Football's first chant Laureate sings when he's winning
A 37-year-old Birmingham City follower has landed the football fan’s dream job – he has become England’s first Chant Laureate.
Jonny Hurst, from Wanstead, north London, will be paid £10,000 (€14,964) a year to tour Premiership stadiums and compose chants on the 2004/5 football season.
He was picked after a six-month search, which attracted 1,500 entries, for the post of Barclaycard Chant Laureate.
Poet Laureate Andrew Motion chaired the panel of judges which selected Mr Hurst, a self-employed solicitor, for the job.
Entries ranged from the poetic to the obscene and included 415 applications from Liverpool fans alone.
Motion, who as Poet Laureate is paid only half the amount the Chant Laureate will get for his role, described Mr Hurst as a “real find”.
He said: The Barclaycard Chant Laureate competition provoked a terrific response: a large number of entries, and an impressive variety of chants - ranging from the brisk and simple, through the comic and curious, to the elaborate and heartfelt.
“In the end, the judges were unanimous in thinking that Jonny Hurst stood out above the rest.
“His chants have the wit and energy to make them eminently chantable, but they also have a distinctive ingenuity. He’s a real find.”
Despite being a Birmingham City fan, Mr Hurst’s winning chant, a version of Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, was written for Juan Pablo Angel of local rivals Aston Villa.
Mr Hurst said: “I am delighted and honoured to win this prestigious competition.
“I have always enjoyed singing and composing football chants for Birmingham City because it’s such a massive part of the game.
“I’ll even admit to thinking about words and tunes for other clubs, so it’s brilliant to be given the responsibility for writing chants across all the clubs in the Barclaycard Premiership.”
This is the winning chant Mr Hurst submitted, based on Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, and written for Aston Villa.
His name is Angel
And he’s a show boy
An Alice Band keeps up his hair
Juan Pablo from Col-om-bi-air
He came to Villa
To be a winner
He succeeded overnight
Our very own Angel Delight
Just hear the Villa roar
With each Juan Pablo score
We’ve got him on a four-year deal
But we still want more
At the Villa, at Aston Villa
The greatest club west of Manila
At the Villa, at Aston Vi-lla
Football and passion
All ranges of fashion
At the Villa, we have it all
La-la, Aston Vil-la-la
Aston Vil-la-la-la
Vil-la-la-la
