English Football Club Anthems Trivia Quiz

Answer: Goodnight Irene

Unlike most football songs, the origin of Bristol Rovers supporters' singing of the Lead Belly song "Goodnight Irene" can be exactly dated to a fixture against Plymouth Argyle in November 1950. One Argyle fan had an accordion with him and played the song after Argyle went one-nil up, with the Argyle fans joining in interminably.

However, Rovers then scored three times, and their fans started singing "Goodnight Argyle" in riposte. The playing of the song at a second match shortly thereafter was sufficient for the whole ground to join in the singing - and Rovers' fans keep up the tradition to this day.

Answer: Blaydon Races

Newcastle United fans frequently sing "Blaydon Races", an old music hall song written in about 1862. Blaydon, where the original foot race took place, is a small town about four miles from Newcastle.

Answer: Keep Right On To The End Of The Road

The old Harry Lauder music hall song "Keep Right On To The End Of The Road" has been sung by Birmingham City fans since 1956. The story goes that City were drawn away in every Round of the FA Cup that season, resulting in a lot of interminable travelling in the days before Motorways.

While on the coach travelling the long distance to the quarter-final fixture the popular left-winger Alex Govan started singing the song. It came to light via the press that this was his favourite song, so when City went 3-0 up in the semi-final the supporters started singing the song in tribute. City fans sing it to this day.

Answer: Blue Moon

Manchester City's supporters' rendition of "Blue Moon" was first heard against Liverpool at the end of the opening fixture of the 1989-90 season and has since become a classic club anthem.

Answer: D'Ye Ken John Peel?

Cumbria is classic hunting country, so the adoption of a hunting anthem by Carlisle United should be no surprise. The song dates back to the late 17th Century. Traditionally, a stuffed fox by the name of Olga was placed on the centre spot of the pitch before the start of every home game.

Answer: Blue Is The Colour

"Blue is the Colour" was recorded by the Chelsea first-team squad in 1972 to celebrate their reaching the League Cup Final that season (though they lost to Stoke City). The song was taken up by their supporters, although it has to be said that there were a lot of sometimes quite offensive parody versions sung by other teams' supporters!

Answer: I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

A classic supporters' club anthem, "Bubbles" is sung loud and long by fans of West Ham United. The song dates back to about 1918, but there are many conflicting theories about how it came to be adopted by an East End football club. The one with concrete evidence is that it was that it was copied from Swansea City fans during an FA Cup match in 1922.

A more artistic version is that it was sung in tribute to a youth player who was said to bear a resemblance to the boy in the 1886 painting "Bubbles" by Sir John Everett Millais that was used to advertise Pear's Soap.

Answer: On The Ball, City

Astonishingly "On The Ball, City" is almost certainly the oldest football song still sung today. It was probably written in the 1890s for a small local team in Norwich but when the song's writer, Albert T. Smith, became a Director of Norwich City in 1902 when the club was founded, he brought the song with him, and it's been played and sung at every Norwich City home game ever since.

The first line of the song goes: "Kick it off, throw it in, have a little scrimmage" - not much scrimmaging in today's game, sadly!

Answer: Johnny Todd (Z-Cars Theme)

"Johnny Todd" is a children's play song dating to the late 19th Century, and an instrumental version was used as the theme tune to the long-running (1962 to 1978) cop show "Z Cars", which was set on Merseyside. It's said that one of the cast, an Everton fan, turned up for a home game with a number of other members of the cast.

The stadium announcer played the tune in tribute to them, and soon it was played at every home match as the Everton team came onto the pitch for the kick-off.

Answer: Delilah

The adoption of "Delilah" by Stoke City fans as a club anthem is relatively recent, dating to about 1987. One version of how this came to be is that that a group of fans in a pub at an away game was asked by the pub landlady to sing "clean" songs, so one fan launched into a rendition of this Tom Jones classic and it was taken up by his friends. Alternatively, at a time when the club were not performing at their best the words of the song were changed to "So before they come to open the door, forgive us Stoke City we just can't take any more. Oh why, why why do we bother?". I think all fans can identify with that!