First, the muted strains of "Three Lions," the English football anthem exploring the great disappointment of being an English football fan in recent decades, began to mix with the muttering and chatter of the bus. Then as the music swelled towards the chorus, a wall of eager voices rose above the rest of the noise: "Football's coming home, it's coming home!" The sound was raucous, atonal, yet weirdly joyful, and as the bus swung round the curves past blackened stone cottages and fields freshly hayed, a middle-aged man in the front of the bus turned around, and, hanging onto the back of his seat, started to sing along.
It’s not just England, and it’s not just football. Group singing is an important tradition surrounding big events for many sports around the world. When crowds of people sing in unison in a stadium or arena—when fans of Turkish basketball sing “12 Giant Men,” for example, or cricket fans belt out “Mrs. Robinson”—it’s sometimes intended to pep up the players. Fans often write new lyrics referencing individual players or make jokes about the opponents (or about the singers themselves).
When people who have watched a televised game sing on the bus or on the sidewalks of their neighborhoods—despite being nowhere near the stadium—it’s a continuation of the same effect. “After an important win, the emotional intensity remains high, and singing allows supporters to express joy, affiliation, and shared meaning in public,” says Lane. “It can be both spontaneous emotional release and a signal of belonging.” Watch rugby fans in the streets of Paris, singing after a match, and you can feel the energy.
Even non-fans can join in
This type of public singing can spread beyond the initial group to people who are not even sports fans. After “Wonderwall,” the bus continued into “Sweet Caroline,” the Neil Diamond hit from 1969 that has become an unofficial English football anthem. A grandmotherly woman leaned across the aisle, smiled, and told people within earshot that she was singing along to “Sweet Caroline” when she was a teenager.
Later that night, long after the bus had arrived at its destination, England won, advancing to the World Cup semifinals. On July 15, they will play Argentina. How many fan singalongs might fill the buses and streets today?
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