Every fortnight we cover the best and worst football songs from every club in the UK from our book ‘The Sound Of Football: Every Club, Every Song’. You can buy it here

Dundee

Nickname: The Dark Blues

Ground: Dens Park

Stadium Capacity: 11,506

Song: Up Wi’ The Bonnets

In 2008, Scottish comedy legend, and Glasgow born comedian, Billy Connolly, caused controversy when he claimed in The Scotsman newspaper that people from Edinburgh were just not funny.

“I don’t know why. I think it’s about immigration, because I don’t find Edinburgh people all that funny,” he said. “They’re very interesting and nice, but you wouldn’t point to funny as being one of their features.” 

Billy must have been deliberately provocative because as a stand-up and folk singer in the sixties and seventies he would have shared stages with one of the greats of Scottish comedy, an Edinburgh comic called Hector Nicol. And he would have thanked Hector, because, without Hector, Billy would not have had a stand-up act – Nicol was one of the first comics to introduce blue material to his routines.

Hector wasn’t just famous as a comic, he was also an actor and, before his death in 1985, he was a regular on Scottish screens in the soap series Take The High Road, which was like a Scottish Emmerdale Farm, or Emmerdale Croft. But Nicol’s lasting legacy was not his jokes or his performances but his songs. Hector was a prolific song writer for football clubs.

For Hibernian he wrote ‘Glory Glory To The Hibees’, a song and tune ‘borrowed’ by Manchester United today, for Hearts he wrote ‘The Hearts Song’. He also wrote ‘The Terrors of Tannadice’ for Dundee United and ‘Up Wi’ The Bonnets’ for Dundee.

Ironically, Nicol, despite his east coast home, was actually a fan of St Mirren, based in the west coast in Paisley, the town where he was born – though he never, as far as we know, wrote a song for them.

‘Up Wi’ The Bonnets’ sings of the pride fans feel at watching the players play in its traditional blue shirts.

“You can sing of your glories of teams you have seen,

like the Saints and the Dons up in old Aberdeen,

but in all this wide world there’s just one team for me,

that’s the brave(bold) boys who wear the dark blue of Dundee“

(Source: Hector Nicol)

But although Dundee’s best days are behind it, as the 21st Century has seen the club yo-yo between the SPL and the lower leagues while battling financial problems, its greatest moment came in 1961 when Bob Shankley (brother of Liverpool’s Bill) led Dundee to its one and only league title. The title winning team is commemorated in the final verse and is remembered before every home game as the team walk out to Nicol’s song:

“For there’s Robertson, Penman and Alan Gilzean,

with Cousins and Smith there the finest you’ve seen,

a defence that is steady heroic and sure,

Liney, Hamilton, Cox, Seith and Wishart and Ure“

(Source: Hector Nicol) 

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Dumbarton

Nickname: The Sons

Ground: Dumbarton Football Stadium

Stadium Capacity: 2020

Song: High Tension At Boghead

Britpop was responsible for more crimes against humanity than the entire world conquering efforts of the Injustice League (including, but not limited to, Robo-Armageddon; Monkey Apocalypse; and numerous attempted uses of a Devastating Doomsday Device). And, the biggest villains of all, Britpop’s Lex Luthor, was Scottish band The Supernaturals.

The Supernaturals was a prolific band. They wrote more than 100 songs in five years. But, remember, being prolific is not a good thing – diarrhea is prolific. In 1998, however, they hit the jackpot. They wrote the one song that meant they would never need to work again. That song was ‘Smile’. Google it. It’s infectious, I’ll give you that, but, then again, so is diarrhea.

We think ‘Smile’ sounds like a thousand screeching chalkboards cutting through our souls. It’s the calculated sound of a man wiping his hands on your ears after going to the toilet even though he has a towel in his hands. It is utterly and truly ghastly. But we’ll forgive The Supernaturals because they released the greatest football song of all time: ‘High Tension At Boghead’.

‘High Tension At Boghead’ was a B-side to their 1997 single Prepare To Land. It’s an Arab Strapesque tale of life and memories in the third division at Dumbarton’s historic home, before its old home was sold for re-development as brand new homes. It’s really rather wonderful.

Dumbarton also have the honour of being one of the few clubs to reach a cup final song however, unlike every other club, Dumbarton released theirs, not for reaching a Scottish Cup final, but for the 1978 World Cup finals. In 1978, caught up in World Cup fever, the Dumbarton Squad were roped into a recording session with Midge Ure to record a World Cup song for EMI America entitled ‘Hey Argentina’. However, just like Scotland (see Ayr United), it flopped.

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Doncaster Rovers

Nickname: The Rovers

Ground: Keepmoat Stadium

Stadium Capacity: 15,231

Song: Walking Out Of The Darkness

In 1991/92, FA Women’s Premier League side Doncaster Rovers Belles won the Women’s FA Cup and the national woman’s league without losing a single game. The men’s side (who should really be Doncaster Rovers Beaus) cannot boast of similar success – it’s never won the top division, the FA Cup, or remained unbeaten throughout an entire season.

While this has meant that the men’s side has never had the opportunity to release an FA Cup final song, the Belles did, recording ‘Northern Pride’, the first ever female FA Cup song in 1992.

‘Northern Pride’ is not the only musical achievement from Doncaster. In August 2013, former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson fulfilled a childhood dream by ‘signing’ for the team as a non-contract player. However, having US number one hit singles doesn’t guarantee Rovers will play any of One Direction’s song. The team already had a fan with an American number one song. Rovers fan John Parr is better known as a singer songwriter whose greatest hit was the 1985 US number one single ‘St Elmos Fire (Man in Motion)’.

The song ‘St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)’ appeared on the soundtrack of the film of the same name. But it was not inspired by the film, instead the song tells the story of Canadian athlete Rick Hansen.

Rick was 15 when he was paralysed from the waist down. After he was injured he excelled at wheelchair sports, especially long distance races, winning 19 international wheelchair marathons. To raise money for spinal injury research Rick set out to circle the world in his wheelchair. It was a journey of 26-months and 40,000 km through 34 countries and he successfully raised $26 million. The lyrics in the song reflect his journey.

Despite the success of the song, it never appeared on a John Parr album, only on the official film soundtrack. Another song which doesn’t feature on any of his official albums is ‘Walking Out Of Darkness’, which he recorded especially for Doncaster Rovers. Unlike ‘St Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)’, ‘Walking Out Of Darkness’ has never been number one in the US charts.

John was inspired to write the song when Doncaster Rovers reached the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in 2007. He wanted to tell the story of the club and how it had transformed itself. Only a few years earlier, Doncaster Rovers had almost been relegated from the conference league but had now reached a final and built a brand new stadium. It too has walked out of the darkness…

The B-side to the song is called ‘Dream On’ and is a tribute to Doncaster Rover’s greatest player – Alick Jeffrey.

Alick was a young player who was described by Jackie Milburn, the former Newcastle United and England forward, as: “This boy has everything. He is by far the best youngster I have ever seen“. Unfortunately, a bad leg break in an England international game when he was 17 curtailed his talent. He went onto play for Rovers but never reached the heights of the game that he should have. The street next to the stadium is named in his honour – Alick Jeffrey Way.

‘Walking Out Of The Darkness’ is played at every home game when the team walks out. Ironically, the tunnel is very well lit.

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Derby County

Nickname: The Rams

Ground: Pride Park Stadium

Stadium Capacity: 33,502

Song: The Derby Ram (also known as When I Go To Derby)

The world series of baseball is misnamed. It’s the championship of the major-league baseball teams in the United States and Canada only. The rest of the world doesn’t get a look in despite the sport’s popularity in Japan, Latin America and Cuba.

Although baseball’s a minority sport in the UK there was, for a short period of time, a British Baseball League. In the 1890’s a Derbyshire businessman, Sir Francis Ley, wanted healthier and more productive workers and he constructed a baseball pitch at his factory in Derby.

Sir Francis organised a team to enter the British league, a four-team professional circuit, which he would have won but the other teams complained about his lack of sportsmanship – he’d bought American players to bolster his squad. Even in the nineteenth century, money could buy sporting success.

Although the league was short-lived it did leave one legacy. Sir Francis Ley’s baseball ground became the Baseball Ground, the second (of three) stadiums for Derby County.

Derby County’s one of the original twelve founding members of the Football League and one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season. It also holds a number of other records, most of which are unwanted. During the 2007-08 Premier League campaign it equalled the league record of just one win in a season; it had the least home wins and the least away wins; the most defeats; the least number of goals and the worst goal difference.

Perhaps Derby is cursed? When the club moved to the Baseball Ground in 1895 there was a story that a group of gypsies was forced to move their camp to make way for the Baseball Ground. Legend has it that they put a curse on the ground preventing Derby County winning the FA Cup. It wasn’t a very good curse – Derby won the FA Cup in 1946.

Derby has one record that’s unlikely to be matched. It’s the only club to have had three home grounds host full England internationals. Once at Derby’s original ground The Racecourse Ground in 1895, secondly at the Baseball Ground in 1911 and lastly at the current home, Pride Park, in 2001.

The club also had the first ever club mascot – a ram named Rammie. Rammie is a full-time employee of the club and works to maintain the club’s links with fans through charity and community work.

The club has a ram as its symbol to represent it’s link to the First Regiment of Derby Militia. The militia took a ram as its mascot and used the song, The Derby Ram as its regimental song.

“As I was going to Derby,

All on the market day,

I spied the finest ram, sir,

That ever was fed on hay,

And indeed me lads,

It’s true me lads,

I never was known to lie,

If you’d have been to Derby,

You’d have seen the same as I“

(Source: trad)

No one knows the song’s exact origin. It has been around for at least 200 years with reports that in 1796 the first US president, George Washington even sang The Derby Ram to a friend’s children. 

In 1855 the first Regiment of Derbyshire Militia adopted a ram as its regimental mascot, a tradition which continues to this day through the Mercian Regiment of the British Army. Lance-corporal Derby, as the current mascot is known as presented to the Mercians by the Duke of Devonshire. Derby is paid £3.75 a day, draws his own rations, and, as the Derby Telegraph reports, he even has to have his leave card with him when he takes his annual holiday on the Duke’s Chatsworth estate. 

American country and western star Merle Travis once recorded a version entitled Darby’s Ram. Identical twins the Kossoy Sisters recorded a version titled The Darby Ram on their 1956 album Bowling Green. And in 1963 the New Christy Minstrels released Down to Darby, an adaptation of the Derby Ram on their album The New Christy Minstrels Tell Tall Tales.

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Dagenham & Redbridge

Nickname: The Daggers

Ground: Victoria Road

Stadium Capacity: 6,078

Song: The Digger Dagger

Bands dream of one day performing in the O2 in London, the world’s most popular music venue. But not Dagenham-born ex-England manager Terry Venables. He dreamt of performing on the O2. In 2010, he made history by becoming the first singer to perform on top of The O2. He sang the Elvis Pressley song ‘If I Can Dream’, released to support England on its South African World Cup campaign. The song raised money for both Help for Heroes, and Malaria No More UK.

It’s not the first time El Tel has appeared in unusual musical circumstances. He was also on the cover of ‘Dagenham Dave’ by Morrissey, released as a single in 1995. It was only the second time Morrissey had not appeared on the cover of his own song. Instead he picked a picture of Terry Venables sticking his tongue out. Morrissey might have written some classics but this one is clunker. It was reviewed in the weekly musical paper, the NME, and it was described as “piss-poor old crap” and a “tune-impaired three-minute drone.“

Dagenham & Redbridge was formed in 1992, making them only three years older than ‘Dagenham Dave’. It was formed after a merger between Dagenham and Redbridge Forest.

Redbridge Forest was also an amalgamated club having been created from Ilford, Leytonstone and Walthamstow Avenue. so the full name of the side should really be Dagenham & Redbridge & Ilford & Leytonstone & Walthamstow FC.

Dagenham is the setting for the film and musical ‘Made in Dagenham’ which chronicles the 1968 Ford sewing machinist’s strike. This was a landmark labour-relations dispute that led to the passing of the Equal Pay Act 1970. The women who were skilled workers walked out when they found out the plant was downgrading their pay to a lower category than the equivalent male worker. It seems an unlikely idea for a musical but who would have thought that a barber who kills people and turns them into pies would be a huge success. What next? A bunch of cats singing songs? Madness!

Dagenham’s nickname is the Daggers for reasons which are self-evident. And the club’s anthem is based on this nickname and Chelsea’s ‘Zigger Zagger’.

It’s a simple call and response: one fan leads and everyone else shouts the reply.

“Lead: Digger Dagger, Digger Dagger

Crowd: Oi Oi Oi

Lead: Digger Dagger, Digger Dagger

Crowd: Oi Oi Oi

Lead: Digger

Crowd: Dagger

Lead: Digger

Crowd: Dagger

Lead (faster) :Digger Dagger, Digger Dagger

Crowd: Oi Oi Oi“

(Source: fan chant)

The ‘Zigger Zagger’ has a long history. It’s thought it was derived from the Cornish “Oggie, oggie, oggie!” chant. An oggie was Cornish slang for a Cornish pastie. Legend has it that this was called out by Cornish woman to make their menfolk aware that they were about to drop the freshly baked pasties down the tin mine. The original chant was adopted locally by the navy and later used at rugby matches. Famous Chelsea supporter, Mickey Greenaway (see Chelsea for more on Greenaway), is said to have introduced the ‘Zigger Zagger’ version in the early sixties. With his booming voice, he would bark out the call and the crowd would reply with an “Oi, oi, oi!”. It quickly spread to other clubs, including Dagenham & Redbridge.

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Crystal Palace

Nickname: The Eagles

Ground: Selhurst Park

Stadium Capacity: 26,309

Song: Glad All Over

In 1851, George Jennings invented the public toilet. Unfortunately, the toilets were found in the Crystal Palace exhibition hall. It was called Crystal Palace because it was made out of glass. And, you would think, it would be the last place you would have a toilet as it had clear walls and ceilings. This led to the short-lived proverb: ‘folk in glass houses should not throw stones… or go to the toilet’. More accurately, it also led to the phrase ‘spend a penny’ as George Jennings charged a penny to use the facilities.

Although the hall was originally built in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, it was moved to Sydenham in south London after the exhibition finished, an area which then became known as Crystal Palace. In 1905 workers at the hall formed a football team and named it Crystal Palace.

The exhibition hall, the area and the football club share more than just a name. Both club and hall suffered from financial difficulties.

In 2010, Crystal Palace went into administration. In the 1850s, the company that built the original hall also failed to pay its debts. It had made a fundamental mistake. Most people worked six days a week with only Sundays off. The hall was only open six days a week, and it closed on a Sunday. Even a candidate on The Apprentice can spot the flaw in this business model. Most people could not visit without taking time off work, and when they did, it was pounds, not pennies the builders needed.

Unusually, Palace’s great rival is not a London side but one that is over 40 miles away – Brighton.

The rivalry with Brighton had simmered for several years but ‘officially’ started in 1974 when Palace was in the third division. Both sides had many away supporters, regularly taking 12,000 to each other’s grounds.

An FA Cup match saw the rivalry boil over after Brighton was awarded a penalty. Brighton scored, but the referee ordered it retaken as a Palace player had crept into the box. The second penalty was missed, and Palace went on to win 1 – 0.

Alan Mullery, the Brighton manager, was enraged and, as he marched off the pitch, he encountered trouble in the tunnel.

“As I was walking up the tunnel,” he told The Guardian, “a load of boiling hot coffee was thrown over me by a Crystal Palace supporter. So I pulled a handful of change out of my pocket, threw it on the floor and shouted, ‘That’s all you’re worth, Crystal Palace.’” 

Mullery added further insults, and gestures involving his fingers, before storming into the Palace dressing room to confront his old Tottenham Hotspur teammate and then Crystal Palace manager, Terry Venables. It was reported that Mullery threw a fiver on the floor and told El Tel he wouldn’t pay that much for the entire Palace team, which was true if 36 years too early. In 2010, following administration, he could have picked the whole team up for nothing.

Crystal Palace adopted the Dave Clark Five song ‘Glad All Over’ as its anthem in the 1960s. It was released in November of 1963, and it got the group their first-ever number one in January the following year.

Unlike other football songs, the transition from chart to terraces was instant. Usually, it can take several years before a song is widely accepted as tradition, but in the case of ‘Glad All Over’, it had easily caught on within the year and was a matchday tradition by the end of the decade. Since then, the song has been sung before, during and after matches (providing Palace win). 

Perhaps part of its success in crossing over was how the Dave Clark Five wrote and recorded their songs. Their live shows were famous for audience participation, usually led by Dave Clark ‘conducting’ the crowd and getting them to stomp their feet in time to his drumming. Dave Clark has said: “I’d pay somebody 5 Pounds to go switch all the lights on and off in the ballroom, in time with the stomps. That’s what gave [us] the idea for ‘Glad All Over,'” whose chorus featured a “boom boom… Glad all over!” chorus. 

The song’s link to the club was reinforced in 1990 when it was recorded by the squad and released for the club, reaching the FA Cup final. Unfortunately, Palace lost the final after the match was replayed following a 3 – 3 draw at the first attempt.

The song has been adopted by Blackpool and other English Football League teams such as Rotherham United, Port Vale and Swindon Town.

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Crewe Alexandra

Nickname: The Railway Men

Ground: The Alexandra Stadium

Stadium Capacity: 10,066

Song: Standing Together

Crewe Alexandra has released two songs. One a cover of ‘Blue Moon’, more famously known as the anthem of Manchester City. And, the other, a song called ‘Standing Together’. A soft rock classic with an obligatory guitar solo.

‘Standing Together’ is an appropriate title for a song about Crewe Alexandra as the town of Crewe is best known for its railway junction. The junction also gives rise to Crewe’s nickname – the Railway Men.

What’s less known is the town’s link to the most famous cartoon character in history: Mickey Mouse. The town was the birthplace of Jimmy MacDonald, who, for thirty years, was the voice of Mickey.

Both Mickey and Crewe have helped produce young talent. In America, The Mickey Mouse Club was a TV variety show that launched the career of several artists such as Justin Timberlake, Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilera. At Crewe Alexandra, the focus on youth development has produced notable players such as Neil Lennon, David Platt and Robbie Savage. Though describing Robbie Savage as talent may be stretching the definition of ‘talent’ too far.

It’s unclear where the Alexandra in Crewe Alexandra originated. One tale states that it took the name ‘Alexandra’ from a local hotel used by the club. Another tale states it was after Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who married Queen Victoria’s eldest son.An unusual feature of Crewe’s stadium is the absence of dugouts. However, they don’t stand together; instead, teams sit in a section of seating at the front of the main stand. The most famous part of the ground is known as the ‘Popular Side’; this is a single-tier stand where the away supporters are housed. We suspect it’s called the ‘Popular Side’ because other name is the ‘Ice Cream Van Stand’. 

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Crawley Town

Nickname: The Red Devils

Ground: Broadfield Stadium

Stadium Capacity: 5,973

Song: A Message To You Rooney

Club songs are generally upbeat; they instil a sense of pride and should bring fans and clubs closer together. Unfortunately, for one Crawley Town fan, Mike Dobie, his song saw him banned by his club.

In 2011, Crawley Town was a non-league side. The club was drawn to play fellow Red Devils, Manchester United, at Old Trafford during a FA Cup run. To celebrate, Mike Dobie wrote a song called ‘A Message To You Rooney’, a re-working of ‘A Message To You Rudy’ by The Specials.

Mike’s celebration didn’t last long. A Manchester United fan complained to Crawley that Mike had made airplane gestures in the video to mock the Munich air crash victims, the 1958 tragedy that had cost the lives of many of United’s players. Crawley was appalled and promptly banned the song and the man behind it.

After playing and losing to United, the club has had success. It was promoted to the Football League, and then, at the first attempt, it was promoted on the last day of the 2012/13 season from League 2 to League 1.

The only other time the club has featured in a song was when portly manager Steve Evans left the club. Although Steve brought on-field success, his methods were not popular with players or fans. When news broke that he had accepted an offer to manage Rotherham, the players were filmed singing a rendition of ‘We’re Singing A Song ‘Cos The Fat Man’s Gone’ and Chubby Checker’s ‘Twist Again,’ to celebrate his exit.

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Cowdenbeath

Nickname: The Blue Brazil

Ground: Central Park

Stadium Capacity: 4,309

Song: The Coo (Cow) Song

Cowdenbeath’s nickname is the Blue Brazil. It’s an unusual name, and its origin can be traced back to a Scottish Cup tie against Stranraer.

Usually, Cowdenbeath plays in blue strips. Typically, it’s known more for hitting and hoofing than step-overs and intricate passing. However, according to fans at the match, the team that day was playing some “silky stuff“. One fan was so impressed he shouted out, “C’mon the silky blues“. Another shouted out “C’mon the super blues” before a third added “C’MON THE BLUE BRAZIL!” A stunned silence followed – earth-shattering hyperbole can do that to a stadium – along with a 3 – 1 victory, and the nickname’s stuck ever since.

Cowdenbeath was formed in 1880 by James and John Pollock, who had one claim to fame: they had the only football in Cowdenbeath. As the official history notes: the brothers were originally from Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland, and had learnt to play football there. When they moved to Cowdenbeath on the east coast, they discovered no one played football. Their mother went to Glasgow to buy them a ball, so they could keep playing.

The official history of Cowdenbeath records that her son Davie said in 1952:

“Mither decided that we’d got tae hae a ba’ so she went tae Glesgae and brocht ane back. That ba’ was really the start o’ footba’ here.”

(Mother decided that’s we had to have a ball, so she went to Glasgow and brought one back. That ball was really the start of football here.)

Sadly, Mrs Pollock didn’t also bring another part of their Ayrshire heritage: classic poetry. The most famous son of Ayr is Robbie Burns, Scotland’s national poet. Instead, Cowdenbeath fans sing a song based on Scotland’s other national poet, William Topaz McGonagall, considered the worst poet in the world.

McGonagall was born in 1825 and wrote almost 200 poems, all of them awful. He was such a poor poet; audiences would throw rotten fish at him as he performed. But, despite dying penniless in 1902, his poems have become celebrated, if not for the right reasons.

At Cowdenbeath, in Central Park, fans sing one poem in particular – ‘The Coo Song’ (The Cow Song).

“There was a coo, on yonder hill.

There was a coo, on yonder hill.

It’s not there, it must’ve shifted.

There was a coo on yonder hill.“

(Source: terrace chant)

Robbie Burns, it is not.

It’s worth noting that William McGonagall was a teetotaller and a great supporter of the temperance movement. Robbie Burns loved drinking. So, if you want to write poetry, better order a double.

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Cove Rangers/Berwick Rangers

Nickname: The Wee Rangers

Ground: Balmoral Stadium

Stadium Capacity: 2600

Song: None!

We’ve tried fan forums (couldn’t find one), emailed supporters (no one answered), checked fan chant websites (all listed ‘zero songs’), and we’ve begged online for leads, but we’ve drawn a blank. Cove Rangers, one of Scotland’s newest clubs, having joined the league in 2018 after a 7 – 0 aggregate playoff victory against Berwick Rangers, has no songs. Please let us know if you know a Cove Rangers fan or have ever heard them sing. Instead, let’s look at the team they replaced: Berwick Rangers, though their musical legacy is not much stronger. 

Berwick Rovers was one of the few clubs in the SPFL that neither played music when the team walked out or after the team scored, and we’re indebted to the Berwick Supporters Trust for confirming that there’s no official song for Berwick Rangers, saving many hours looking for pieces that don’t exist.

It’s not surprising that Berwick Rangers has no official song when you learn that its hometown of Berwick-upon-Tweed is still at war with Russia – or, at least, it is, according to local legend and its unique position near the border between Scotland and England.

Berwick-upon-Tweed is located in England, just two and a half miles from the border with Scotland, yet, Berwick Rangers play in the Scottish Professional Football League. A discrepancy came about due to a lack of local English teams to play against, leading to it facing teams in the Scottish borders instead.

The fact that Berwick-upon-Tweed is in England meant Berwick Rangers was the only team in the Scottish leagues required to implement the Taylor report in 1989, which followed the Hillsborough disaster. The report required all clubs in England & Wales to have all-seated stadiums. As Berwick-upon-Tweed is an English town, the club had to comply even though Rovers play in Scotland.

The town has had an equally confusing history, being, at times, either English or Scottish depending on where the border between the two countries was drawn. The Treaty of Everlasting Peace (between Scotland and England in 1502) stated that Berwick-upon-Tweed was ‘of England’ but not ‘in England’. This led to Berwick-upon-Tweed being mentioned separately from Scotland and England in Acts of Parliament. A separation that led to its continuing war with Russia.

In 1853, Britain’s declared war against Russia. The declaration referred to England, Scotland and Berwick-upon-Tweed. However, the 1856 Treaty of Paris that ended hostilities never mentioned Berwick-upon-Tweed. Because Berwick-upon-Tweed wasn’t mentioned, locals say that the market town of 25,000 people must still be at war with Russia as it never declared a ceasefire. And, as we know what Russia thinks of musicians, following its treatment of Pussy Riot, perhaps Berwick Rangers is playing it safe and not choosing any music in case it offends Vladimir Putin, and he decides to invade?

Berwick does have unofficial songs. Berwick supporter Michael Smyth provided us with lyrics to two songs that celebrate the club’s stadium and surrounding streets. We include both songs below. In the first song, “The Grove” and “The Harrow” are pubs that flank Shielfield Park. While, in the second, the reference to “Shielfield Road” is a bit of artistic licence – Berwick’s ground is actually off Shielfied Terrace. Perhaps this is an attempt to confuse Vladamir Putin if he ever restarts hostilities?

To the tune of Molly Malone:

“In Berwick’s fair city

Where the girls are so s***y

I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone

As she wheeled her wheelbarrow

From The Grove to The Harrow

Shouting B-E-R-W-I-C-K

BERWICK“

(Source: unknown)

To the tune of Blaydon Races (see Newcastle United)

“Aw me lads, you ought tae see them gannin’

Gannin’ along the Shieifield Road

Just as we were stannin’

All the lads and lasses there

See their smilin’ faces

Gannin’ alang the Shielfield Road

… Tae see the BERWICK RANGERS!”

(Source: unknown)

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