Glory Glory (football chant)
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"Glory Glory" is a terrace chant sung in
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and in other sport. It uses the tune of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
song "
The Battle Hymn of the Republic The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" or "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" outside of the United States, is a popular American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe. Howe wrote her l ...
", with the chorus "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah" – the chant replaces "Hallelujah" with the name (or a four-syllable adaptation) of the favoured team. The chant's popularity has caused several clubs to release their version as an official team song.


History

The Scottish club Hibernian may be the first club to release the song as a single; "Glory, Glory to the Hibees" by Hector Nicol is believed to have been recorded in the late 1950s. In English football,
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...
is thought to be the first English club to sing the song as a football chant in 1960 when they prevented
Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
from achieving the double in April 1960, but became a popular chant for the club in 1961. Other notable clubs to adopt the song as a football anthem include
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
and Manchester United.


Tottenham Hotspur

"Glory, Glory, Hallelujah" became a popular song among
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...
fans in the early 1960s and is still an anthem for the club today. It is believed that Tottenham fans first sung the song in April 1960, when they prevented
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
from achieving the double. Fans took the song to their European campaign in the
1961–62 European Cup The 1961–62 European Cup was the seventh season of the European Cup. The competition was won by Benfica for the second time in a row, beating Real Madrid 5–3 in the final at the Olympisch Stadion in Amsterdam. Malta entered its champion fo ...
, and it then acquired the status of an anthem for the club after an incident in September 1961. In the away match against Polish side
Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Po ...
, the Polish press described the Spurs team as "no angels" due to their rough tackling during the match. In the return leg at
White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...
, some fans went to the match in angel costumes, holding placards with slogans such as "Glory be to shining White Hart Lane" and "Rejoice! This is the night of vengeance". The crowded started singing the refrain "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah" when Spurs beat the Poles 8–1, and from then on, singing the song became a tradition at Tottenham. The song was subsequently recorded by the members of the 1967 FA Cup-winning team and included in the EP, ''The Spurs Go Marching On''. For the
1981 FA Cup Final The 1981 FA Cup Final was the 100th final of the FA Cup, and was contested by Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. The original match took place on Saturday 9 May 1981 at Wembley, and finished 1–1 after extra-time. Tommy Hutchison opened th ...
, the Tottenham Hotspur squad together with
Chas & Dave Chas & Dave (often billed as Chas 'n' Dave) were a British pop rock duo, formed in London by Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock. Hodges died in 2018. They were most notable as creators and performers of a musical style labelled ''rockney'' (a port ...
recorded the song "Glory, Glory, Tottenham Hotspur" and released it as the B side to the single " Ossie's Dream (Spurs Are on Their Way to Wembley)".


Leeds United

"Glory Glory Leeds United" was released as a single (Columbia DB8506) by
Ronnie Hilton Ronnie Hilton (born Adrian Hill; 26 January 1926 – 21 February 2001) was an English singer and radio presenter. According to his obituary in ''The Guardian'' newspaper, "For a time Hilton was a star – strictly for home consumption – with ...
in 1968 to celebrate Leeds United's League Cup and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup successes, which are referenced in the lyrics. The song's lyrics also reference former player, Billy Bremner and
Don Revie Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England manage ...
. The lyrics also mention Mike Summerbee and
George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest p ...
in the opening. In the absence of any official release by the team, the song became Leeds' unofficial
1970 FA Cup Final The 1970 FA Cup Final was contested by Chelsea and Leeds United. The match took place on 11 April 1970 at Wembley Stadium and ended 2–2, making it the first FA Cup final to require a replay since 1912. The replay was staged at Old Trafford an ...
song.


Manchester United

"Glory Glory Man United" was a single released by the Manchester United squad prior to the
1983 FA Cup Final The 1983 FA Cup Final was contested by Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion at Wembley Stadium. Manchester United were the favourites, as Brighton had been relegated from the First Division that season, and had never reached a cup fin ...
. It was written by Frank Renshaw, who was a member of Herman's Hermits in the 1970s and 1980s. It was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport with the football team and some of Renshaw's friends – Renshaw's son Lee also sang on the recording. Manchester United fans have been singing this song since the early 1980s. In the 1990s, it became popular among opposition supporters to manipulate the words of the song when playing Manchester United to "Who the fuck are Man United?", which Man United supporters sarcastically sung themselves after scoring, or while winning, against a rival team. ''Glory Glory Man United'' was also the name of the official club poster magazine, launched in 1994 and published every four weeks, totalling 13 issues a year. In 2007 its average reader age was 13 years 2 months. In 2007, a full length version of "Glory Glory Man United" was written and recorded by "The World Red Army", and produced by Will Robinson and Michael Graves. It became the official song at Old Trafford. A follow-up version titled "Glory Glory Man United 2" was released a decade later with some lyrical changes to reflect the current United team.


Glory Glory to South Sydney

In Australia, "Glory Glory to South Sydney" is used by the
South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...
an Australian rugby league club. The song mentions all the teams in the competition when the song was written, and says what Souths did to them when they played. Each verse ends with, "They wear the Red and Green".


See also

* The Battle Hymn of the Republic: Other songs set to this tune * List of UK hit singles by footballers


References

{{authority control Football songs and chants 1968 singles 1983 singles Tottenham Hotspur F.C. songs Leeds United F.C. songs Manchester United F.C. songs Year of song unknown Columbia Graphophone Company singles EMI Records singles