By Les Tan
It’s for good reason that a bugle was used in ancient times to rally troops to attack or retreat. It’s loud, it’s clear and everyone can hear.
The lunatic fringe in football obviously cottoned on to the idea some years back and now use the air horn regularly as an audio cue for everyone to chime in with a Malay swear word, an insult to most Singaporeans at such national events.
Obviously, banning air horns or whistles doesn’t stop stupid people from doing stupid things if they are genetically disposed to do so but we can at least remove one more easy instrument of idiocy from their arsenal.
The arrogance and shamefulness of that chant, so obviously on display during and after the game, is the kindle that lights the fire in a crowd situation, encouraging volatile emotions to boil over into a mob situation, as seen by the vicious attack on Vietnamese fans and the burning of the Vietnamese flag.
Those who say the chant is harmless probably don’t even realise the word refers to the male genitalia.
Please take away their air horns, SSC, or we will continue to be infected by this plague even when we get a shiny new Sports Hub in 2012.
Just imagine Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, attending the final of the Youth Olympic Games football event, turning to ask our politicians Teo Ser Luck or Vivian Balakrishnan, “You Singaporeans are such passionate fans! What is the meaning of that word, ‘b-u-t-o-h’?”
N.B. The Singapore Sports Council runs all stadiums in Singapore, including the National Stadium.
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Hi Gid, thanks for your quite frank comment.
I also chanted it before I realised what it meant. Then felt like an idiot after that.
I agree with your point about the unity of cheering. It’s just unfortunate the unifying word is not just negative, but a swear word.
Can you imagine a stadium full of stadium shouting “l-a-n c-h-i-a-o”?
It’s the Hokkien equivalent and means the same.
It would be shocking for everyone.
Because it’s in Malay, most assume it means something harmless. It’s unfortunate.
It’s our supporting culture which is determined by the lowest common denominator.
Quite sad.
Hi, I’d be the first to admit that I have probably chanted butoh more loudly than most, albeit not without first checking with my malay friends what it meant before uttering it.
By admission, while it is not the most “positive” cheer by far, I would cautiously say that a cheer that can unite fans is at least good in that respect and for that purpose.
I guess the more deep-set problem, as alluded to in the article about the Vietnamese fans’ cheering is the very poor supporter culture in Singapore. It is indeed sad, embarrassing even, when Singaporeans only seem to be united in their booing of opposition teams. When was the last time you heard a united cheering of our team at the stadium? For that matter, when was the last time we had a full house at Kallang? For the record, I have always tried to attend the Lions matches at home and if memory serves me right, the last full house I saw at the National Stadium was the 04/05 edition of the Tiger Cup (sorry I can’t keep up with the name changes) when our boys came back from Jakarta with one hand already on the cup.
Singaporean fans, lets have more “positive” cheering. Supporting your team is not just about putting down the opposition team (most times we even turn on our own team just as quickly) if it offers no encouragement for our own. Get rid of that negativity in our supporting and maybe it will be reflected by our team’s on the pitch performance as well.
Having said that, Les, I would respectfully express my opinion that, while not ideal, swear words and vulgarities are very much a part of watching football. Not just here but at premiership matches in England which I attended as well. I draw the comparison because of the perceived differences in the quality of support, there and here. It is a passionate game, and for those whose vocabulary is inadequate, swear words seem to be the tools of choice for expressing our passion.
My two cents worth. (:
They already ban airhorns, ppl just smuggle them in, its super easy.
Interesting use of a question mark.
If you would like to address the point of swearing, please do so, because you haven’t, zhenyao.
Unless you are saying that swearing in Malay en masse is ok with you.
But it wasn’t clear in your comment what exactly your position is.
what the ???
article???
i cant begin to comment?
ban airhorn????
WANT US TO BE MOVIE GOERS REDSPORTS?????
I think most of us would like to go and watch a football game with tens of thousands of supporters singing nice songs, cheering positive encouragement and having a very good time without worrying whether the place will descend into a riot because some of us Singaporeans can’t stop swearing using a malay swear word without even understanding what it is.
My friend and I decided not to bring our young boys (under 10) because we decided we didn’t want them to listen to non stop chanting of ‘butoh’ throughout the game.
It’s not exactly family entertainment.
So are we in a race to see who have the most obedient set of supporters then?
Yes, the Indonesians also throw packets of urine down from the top tier.
I suggest banning air horns because we are not in a race with the Indonesians, Thais and Burmese to see who has the stupidest fan.
Why ban air horns? I went to watch football matches in Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar, and these people have their own version of the infamous four letter words. Its very common in Europe and everywhere else. Watching football is not watching a movie at the cinema!