Poverty chanting gets Everton scoreboard response

On Sunday, Everton came out victorious against Chelsea with a score of 2-0.

To combat the insensitive chanting from opposing fans about poverty, Everton will keep promoting charity foodbanks on their scoreboard at Goodison Park. Fans applauded this move on social media over the weekend.

After repeating the same chant at previous matches against Manchester United and Newcastle held at Goodison Park, Everton held consultations with the fans' advisory board and fans' forum to brainstorm possible solutions.

A prearranged decision was made to show the message "fans supporting foodbanks" on the stadium's large screen every time specific chants, like "Feed the Scousers" and "sign on," were vocalized during Sunday's Premier League game against Chelsea.

The tunes that are purposely created for fans of Everton and Liverpool are designed to tease the people of Merseyside about their lack of employment. These songs are made by opposing supporters who want to poke fun at them.

During Everton's 2-0 victory over Chelsea, a message appeared on the screen three times. The initial message was displayed only 34 seconds into the game, and the club has announced that this will be a recurring feature throughout the season.

The Fans Supporting Foodbanks program is a collaborative project between the Blue Union, a group of Everton fans, and Spirit of Shankly from Liverpool. Everton has expressed their admiration for the crucial work that is being accomplished in their local areas through this movement on social media.

According to Fans Supporting Foodbanks, solidarity between a sports club and its supporters is essential. It is not appropriate or intelligent to use poverty and food insecurity as topics for chanting.

Abdoulaye Doucoure and Lewis Dobbin scored goals to clinch the victory for Everton. Jamie Carragher, who used to play for Liverpool, expressed his happiness for Everton when they scored the first goal. He stated that he was pleased because the Chelsea fans had been chanting nonsensical things.

Natalie Smith, a supporter of Everton who hails from Liverpool and attended the game, shared with the BBC's Newsbeat program her thoughts on the matter: "Everton Football Club acted brilliantly by featuring that picture. It's vital to increase the awareness of it and responding in this way is appropriate."

Many other fans in the city also supported the decision. Dan Morgan, who is a supporter of Liverpool, mentioned that he had heard these "old-fashioned, humorless, and tedious" chants during his team's matches "in stadiums all across the country."

He stated that he doesn't believe it's appropriate to consider tribalism as simply acceptable and normal in how fans interact with each other.

Ian Byrne, co-founder of Fans Supporting Foodbanks campaign and MP of Liverpool West Derby, expressed his sorrow upon hearing the chants from Newcastle supporters on Thursday and Chelsea supporters on Sunday.

For the past eight years, we've been collaborating with fans of Newcastle and Chelsea, completing numerous projects together. These supporters reside in regions where they witness the impact of the cost of living crisis in their neighborhoods.

I was really saddened to discover, however, I found Everton's reaction to be outstanding.