Ten German Bombers
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"Ten German Bombers" is a
children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studie ...
with the tune of "
She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" (sometimes referred to as "Coming 'Round the Mountain") is a traditional folk music, folk song often categorized as children's music. The song is derived from the Christian Spiritual (song), spiritual known ...
". It has been adopted as a
football chant A football chant or terrace chant is a form of vocalisation performed by supporters of association football, typically during football matches. Football chanting is an expression of collective identity, most often used by fans to express their ...
by
English football Football is the most popular sport in England. Widely regarded as the birthplace of modern football, the first official rules of the game were established in England in 1863. The country is home to the world's first football league, the oldest ...
fans, and is sung mainly at football matches during international competitions, namely the
UEFA Euro The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...
s and
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
, especially in games against
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It has been criticised as discriminatory by both
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
and the
Football Association A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...
, with fans who chant it facing bans from competitions.


Lyrics

"Ten German Bombers" makes reference to German bombers and defensive action by the RAF during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It is sung to tune of "
She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" (sometimes referred to as "Coming 'Round the Mountain") is a traditional folk music, folk song often categorized as children's music. The song is derived from the Christian Spiritual (song), spiritual known ...
". It is a simple
repetitive song Repetitive songs contain a large proportion of repeated words or phrases. Simple repetitive songs are common in many cultures as widely spread as the Caribbean, Southern India and Finland. The best-known examples are probably children's songs. Othe ...
and the verse pattern follows a
cumulative song A cumulative song is a song with a simple verse structure modified by progressive addition so that each verse is longer than the verse before. Cumulative songs are popular for group singing, in part because they require relatively little memoriz ...
format, similar to "
Ten Green Bottles "Ten Green Bottles" is a popular children's repetitive song that consists of a single verse (music), verse of music that is repeated, with each verse decrementing by one the number of bottles on the wall. The first verse is: This pattern co ...
": These verses are then repeated with ten replaced by the appropriate number, with one fewer bomber in the air each time. The 10th verse becomes "There was one German bomber in the air" and "And the RAF from England shot it down". The last verse becomes "There were no German bombers in the air" and "’Cause the RAF from England shot them down".


In football

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the song has been sung by English
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
fans at some matches against the
Germany national football team The Germany national football team () represents Germany in men's international Association football, football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association (''Deutscher Fußball-Bund''), founded ...
. It is typically accompanied by horizontally outstretched arms and a gentle swaying motion, as if to mimic an aircraft in flight, and on some occasions, the word "air" has been replaced with "war". The song has been deemed to be racially offensive by
The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...
(FA). In December 2005,
Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; 5 February 1948 – 26 August 2024) was a Swedish association football, football player and Coach (sport), manager. After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management ...
, the then manager, asked fans to refrain from it at the
2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, a plea echoed by
Greater Manchester Police Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. , Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...
and other authorities. Television commercials starring
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,
Michael Owen Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, Newcastle United ...
, and
Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...
requesting the same were also planned. Similar issues attended the football song "
Two World Wars and One World Cup "Two World Wars and One World Cup" is a football song sung by supporters of the England national football team to the tune of "Camptown Races" as part of the England–Germany football rivalry. The chant refers to the United Kingdom's victories in ...
". These moves were criticised by some elements of the British press. In December 2005, Tony Parsons, writing in ''
The Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead ...
'', stated that: :"Less than a lifetime ago the Germans inflicted untold misery on the world. If English football fans choose to deal with that a mere 60 years later by holding their arms out and pretending to be
Lancaster bomber The Avro Lancaster, commonly known as the Lancaster Bomber, is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same spec ...
s, I would suggest that the Germans are getting off quite lightly." German fans in 2006, exhilarated by their team's three previous victories in the World Cup, adopted rival songs. Supporters of the two teams engaged in impromptu chanting competitions in the centre of
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
. Elsewhere the answer from German fans at football matches was often the Nazi song ' ("Bombs to England"). The well known and often varied chant "Without England we're heading to Berlin" ("Ohne England fahr'n wir nach Berlin") uses the melody of " Yellow Submarine". During the 2006 World Cup, the German musician Torsun (half of the group Egotronic) recorded a techno cover of the song. The song and its accompanying
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
video (featuring footage of German planes being shot down, the
Wembley Goal In association football, a ghost goal (or phantom goal) is either a goal wrongly awarded despite the ball not having crossed the Goal line (football), goal line, or a goal wrongly not given despite the ball having crossed the line. In an attempt t ...
, a burning German flag, etc.) attracted media attention in Germany, as well as from the British tabloid ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...
''. The song was eventually included in the World Cup themed compilation ''Weltmeister Hits 2006''. The song is also sung by
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
fans at home matches at
Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...
, and also at numerous away matches. This rendition replaces the lyric England with Ulster. It has become a regular chant since the start of the millennium and can heard being sung by the
Green and White Army The Green and White Army are fans that follow the Northern Ireland national football team, noted for their passionate support. The support at Windsor Park, the home of the Northern Ireland national football team, is sometimes referred to as th ...
in The Kop. In November 2014, during the qualification game against Romania in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
for
UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...
, the crowd sang ''Ten German Bombers'' at the final whistle. During the 2021 European Football Championship, both the
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
and the FA decided that fans singing "Ten German Bombers" would be banned from the competition. The FA further condemned taking part in "discriminatory or disrespectful" chants. Fans nonetheless singing "Ten German Bombers" in front of
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
were covered by the German and international media. In the run up to the 2024 European Football Championship, amid concerns of violence in anticipation of England's inaugural game against
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
, police in the city of
Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...
warned English fans away from singing the song. A more broad warning was issued against violence, riots, or defamatory chants, but specifically named the song. The warning stated that such behaviour would result in police intervention to establish whether a crime had occurred, and possible arrests.


Alternatives

Northern Ireland supporters also sing the song replacing England with Ulster, and this song is usually followed by "
The Dam Busters March ''The Dam Busters'' is the theme for the 1955 British war film '' The Dam Busters''. The musical composition, by Eric Coates, has become synonymous with both the film and the real Operation Chastise. ''The Dam Busters March'' remains a very pop ...
". Fans of
Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...
also regularly sing "Ten German Bombers", replacing the word "England" with "Britain". Ukraine and England supporters sang the song with alternative lyrics during their March 2023
UEFA European Championship qualifying The UEFA European Championship qualifying, branded as the European Qualifiers, is the process that UEFA-affiliated national football teams go through in order to qualify for the UEFA European Championship. In this article, the years represent t ...
match at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
, in reference to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
. Changes to the lyrics included "Russian bombers" being shot down by the "air force from Ukraine," with each verse ending with an appeal for Ukraine to be provided with
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superio ...
aircraft.


See also

*
Association football culture Association football culture, or football culture, refers to the cultural aspects surrounding the game of association football. As the sport is global, the culture of the game is diverse, with varying degrees of overlap and distinctiveness in ...
* Germany – United Kingdom relations


References


External links


Offside, 23 March
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205180025/http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/0000000CAFDE.htm , date=5 February 2012 by Duleep Allirajah Race-related controversies in music Culture of England England national football team songs English children's songs England–Germany football rivalry Songs of World War II Songs about World War II Songs about Germany Songs about the United Kingdom Rangers F.C. songs Cumulative songs Articles containing video clips