Mykola Nesenyuk: "Where are the actual football slogans from the stands now? They are gone!"

The well-known journalist Mykola Nesenyuk touched upon the current atmosphere in the stands of Ukrainian stadiums, which are now open to fans again.

"Let me start by saying that I was very happy when our authorities officially allowed the presence of spectators at football matches. Even if the number of people in the stands is limited, it is still very good. Especially since the vast majority of stadiums did not have many more people going to them before the ban. Everything is back to the way it used to be - crowds of people in front of the stadiums, because it is not our tradition to come to the game in advance, a noisy or not so noisy reaction to the events that take place during the game, and then a slow exit from the stands, accompanied by a discussion of what they have just seen.

But something is still missing. What is it exactly? I didn't realise it right away. Only later, when I heard the people pushing their teams forward with a not-so-organised chant of their names, did I realise that the usual "chants" or, as they were also called, "charges" were not heard from the stands. The reason is simple: almost all of the former "zaryads" sounded not just like hostile language, which would be half the problem. The trouble is that almost all of these "chants", especially those with swear words, were borrowed from the "fans" of the aggressor country. If anyone is interested, I can cite a few particularly vivid examples.

Now no one will shout this rubbish anymore. Nowadays, the only chants on the stands are "Glory to Ukraine!", "Glory to the Heroes!", "Glory to the Nation!", "Death to the Enemies!", "Ukraine is above all!" and "Putin is a c*ck!". Of these "charges", only the last one can be considered a football one. All the rest are heard everywhere nowadays!

And where are the actual Ukrainian football chants from the stands? They are absent! The only exception is the community of Veres fans, who, ten years after the team's revival, have already accumulated a certain repertoire that is heard at every game. This will be confirmed by everyone who goes to football in Rivne. I would like to see this happen in every Ukrainian city where there are football fans. I am confident that the spectators in the stands of Zhytomyr, Kryvyi Rih, Lviv, Cherkasy, Poltava and other cities will gradually find special words to support their team!

Unfortunately, almost half of the participants in the current Ukrainian football championship have no fans at all. For various reasons, they are still almost exclusively the owners of these teams. But this can all be fixed - if there was football and stands open to the public! Even if only partially..." Nesenyuk wrote on his Facebook page.