Son]

Another song by Billy not sure of the title
"... how can you lie back and think of England/ when you don't even know who's on the team" :)
Greetings To The New Brunette is the Billy Bragg song.
Two more songs, both by Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros - Tony Adams and Shatar Donetsk.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Another song by Billy not sure of the title
"... how can you lie back and think of England/ when you don't even know who's on the team" :)

there's also 'Gods Footballer' (he scores goals on a saturday and saves souls on a sunday) and 'Upfield'