Oh God. Make it stop.
We love our American cousins and their enthusiasm for all types of sports, we really do. They hype, overanalyse, package and obsess over anything involving a bat, ball, running, jumping or swimming like no one else on the planet.
The fact that our version of football is finally gaining significant and growing traction on their side of the pond is to be encouraged and applauded. As should Yank supporters cultivating their own unique fan culture around the sport.
That said, we draw the line somewhere. On Sunday night, we were made aware of a chant so heinous and damaging to our eyeholes that the only option is to kill it with fire and destroy all evidence that it ever happened.
Orlando City were hosting New York City, and the home fans had the sheer audacity and lack of self-respect to sing, ‘MOVE BITCH! GET OFF THE PITCH! GET OFF THE PITCH! GET OFF THE PITCH! MOVE BITCH! GET OFF THE PITCH!’ etc to a limping NYC player.
If it looks bad written down, it’s far worse when witnessed in the following clip. May the Lord have mercy on their souls.
Last night in the MLS, a chant of “move b*tch, get off the pitch”. I can’t decide if I like it or not. pic.twitter.com/R7lgMbpzZS
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) March 6, 2017