Old Forest Chants & Songs

[Paplane]

Oh Nottingham is full of fun, Nottingham is full of fun.
its full of tits, fanny and Forest, Nottingham is full of fun.

Did I read somewhere that someone complained to the club about this song?

The Supporters Trust sent out the following e-mail on Friday:

As one of two women on the Supporters' Trust board, I wanted to contact you to get your support for something that's been bothering me for a fair while.

It was reinforced while standing with my sister at the Emirates Stadium, watching the reds play Arsenal, when a young boy, probably no older than eight stood on his chair and starting joining in with that old fashioned song that you'll all know, which starts "Oh Nottingham is full of fun..."

It's a song that for many years has made me annoyed, why is something that sexist acceptable? Why, when many songs featuring racist or homophobic chanting have disappeared from our vocabularies, is this acceptable? Why, when there are so many other creative, modern and supportive chants do people choose to keep singing it?

At that match, I heard it sung more times than I'd heard it sung in recent! years.

I wondered what my 12-year-old niece, who is just getting into football, would think if she'd heard that chant by hundreds of Forest fans.

So I raised it with the board, who were in total agreement that this song is archaic, divisive and when we've started to become such a progressive club, not at all in tune with the stance that football should be for everyone.

So I'm writing to you to get your support in joining a pledge to be more inclusive by agreeing not to sing this song, and to discourage others to not sing it either. Details on how you can sign up to the pledge, and how you can ask others to do the same, will be coming very soon.

We are also wanting to find volunteers who'd be willing to feature in a video to encourage fans to think about the impact on everyone of what they sing. After all, #FootballBelongsToEverybody and I'd love to see you join me in making everyone who follows Forest feel comfortable and able to join in on supporting their club in the right way.

You will be able to record your part in our video campaign from anywhere in the world with a smartphone and we will supply a script for you to read from - it wont take up much of your time and you will be helping us make a real difference.

If you are willing and able to help us with this campaign please drop us an email at comms@nffctrust.org and we’ll be in touch with more details.

Thank you for your continued support

Donna Jordan
NFST Board Member