Why does tragedy abuse remain a problem in football?
· Yahoo Sports
It has been almost 10 years since six-year-old Sunderland fan Bradley Lowery died of a rare cancer after capturing the hearts of the football world.
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The youngster's name appeared back in the headlines this week after a video on social media appeared to show a Coventry City fan taunting opposition Sunderland fans with his photo during their Premier League match last Saturday.
In a statement following the incident, Bradley's mother, Gemma Lowery, said it was "heart-breaking" and her "beautiful boy deserves to be remembered with love, not hate".
The incident has once again raised the topic of tragedy abuse in football and why it continues despite widespread efforts to stamp it out.
West Midlands Police said a 14-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of a public order offence in connection with the incident had been bailed, with the Sky Blues adding they were also investigating the footage.
Tragedy abuse involves offensive chanting, gestures or behaviour based on football-related tragedies. It probably most often comes in the form of chanting when fans sing deeply offensive songs to taunt rival teams.
Gareth Senior, who was present when two Leeds United fans were murdered in Istanbul in 2000, has been campaigning for better education around the issue.
Speaking to BBC CWR, he said: "Bradley's mum having to make a really brave statement, you know, she shouldn't be having to do that.
"She should remember him for how he was as a brave little boy and how wonderful he was."
The Football Association (FA), along with the Premier League and other partners, issued advice to crack down on tragedy abuse in 2023, with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) setting out guidance around how it could lead to prosecution.
But the FA said despite the majority of supporters being appalled by the chants, there were still incidents taking place at football matches, with much of it targeted at fans of particular clubs.
Offensive chants, gestures and behaviour often reference football-related tragedies, including the Munich air disaster, in which 23 people including eight Manchester United players died, and the Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 Liverpool supporters died.
Supporters who participate could face stadium bans and criminal prosecution, the FA said, as it issued a reminder ahead of the 2026/27 season.
However, despite efforts to tackle the problem, tragedy abuse continues to be an issue.
Bradley Aston, 20, was sentenced for a public order offence at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium in August [Getty Images]A Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter who mocked seven people killed in a crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough was recently handed a four-year football banning order and given an eight-week jail term, suspended for a year.
Two police officers were among those who died when a car travelling the wrong way down a dual carriageway crashed into a force vehicle in August.
University student Bradley Aston, 20, pleaded guilty to a public order offence after social media footage showed him smiling and holding up a mobile phone towards Middlesbrough fans with the message "Police Killed Your Own" on the screen.
Senior said some younger supporters had not fully understood the impact of the events often referenced in the chants.
"It's often younger people and they're talking about events that happened one, two, maybe three generations ago," he said.
"These youngsters are coming into football and not really understanding the history. They don't understand the impact that these things have on football, on clubs, on fans and, more importantly, families."
Leeds fans Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight were fatally stabbed in Istanbul on the eve of the team's Uefa Cup semi-final tie against Galatasaray in April 2000.
Senior said the effects were still being felt 26 years later, with rival fans using the tragedy to taunt Leeds supporters "many times over those years".
"Families of Christopher and Kevin who were murdered that night, they're still at games. Chris' brothers are there, Kevin's son's there," he said.
"The impact on them lives forever and they don't need to be reminded in such an awful way."
The 1989 Hillsborough disaster claimed 97 lives after a crush during an FA Cup semi-final [HILLSBOROUGH INQUESTS]Psychologist and former journalist, Dr Damien Pearse, said some fans who took part in tragedy abuse may be trying to win approval from fellow supporters, adding they were showing "how far they're willing to go to get a laugh from their own people".
"A football stadium is a sort of alternative public world, a little like a comedy club," he said.
"People feel they have permission to be outrageous and test the moral boundaries."
Pearse, author of Till I Die: When Football Means Everything (Even When It Shouldn't), said such behaviour may have once gone unnoticed beyond those in the stands.
"Now someone gets their phone out, and the people you're laughing at can see it too," he said.
Although he had seen some improvements and deterrents over the years, Senior said more work was still needed to tackle tragedy chanting.
"There has to be that rivalry, there has to be that passion. But there's a line," he said.
"A football ground just isn't a place where you can do whatever you want."
He said football authorities needed to do more to deliver education.
"They absolutely need to get into schools, into sports clubs as quickly as possible to get these messages out," he said.
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- What is tragedy chanting and how does it affect fans?
- Confronting the 'tragedy chanting' football fans
- FA concerned over 'abhorrent' Hillsborough chants
- Premier League to offer education on tragedy chanting