Chant of the Week: Goal Celebration
Chant of the Week: Goal Celebration
Bill Wolf
Traditions are a wonderful thing. As FC Cincinnati approaches the mid-point of it’s fourth season of professional soccer, some traditions are starting to form. The goal celebration is one such tradition. It has changed and grown over the years but seems to have truly found itself now.
Early in FCC history, the supporters would chant “we don’t mess around” after a goal. This chant came from a sports quiz show hosted by Gary Burbank and broadcast on WLW Radio in Cincinnati called Sports or Consequences. The show consisted of listeners calling in to ask sports-related trivia questions in an attempt to stump Burbank and his co-hosts. If a caller succeed in stumping them, they won a prize, but more often, when Burbank got the question right, they would shout their trademark victory chant: "We don't, we don't, we don't mess around, Hey!"
Meanwhile, chanting “F-C-C” was becoming widely popular in Nippert Stadium, and after goals, the crowd would often break into F-C-C all on its own. To capture that energy and reinforce it, the Knights started moving into F-C-C as an immediate transition from We Don’t Mess Around.
These two chants together captured the history of Burbank’s radio show, the tradition of chanting "we don’t mess around” after goals and also captured the energy and emotion of the entire stadium by rolling both of them together. These two chants paired together made a worthy goal celebration. Little did we know that something even better was brewing in the Bailey.
A couple of seasons in, a new chant was introduced in the Bailey. Oh, FCC was widely popular. It was a little different than other chants. It had some choreography. It had a tempo change. It was new and exciting. Over time, however, it struggled a bit to fit. The problem was that it started off really quiet and slow. In the middle of a non-stop action packed soccer match, when do you want to do anything slow and quiet?
Suddenly, inspiration struck, a solution was found. Oh, FCC was a post goal celebration, not a run of play chant. Everyone is excited. The explosion and celebration take place. Now we need to join together, savor the moment a bit, build back up and restart the game, restart the chants, restart the crowd. What a perfect time to slow it down for a few seconds and savor the moment...
And then go nuts!
Now that these three chants are bound together as the traditional goal celebration, it makes perfect sense. It’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t do them together. So, if you’re not in the Bailey, when you finish chanting “F-C-C,” before you sit back down, join arm to shoulder with your friends, your family, maybe a stranger, if you make eye contact and they seem cool with it. Sway with the Bailey and savor the moment. And then back to the match!
Lyrics
We Don’t Mess Around
We don't
We don't
We don't mess around (hey!)
Oh FCC
Sha la la la la la la
Oh, FCC
Sha la la la la la la
Oh, FCC
Notes
We Don’t Mess Around is simple. The “hey” is optional and some people will yell it and others won’t and that’s fine. The chant repeats typically four times and then transitions immediately to F-C-C. F-C-C follows at the same tempo. The length of F-C-C is dependent on the situation. If the goal is more significant, it’s likely to last longer, such as a go ahead goal late in the game. Typically, the Knights will wait for the crowd to join in and chant with them for a little bit and then let it die off.
After a few seconds of rest, the Bailey will stand with arms on each other’s shoulders. Locked in unity, they begin to sway left to right. Each row sways the opposite direction of the row in front of it. Oh, FCC starts off slow. A simple down beat from the drums. Stick clicks to keep everyone in tempo. Just take in the moment.
After a couple of times through, the drums will kick in and drive the tempo faster. Everyone releases arms and shoulders and bounce up and down to the chant. Once or twice during the chant, the Knights will stop the drums and go to stick clicks again but maintaining the tempo. Everyone stops bouncing and claps their hands to the click of the sticks. Back to bouncing when the drums return.
Listen
Simple versions of most of the chants are available on You Tube on the Knights of the Bailey channel. We Don’t Mess Around isn’t available, but F-C-C and Oh, FCC are both there to listen to.
Inspiration
There aren’t many original sources of We Don’t Mess Around online, but here is a short video of Gary Burbank from 1991 where you can hear “we don’t mess around” at about the 2 minute mark.
Here are a few examples of Oh, FCC chant done internationally. Listen to how Oh Rosenborg and Oh Saint Etienne start slow and quiet and then break lose.
This third example shows Besiktas fans from Turkey going crazy.
Previous Chants
Read about previous chants of the week:
Forza Cincinnati
Hey FC Cincinnati
Cincy Till I Die
Let’s Go
Welcome Home
Hearts on Sleeves
Win or Lose
Cincy Chants
Did you know there was an app for your phone that would tell you what chant was being sung by the Bailey? Check it out. Available on Android and iOS.