11 hours ago
‘Ten German Bombers' video posted on FA-run England fans page
A video showing England fans singing 'Ten German Bombers' in front of a young boy has been posted to a Facebook group run by the Football Association.
The 22-second clip was uploaded to the official page of the England Supporters Travel Club (ESTC) a little under two hours before Thomas Tuchel's first away game as national team manager.
The footage shows a number of fans singing the illicit chant in a bar, including a man carrying on his shoulders a young boy wearing a red England top with Harry Kane's name on the back.
The video is captioned: 'If I ever wanted to be a Dad! Parenting correctly. Memories made.'
It remained available to watch on the ESTC Facebook group on Monday, despite that group being run by the FA itself and despite attracting a comment which read, 'FA staff currently scanning the video to issue bans', along with crying-with-laughter emoji.
The footage appears to have been filmed in Barcelona, where England's 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Andorra took place on Saturday.
Another comment on the video read: 'Superb. Was the lads [sic] second away game (after Ireland last Sept) and they're heading to Salou now. What a dad.'
An FA spokesperson said: 'We have been made aware of this video, and it has been deleted. It is inappropriate and disrespectful. We always ask fans to follow us in the right way – showing support for the team and respecting others, as so many did in great number in Barcelona. We are working with our security team and the England Supporters Travel Club membership team on the appropriate next steps.'
The video was posted shortly before England fans were heard singing about Sir Keir Starmer at Saturday's match, calling the Prime Minister a 'c---' and 'w-----'.
Tuchel said afterwards he had not heard any offensive chanting but added: 'If it happened, it's not acceptable.'
Telegraph Sport has been told that supporters were singing what appears to be a new song about Germany having 'never won a war' during the match.
A clip was uploaded to X the previous evening purporting to show fans in what appears to be a bar in Spain performing the same chant.
On top of this, footage appeared on Saturday night claiming to show fans serenading far-right firebrand Tommy Robinson.
The respective videos have been viewed more than one million and more than two million times.
The FA had no direct control over the dissemination of the material on X, unlike that posted to the ESTC Facebook group, which is private and accessible only to paid-up members of England's most loyal fans.
The group, which has more than 10,000 members, has strict rules governing what can be uploaded, the number one being that users must 'Represent England the right way'.
It adds: 'Members should act as ambassadors for the England team, and behave in such a way that will continue to enhance the image of English supporters.'
The video is the first evidence of ESTC members continuing to chant 'Ten German Bombers' since Tuchel officially started as England's first German manager In January.
In November, Telegraph Sport revealed how his appointment had failed to stop fans singing the song after the team's 5-0 thrashing of Republic of Ireland.
Audio recorded by this newspaper showed it being performed loudly while supporters were being funnelled into Wembley Park underground station following the Nations League game.
That was after some England fans responded to Tuchel's appointment by posting on social media that they hoped it would finally kill off the shameful soundtrack – which mocks German casualties during the Second World War to the tune of She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain.
Before last summer's European Championship in Germany, police in Gelsenkirchen told any supporter thinking of singing the song at the tournament: 'Don't be a d---.'
But that was immediately ignored ahead of England's opening match against Serbia in the city and it continued to be sung during the country's run to the final.
At the previous Euros in 2021, the Fare Network, which operates Uefa's anti-discrimination monitoring system, submitted an official report to European football's governing body about the song being performed during England's opening fixture against Croatia.
Piara Powar, the executive director of Fare, told Telegraph Sport at the time: 'We would classify it as an ultra-nationalist song that, sung within certain contexts, would be seen as an insult and discriminatory.'
But the incident was not deemed to meet the threshold for sanctions to be imposed upon the FA, which would also have been hampered attempting to identify anyone singing it by coronavirus restrictions that included the wearing of masks at matches.
Four years earlier, the song was loudly sung in England's friendly against Germany in Dortmund and accompanied by gestures mimicking aircraft in flight.
