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There’s nothing wrong with the Aussie bogan slogan

Garry Condoseres

by Garry Condoseres

28 Oct 05:35am

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Filed under: Anthem, Australia, Olympics, Patriotism, Sport

136 comments

Recently News.com.au published an article from Brisbane’s Courier-Mail and a poll calling for the banning of the Aussie sporting war cry “Oi! Oi! Oi!” on grounds that it’s embarrassing.

Waltzing Matilda was hardly a musical masterpeice either. Illustration: Tom Jellett.

When I last checked, the yeas were outnumbering the nays two to one and I find that distressing.

I’m not remotely embarrassed to say I love the Aussie Aussie Aussie warcry.

Some of my most pleasant memories are of watching cricket on TV, hearing Bill Lawry say something insightful like “There’s a hush around the MCG as McGrath comes in from the members’ end” and being able to hear nothing through the field microphones except bay thirteen yelling “Oi Oi Oi!” at the top of their lungs.

I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for five minutes after I heard then IOC chairman Juan Antonio Samaranch close the 2000 Olympics by trying the call for himself, and getting a 70000 strong response.

Yes, I know Glen McGrath has retired. Yes, I know the Sydney Olympics were a decade ago. Big deal. Waltzing Matilda is older than both of them. You want to ban that too?

First person to comment that he/she actually does want to ban Waltzing Matilda gets a slow clap.

To me, Oi Oi Oi expresses in a most efficient manner the very character of Australian sport; it’s loud, it’s straightforward and it’s awesome. On the other side of the coin, it’s also overly simplistic, slightly annoying and at its most expressive under the influence of alcohol (consumed responsibly, obviously).

What’s not to love?

I know there are those who campaign for an Australia with higher cultural aspirations, free of the cultural cringe of the past and representative of a more modern, intelligent and mature Australia.

I’m all for that, and I’ll happily join you for an opera, cello recital or stroll through the national gallery (just don’t ask me to write about it), followed by a rousing chorus of “I Vow to Thee My Country” back at the members’ lounge.

But back off and leave my sports chants alone!

I think some of the problem might be with the over application of the chant. As I wrote earlier, my fondest memories of it are as background noise during a one day cricket final.

With the coming of the Olympics in 2000, the chant went spectacularly mainstream and starting appearing in rock concerts, telethons, youth conventions and, most recently and hilariously, the canonisation of St. Mary MacKillop. I have to agree, things have gotten a little out of hand there.

But let’s not get too excited and start banning things like an out of control web filter. Let’s put the chant back in bay thirteen where it belongs and get on with banning something sensible.

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136 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • TrueOz says:

      04:56am | 28/10/10

      Sorry Garry, it’s embarrassing - right up there with Joolya Gillard,

      Reply

    • fairsfair says:

      09:05am | 28/10/10

      I hope that nobody ever seeks to ban the slow clap. Tis a cracker.

      I agree with you on our dear Julia - but we don’t scream it in parliament. We won’t chant it at Dame Joan’s memorial. It is sport. It is alcohol enhanced. It is ‘strayan.

      Leave oi oi oi alone! (I hope you all read that like that Britney Spears nutter - because thats how I meant it).

    • Peter says:

      10:12am | 28/10/10

      Lack of education and the ability to communicate or express oneself. Definately an underclass slogan where groups cling to each other for comfort and repeat mindless Oi Oi Oi because it’s easy and doesn’t require much thought. One never hears imbeciles chanting this on their own. Kinda like bogan pride by numbers.

    • Steve says:

      11:06am | 28/10/10

      It’s indescribable how embarrassing it is when you are overseas or back home for that matter and hear this chant.

    • Karl says:

      12:35pm | 28/10/10

      The original argument was to ban it from particular events anyways, or a cry for help to find something more cultural.  In fact, I believe the first article stated it was appropriate for sporting events, but not quite the tune you’d like to hear when a Scottish-Australian is made a Saint in front of the Vatican.

    • Karl says:

      12:35pm | 28/10/10

      The original argument was to ban it from particular events anyways, or a cry for help to find something more cultural.  In fact, I believe the first article stated it was appropriate for sporting events, but not quite the tune you’d like to hear when a Scottish-Australian is made a Saint in front of the Vatican.

    • Stephen says:

      01:38pm | 28/10/10

      Please keep the chant, it enriches my enjoyment when watching Australian sport so much. As a Kiwi living in Oz, its so rare to take pleasure from a result and the cringing of every Australian with more than half a brain is so much fun.

    • Popeye says:

      02:37pm | 28/10/10

      I concur.

    • Nick says:

      06:31am | 29/10/10

      Absolutley the worst most embarassing low brow chant on the planet!

    • S.L says:

      06:02am | 28/10/10

      I’m probably in the minority here but I find OI OI OI an embarrasment. I don’t see Bogans chanting it either. All I’ve ever seen is trendoids at the Olympics or at over promoted swimming meets. The Mexican wave although not a local invention is fine but OI OI OI? No way Jose!

      Reply

    • Helen says:

      05:37pm | 28/10/10

      Aren’t all Olympics and swimming meets overrated and overpromoted?

    • Adam says:

      06:11am | 28/10/10

      At least the Oi Oi Oi is less annoynig than the” Lets go (insert team name) Lets Go” which seems to have spilled over from Netball. Particularly bad when both team’s supporters are chanting.
      Sadly Bay 13, the SCG hill etc are relics of the past

      Reply

    • gerry says:

      06:49am | 28/10/10

      It’s the verbal equivalent of the Mexican wave I reckon. Fun the first couple, real old real quick.

      Reply

    • iansand says:

      07:17am | 28/10/10

      Just Brisbane people pretending to be sophisticated.

      Any war cry sound stupid out of context.

      Reply

    • Gary says:

      11:33am | 28/10/10

      Yes, because it must have been invented in Brisbane and Brisbane must be the only ones who use it?

      OR

      Maybe it’s Brisbane leading the mexican states OUT…

    • harry the hobo says:

      07:40pm | 28/10/10

      Funny. When I was at the airport in Seattle, US, the middle aged worker who was checking everyone’s passports before we embarked to the plane to Calgary would see an Australian passport and say “Aussie aussie aussie.” We were a little baffled and he then asked where in Australia we were from, to which we answered “Queensland.” He then replied “oh. It seems to be in his experience that Queenslanders are the only ones who don’t reply “oi oi oi.”

    • Reg says:

      07:16am | 29/10/10

      Well as an ex-Queenslander long living in Sydney, I only became aware of the bogan term after I came here.  Noting from the internet that it was more often used in Melbourne and Adelaide and that it was associated with the Oi-Oi-Oi, I came to the conclusion that it was a highly offensive term thrown in the face of non-English speaking migrants in Melbourne and Adelaide and that hitch-hikers, trying to escape the weather had tainted Sydney with its decrepitude. That’s why I never use it.

    • C1 says:

      07:20am | 28/10/10

      I think thirteen is an apt number regarding this issue:

      -Bay 13 (as you rightly describe) is where most of that rubbish comes from.
      -13 is the average IQ of those who continue with it since the Olympics
      -13 is the average age of those who do this chant (what really gets me is the adults who get the school kids to do it - now that is exploitation)
      -13 is the number of apologies given everytime it is heard at events

      I am not against chants at sporting events (sweet chariot at Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium is something to behold) it is just that we can do so much better.

      I think a good chant is something that fires everyone up, not one that has half of those attending groaning and cringing when it is heard - Even ‘Members are wankers!!!” puts a smile on everyone’s face.

      Reply

    • Adam Diver says:

      08:04am | 28/10/10

      “members are wankers” classic. Usually occurs when the members ruin the mexican wave though. Despite the swear word, a well timed “buullllllllllllsh*********tttttt” can also put a big smile on the face.

    • C1 says:

      10:14am | 28/10/10

      Adam,

      I was a guest in the members once when it happended exactly as you described (when the wave stopped at them). The members thought it was great - it was part of the attraction of being at the cricket. 35,000 odd punters abusing 2000 members on the first day of the Sydney Test - fantastic!
      I tried to explain it to some American friends and they thought I was mad - a whole bunch of people abusing another bunch and everyone loves it? Yep.

    • Danielle says:

      03:36pm | 28/10/10

      Im with you on theis one! Sweet Chariot gives me goose bumps when I hear it but OI OI OI gives me a headache!! Im am so embarassed when I hear it. Its so yobbo!!

    • Corfarnia says:

      07:47am | 28/10/10

      It is a nonsensical chant. As someone commented on the news.com.au article Chile has a better idea.

      Surely we can do better than “oi” which is a rude way of getting someone’s attention at any time.

      But I guess that won’t happen considering people think the Southern Cross is relevant exclusively to Australia and tattoo it on themselves.

      Reply

    • Amy says:

      10:55am | 28/10/10

      Except if you go to the tennis and get stuck in the same section as a bunch of Chileans and, as a result, walk around for the next month with, “Chi, Chi, Chi, Le, Le, Le, Viva Chile” stuck in your head.  They use it waaaay more than any Aussie would bother with “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie”, they use it at really inappropriate times, like during serve or after a fault from the opponent (classy), it’s just as annoyingly repetitive and, what’s worse, it’s their only freaking chant. 

      So I have to disagree with you and the dude on news.com.au on that one.

    • C1 says:

      11:42am | 28/10/10

      Amy,

      You are so right about those Chileans.

      A little while a go I was in a mine and I got stuck with a whole bunch of them for aaaaggggeess! All they did was carry on with that chant. When I got out - I thought I would be able to escape. What do you reckon? - No chance. All around me was the same - even their Politicians were doing it.
      Talk about annoying.

    • Warren says:

      04:36am | 29/10/10

      You are correct, the southern Crosss is not exclusivley Australian. However it is and always will be a symbol of Australian pride. Personally I wouldnt get it tattooed on myself, but what do you suggest someone who is showing a love of their country gets tattooed on themselves if they choose to make that decision? The Union Jack perhaps???? Im guessing your from NZ and probably have sheep tattooed on your lower back.

    • Linguist says:

      07:59am | 28/10/10

      Oh, dear.  Why it’s embarrassing , and more to the point, is because it is not an Australian phrase.  It derives from the Welsh oggy oggy oggy oi oi oi as a means for Cornish pasty sellers to communicate to workers that it was lunch time. ‘Oggy’ is from the Cornish hoggan for a pasty.  If you have ever been to a UK football match, or a cricket match or even to a Brighton Holiday Camp you will have heard the term.  Again, the Australians take and modify what they want and call it culturally their own. If you want to praise it, Garry,  well and good but at least acknowledge it’s a rip off and not Australian by any stretch of the imagination.

      Reply

    • Seth Brundle says:

      08:40am | 28/10/10

      Spot on. 

      Search for “Oggy” on Wikipedia for more info.  Even one of our best known cultural icons is stolen.  Pathetic.

    • Markus says:

      09:33am | 28/10/10

      The entire English language is a rip off and not English by any stretch of the imagination.
      It doesn’t make it any less of a beautiful, strong and yet extremely versatile language.

    • Sarah says:

      11:32am | 28/10/10

      Pathetic? Or somewhat appropriate?

    • Les says:

      12:22pm | 28/10/10

      Is it Welsh or Cornish? Last I checked Cornwall was not in Wales.

    • Linguist says:

      12:34pm | 28/10/10

      That’s a good point to make, Markus. Both connotative and connotation language is sourced from a variety of places.  I just think it’s culturally embarrassing when we claim it as our own, a bit like the Californians claiming the eucalyptus tree which they got from Australia and renaming it the Californian Eucalyptus.  I am old enough to still have some of the Australian cultural cringe left in me.

    • Helena says:

      07:00pm | 28/10/10

      lighten up

    • The shallow pool says:

      02:09am | 30/10/10

      We invented mateship here too.

    • Geoff says:

      08:02am | 28/10/10

      Well most of us aren’t bogons, simplistic or under the influence of alcohol.
      Never like it…  never will.
      Oy vey…..

      Reply

    • Ryan says:

      02:22pm | 28/10/10

      Yeah agree, neither a Bogan, simplimstic and rarely touch alcohol.
      Love it the 1st time I heard it…..always will.

    • Me says:

      08:02am | 28/10/10

      Nup, it’s embarrassing as hell!
      I just wish nobody would respond to the call when one bogan yells out ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie”.

      Reply

    • Christine - IQ higher than 13 says:

      08:11am | 28/10/10

      Nothing wrong with Oi oi oi!

      Reply

    • Mark says:

      08:14am | 28/10/10

      I would say that it WAS cool, but is now so overused that it has become embarrassing.

      Reply

    • Fi says:

      10:35am | 28/10/10

      Correct.

    • TD says:

      08:14am | 28/10/10

      There’s something about Australians & their lack of imagination when it comes to chants or war cries. Even AFL cheer squads don’t get it eg. “Gee-long (clap, clap, clap) Gee-long (clap, clap, clap)...“etc. Yawn. The Poms are the best at it - they recognise a sense of occasion. Yes, ‘oi, oi, oi’ is pathetic & embarrassing. Lose it now.

      Reply

    • Bob H says:

      09:09am | 28/10/10

      @TD as a proud Australian I have to agree. 
      The Poms continual soccer chanting that provides a spectacular atmosphere is entertainment by itself, unfortunately our stadiums are filled with quiet suburban politeness.  The stadium announcer hardly needs amplification to talk to the crowd.  Also,  I would prefer a national chant that was actually ours, oi, oi, oi was stolen from the English rugby and scout chant “oggie oggie oggie, oi oi oi”.  We may as well be shouting God save the Queen.

    • Max Vaunted says:

      10:33am | 28/10/10

      Forty thousand Welsh voices singing at a Cardiff rugby test match, that’s what makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

    • Evan says:

      08:19am | 28/10/10

      Im happy with Oi, Oi, Oi.
      Its simple and effective for a quick chant.
      What i dont like is Waltzing Matilda.
      Although an iconic Australian song, it doesnt seem to be appropiate for sporting events.
      Id much rather hear 30,000+ people singing “We are Australian”.

      “We are one, but we are many
      And from all the lands on earth we come
      We share a dream and sing with one voice:
      I am, you are, we are Australian.”

      I think that would envoke a lot more pride than….
      “Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me
      And he sang as he watched and waited ‘til his billy boiled, You’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me”.

      Reply

    • TheRealDave says:

      09:40am | 28/10/10

      See now you’ve gone too far. I was happy to join in the conga line and say Oi Oi Oi was a cultural embarrassment but you had to go and denigrate the one truly uniquely Aussie anthem that we can all pump our chests and sing as loudly as we can and compete with the Poms and Kiwis with.

      No Sir, Hell No!

    • fairsfair says:

      10:29am | 28/10/10

      A song about a thief who suicides in a billabong to avoid capture by the police - warms the cockles of my heart really and screams nothing more that “I am Australian and I am proud”.

      It is what it represents more so than its literal meaning. As with Oi Oi Oi. As with Green and Gold - why not use the colours of our flag? We prefer Wattle. It is just a social convention that doesn’t disrupt my life. I say roll with it all people!

    • Evan says:

      10:42am | 28/10/10

      TheRealDave

      How did i denigrate it?
      If anything its being denigrated by a bunch of drunken yobbos singing it (half of whom wouldnt even know the lyrics unless its shown up on the big screen) to a bunch of unruly football players to pump them up. These same footballer are the ones who every second week seem to be in the news for drunken misbehaviour, assaults etc.

      Dispite being written by an Australian legend, there is nothing in Waltzing Matilda envokes pride in us, who we are and where we came from. Its about a squatter who steals a sheep, runs from the cops and then drowns in a lake.

      As i mentioned before, “We are Australian” would make a much better song. The song references the Aboriginals here before us, the first settlers, the diggers who fought for us and there is even a mention of Waltzing Matilda….. just for you.

    • tomboweler says:

      09:18am | 29/10/10

      Evan, your a bit of a douche.

      The beauty of waltzing matilda is it’s reflection of the sheep-looting, trooper-fleeing crazy bastards that we used to be here in australia. Your suggestion invokes we should essentially some manufactured crap about “sharing a dream and singing with one voice” (To me the equivalent of those awful “I love america” post-911 country songs)

      By what measure do we share a dream or sing with one voice you twat? I dream that P.C arseholes like your good self will jump in the billabong so-to-speak instead of pushing your sterilized crap on me. Australia doesn’t sing with one voice we are massively divided on everything from the war to the monarchy.

      P.S
      I propose “Khe Sahn” to be sung at sporting events. Aussie, rousing, iconic and generally awsome.

    • Trjn says:

      08:22am | 28/10/10

      Cultural cringe is a defining part of the Aussie identity, and not a recent addition.

      Keep the chant and keep the fun police trying to decry everyone who uses it as “beneath them”, it’s all good fun.

      Reply

    • Markus says:

      08:52am | 28/10/10

      A fantastic point that I had never acknowledged consciously before.

      Australian culture is a perfect yin and yang of those proud to be the laid back, fair go, no worries Aussie larrikin, and those who find the whole concept embarrassing.
      Without one, the other would lose all meaning, and Aussie culture as we know it would fall out of equilibrium.

    • Tosser says:

      08:36am | 28/10/10

      The saddest thing is that its an English soccer chant, its not even Australian!  Drunken aussies got confused after returning from their London stint in the 80s. Just demonstrates what an ignorant bunch of tossers Auatralians can be!

      Reply

    • Dobbo says:

      09:24am | 02/11/10

      Ha ha even sadder is that the English soccer chat is actually from a German drinking song “Ein Prosit ” sung at events like Oktoberfest

      With Beer stein or glass in hand it is a salute to your health or well-being!

      Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemiitlichkeit
      Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemiitlichkeit
      (Cheer!) Eins, zwei, Drei g’suffa!
      Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,
      Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,
      Prosit

      Aussie Aussie Aussie is a late comer…

    • Miles says:

      08:38am | 28/10/10

      If you don’t mind being considered a simple-minded, moronic yobbo, then it’s not embarrassing.  It’s even more pathetic that it’s not even original and is in fact a poor adaptation of an english chant.

      Reply

    • Richard says:

      08:39am | 28/10/10

      Oh piss off you latte sucking cafe dwelling pissants. Its a great war cry. Its short and its clear and it tells the world that we are different special and better. I would bet not one of you who is writing this have ever been spent 50 hours a week training for a sport and after 10 years of constant struggle been delivered into a national team and then played in front of a big crowd. when you are out there on foreign soil and you hear the chant. Frankly it feels great. So take you pathetic, Newtown view of the planet and ram it.

      Reply

    • Sal says:

      09:41am | 28/10/10

      A war cry is fine… going into war, but not at the Vatican.  Time and place.  The chant is horrible and has zero originality.  It doesn’t say we are special and better, it says we’re a bunch of drunken yobbos who can’t remember a ‘war cry’ with more than two words in it.

    • Millo says:

      09:44am | 28/10/10

      I’m glad you are good at sport Richard, because you clearly failed to grasp the basic concepts of the english language.

      Oi, Oi, Oi, you idiot.

    • Karen says:

      09:57am | 28/10/10

      “Oh piss off you latte sucking cafe dwelling pissants”.  Love it.

    • PatC says:

      01:32pm | 28/10/10

      “Oh piss off you latte sucking cafe dwelling pissants.”
      Absolute Gold!!!
      Now how can we turn that into a war chant.

    • ro says:

      08:47am | 28/10/10

      When I went to France in 2005 we had the option of going (as part of the tour) to a can can restaurant in Paris. I gave it a miss, but many of the Americans on the tour went. When they came back to the hotel, they told me about the large group of Australians who had been at the restaurant, who had all been chanting something ... yep - Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi. A perfect fit for a night of fine food and can can dancing in a Parisian restaurant. Jeez.

      Reply

    • Joseph says:

      08:50am | 28/10/10

      The chant is stupid & cringe-worthy. It comes across as aggressive, arrogant & is a poor display of national pride.

      Waltzing Matilda is a great old song, but it’s a poor selection for sporting events (it pales in comparison to the All Blacks haka).

      However, as much as I hate the oi oi oi chant I don’t think we should ban it. People need to stop trying to ban things just because they don’t like it. If we keep banning things & catering to whinging minorities then slowly but surely all of our liberties will have been taken away.

      So perhaps we are better off inventing a new, better chant (it won’t be hard) and encouraging the less intellectually endowed to use it instead?

      Reply

    • Nick says:

      06:22am | 29/10/10

      I love Waltzing Matilda but cringe at the rugby when we follow up the All Blacks haka with a chorus of waltzing matilda.  Not quite the response to get the Kiwis quaking with fear I would think

    • Daniel says:

      08:55am | 28/10/10

      Im sorry but every time i Hear this thing being ranted and chanted out in public it makes me so embarrassed. Australians don’t know how dumb and silly they sound and look singing it.

      Reply

    • Kimbo says:

      10:57am | 01/11/10

      its not about sounding dumb and silly, its about people being proud of where they come from when they are in an international arena. there is nothing wrong with the the chant, if it makes you feel embarrassed, it makes me think that you are embarrassed to be australian. Why is it wrong to chant the name of your country?

    • Bolz says:

      03:04pm | 01/03/11

      @Kimbo

      “its about people being proud of where they come from when they are in an international arena”

      By singing a chant which they knocked off from another country? I suppose Australia did start as penal colony. Makes sense now!

    • Peter says:

      08:57am | 28/10/10

      I think we can do a lot better than that, but whatever makes you happy i suppose. A country like Australia deserves something better!

      We can have several chants, not just one. I used to enjoy the oi oi oi, especially at the Richmond Club Hotel when the Tigers would win a game, but after too many years it’s begun to grate on me. Keep it, but we need some more..

      Reply

    • Ian says:

      08:58am | 28/10/10

      It’s extremely embarrassing. It reeks of simpletons who are uneducated, inebriated and unimaginative! Really, is that the best we can come up with?

      Reply

    • oh la la! says:

      06:39am | 05/01/12

      oi,oi ,oi or ooh,la la? i rest my case.( except for children )
      I concur-so often im embarrassed to be an adult in Australia in 20/12.
      (And was permanently perplexed with our freakish ways as a child!).
      I so require an o/s holiday- i have cultural cabin fever!

      If only the French colonized Australia…sigh… actually we should pay cultured French people to move here,be heaven…

      Re our sport “cultcha"for starters, is disturbing the obsession with & marketing of sports.(its a game!)

      Re booze,my late teenage years were imbued with the 1990’s societal cult of sculling & drinking sessions.
      (i.e Word is the wise; Crisps are not food!).
        Dont Bogans know plain town water is drinkable these days-hello?Its not Medieval europe!

    • josh says:

      08:59am | 28/10/10

      Get rid of it - it’s embarrasing.

      Reply

    • hot tub political machine says:

      09:12am | 28/10/10

      Nothing wrong with it but personally much prefer the sound of a collective singing of waltzing matilda. I heard that one sung by most at the Rugby Union and you can bet it was a moving sound - the players would have loved it.

      Reply

    • Colonel of Truth says:

      09:14am | 28/10/10

      Not fun, not witty, not humorous. Boring and crass. Well past its use-by date.

      Reply

    • Dallas says:

      09:17am | 28/10/10

      Lots of people love their mullets and broken down toranas too.  How do you want to represent yourself to the world?

      Reply

    • ace says:

      09:32am | 28/10/10

      You have to be kidding me. Hearing this chant at the San Fermin festival this year was plain embarressing to the point I was telling people I was a Kiwi to avoid the onslaught of abuse from other tourists who also view the chant as bogan.

      And Evan, Waltzing Matilda is far better than the drone of “Oi Oi Oi” around a stadium. Being at the World Cup in SA and having thousands of fans singing this while walking up the main street to the stadium was not only a sight but a sound to be experienced.

      Get rid of the Oi Oi Oi.

      Reply

    • JZCarr says:

      09:40am | 28/10/10

      The fact you describe any sporting chant as “awesome” makes you a bogan.

      Reply

    • Trjn says:

      10:07am | 28/10/10

      Thousands of people, united in voice, cannot be awesome unless you’re a bogan?

    • Reg says:

      11:41am | 29/10/10

      You’re wrong. I sing in an opera chorus and it’s awesome.  The English football crowd thought Pav was awesome and voiced it. 

      Strewth, awesome is in my spell checker. Awesome!

    • Matt says:

      09:43am | 28/10/10

      Whats wrong with you people? It is a ‘WARCRY’... It’s supposed be loud, aggresive and intimidating! You’d honestly prefer us to serenade the opposition with waltzing matilda..? disgraceful.

      Oh, and well said Richard!

      Reply

    • Pete says:

      10:49am | 28/10/10

      Nothing wrong with the loud, aggressive and intimidating part..
      It’s the stupid, ignorant and unoriginal part that’s the problem.
      Shout what you like, anything, go for it.. Deride the opposition, their coach, their mothers and the ref while you’re at it..

      It’s the skinhead part that’s dumb, always has been.

    • Dean says:

      12:25pm | 28/10/10

      OI OI OI is intimidating? Yeah right… The only thing well said by Richard was when he agreed it was annoying..

    • Petros says:

      09:54am | 28/10/10

      Oi Oi Oi…. is something that the Skinheads or NF used to shout in the day.

      If you feel comfortable with being associated with dumb racist then by all means scream Oi Oi Oi!

      Reply

    • jono says:

      09:55am | 28/10/10

      ..its shameless bogan redneck and totally embarrasing.  I cringe whenever I hear some overly patriotic moron start it up.  By all means have a chant but this one is just cr*p….Im sure we can get something better.

      Reply

    • Pete says:

      10:23am | 28/10/10

      It’s been embarrassing from the very first utterance.. It was never cool

      It’s not only a rip off of english soccer chants.. but also skinheads..

      Thats right, does no one remember Skinhead, Skinhead, Skinhead, Oi, Oi, Oi

      Reply

    • Steve says:

      10:45am | 28/10/10

      “I’m not remotely embarrassed to say I love the Aussie Aussie Aussie warcry.”

      That’s because you’re a cretin. It’s the opposite of awesome. It’s not even original, you stole it from the English.

      Reply

    • Stuart Eastern says:

      11:17am | 28/10/10

      That slogan shows the world that we are still a backward country with many bogans,dills,F…wits and easily led fools in it.

      Reply

    • Nat says:

      11:19am | 28/10/10

      There seems to be a noticable confluence between people who hate “oi oi oi” and people who hate sport in general. They don’t have footy teams. They live in Fitzroy. They’re pasty, weedy latte sipping gits. They’re the sort of people who consider themselves the intellectual elite, without ever testing their claims for objectivity.

      Their views should rightly be discarded. They were pointless in highschool, and they’re pointless now, and they’ve lost none of their impotent rage.

      Reply

    • Tim B says:

      12:36pm | 28/10/10

      You know what - I hate sport, but I love hearing thousands of partially drunk Aussies yelling out “Oi, Oi, Oi” even when the Aussie team is losing…

      People wanting it banned are just unAustralian.

    • Daryl says:

      01:01pm | 28/10/10

      Stereotyping is dumb. I hate sport & footy but don’t live in Fitzroy or sip lattes. I used to play rugby and am built like the proverbial. Not sure about being an intellectual elite but know I must be brighter than the oi oi crowd. If I was to stereotype I’d imagine that the oi oi chanters listen to C&W, drive Falcodores or urban 4WDs, women read Mills and Boone while the men don’t (read that is), couldn’t play competitive sport but know all the statistics from games past, and live in mini McMansions in a modern developer’s ghetto.

    • hot tub political machine says:

      03:42pm | 28/10/10

      How is it unAustralian to want something banned? Surely people who find it embarassing do so because they care how Aussies are percieved -because they care about how Australia is percieved - because they are patriots. Why does one side of the argument feel entitled to label the other unAustralian?

      The person arguing against it is Australian, they do it because they care about Australia. What’s unAustralian about that?

      Labelling either side unAustralian is a very weak argument.

    • Gazza Wazza says:

      11:19am | 28/10/10

      Aussies are the best! The rest of the world loves us with our cute “G’day mate”  crap.

      Reply

    • Reg says:

      11:43am | 29/10/10

      Duhthinkit’lllast?

    • Roberto says:

      11:44am | 28/10/10

      I agree. It’s very embarrassing.

      Reply

    • PGNEWC says:

      12:27pm | 28/10/10

      Yup the Oi Oi Chant is Welsh rugby clear and simple—other things we have stolen of the Poms are—the dreaded lurgi (from the goons), and wanker—in my early days they were called wackers

      Reply

    • Aussie Pride Forever says:

      12:31pm | 28/10/10

      This is whay many believe that Australians are yokels.  Not because we shout ‘Oi Oi Oi’  but because we are slowly losing our identity.  We should not be embarrassed by our nations history nor by the things that make us who we are, whether it’s wearing thongs , smearing ourselves in zinc cream and yelling ‘AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI’ at the cricket.  New Zealand revels in it’s haka because it’s part of them.  They are proud of who they are and where they come from.  It’s about time we showed our pride again and stopped trying to be something we are not - snobs!!

      Reply

    • Nicole says:

      12:41pm | 28/10/10

      It never used to bother me. But when I hear it now, I get this horrid vision in my head from Australia Day this year, a whole bunch of knuckle dragging bogans, sucking stubbies, blind drunk, the Australian flag draped around their necks all screaming ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi’. Cringe worthy stuff. I’ll probably be scarred for life !

      Reply

    • Reg says:

      02:56pm | 29/10/10

      Still you must have felt at home Nicole. wink

    • Larson's apprentice says:

      12:56pm | 28/10/10

      In a moment of crazed umbilical separation
      sun blazin’
      a tribal chant declared it’s supremacy
      the unravelling dna pockmarked with resentment
      the unjust promise of a new world
      cringeworthy,tasteless,single toilet papered chant
      spontaneous, ridiculous and a curiosity
      expedient, available emotional trigger
      and yet amidst all of this ...
      a celebration of hope and victory
      we rise from the depths of a suicided swaggy
      an ‘oi’ by thrice we deny all others who would do battle against us
      we dissect the ‘simplistic’ and lay it at the feet
      of another’s table
      we hide nothing
      we remain suspicious of those
      who portray sophistication
      this was a land that would strip you bare
      three cheers ol’ cock….hip hip hooray..NeVeR !
      oi oi oi
      and it’ll do me fine

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      01:45pm | 28/10/10

      You sorcerer, you,
      and it’ll do !

    • Belinda says:

      01:01pm | 28/10/10

      I don’t like it but it’s excusable in the sporting arena. It is not acceptable anywhere else and IS embarrassing. It reinforces the ugly Aussie yobbo sterotype. Just as you wouldn’t fart and spit at your Grandmother’s tea table (presumably) so this should stay in the sports field. And about how much, exactly, of real war do these boofheads know? Cricket against England or NZ is not war. Grow up!!

      Reply

    • Leah says:

      01:12pm | 28/10/10

      Steve, you might have noticed a lot of things in Australia came from England originally.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      01:22pm | 28/10/10

      Your picture is wrong. Walzting Matilda is a beautiful tune.
      It is best played or sung much slower than is normal, but the chorus should be forte and a bit quicker.
      Mr Sinatra( nice interview, ABC fm), would have sung the meaning of the words(very difficult to do, actually), which is what school-children need to learn when this song is our National Anthem.

      Reply

    • Dr Ziggy Stardust says:

      01:29pm | 28/10/10

      “Its a war cry”
      well said all that said it.  It is a war cry for people that require a tribal/nationalist outlet and has nothing to do with the sport being attended.  Australians love nationalistic/tribal outbursts anywhere, sport is irrelevant.  The Commonwealth games showed the media understands this behaviour and did not feature any contest that did not have an Australian medalist.  If Australia wasn’t there the event did not exist.  So keep chanting oi oi oi so real sports fans can keep clear of Australian inbreds needing to vent.

      Reply

    • 20/20 says:

      08:01pm | 28/10/10

      That’s gold, Dr Ziggy.  You’ve summed it up brilliantly! :o)

    • Zopo says:

      01:39pm | 28/10/10

      I usually find the people that usually use the chant, are those that dont get out ot events that much and dont realise how stupid it actually sounds.

      Bu to be fair if someone shouts out Aussie, Aussie, Aussie….you either answer with Oi,Oi,Oi or say nothing at all, to say anything else or mock the person starting the chant is just as un-Australian.

      I

      Reply

    • Does Not Suffer Fools says:

      01:47pm | 28/10/10

      For me it’s a bit like “Oompa Poompa, Stick it up your Joompa!” - but without the biting wit…

      Get rid of it, along with Anzac Day, V8 supercars and any half-cut moron who drapes themselves in the flag on Australia Day and proclaims this to be the “greatest place to live” (how the **** would you know?)

      Reply

    • Reg says:

      03:03pm | 29/10/10

      Yeah the same ones who shed a tear over un-Ustrayn, not realising it was stolen from the odious Yank inquiry into Un-American Activities of the 1950s..

    • Ed says:

      01:57pm | 28/10/10

      Singing “Waltzing Matilda” is “embarrassing”, however, its original, very aussie, easy to recognize, and written by an Australian legend. Id be happy to sing it.
      That oi, oi, oi,  noise is truly beyond embarrassing. It reminds me of skinheads, and boorish rednecks… its not even Australian, its a rehash of a Welsh tune.
      ...and the rest of tho world used to love us Gazza Wazza, now they think we are backward racist. Singing “oi, oi, oi” doesnt help.

      Reply

    • Snickers says:

      01:58pm | 28/10/10

      ‘Oi! Oi! Oi!’.  About as irritating and cringeworthy as the word ‘un-Australian’.  Just because we’re Aussie, doesn’t mean we have to like it.

      Reply

    • Jake says:

      01:59pm | 28/10/10

      It is loutish, witless and uninventive and only serves the purpose to extenuate the worst stereotypes regarding Australian culture.

      Did The Punch demand someone write an article defending the chant and you drew the short straw?

      Reply

    • Kerry says:

      02:07am | 30/10/10

      But a news.com people’s survey is highly accurate. We like it so shutup!

    • Unskinhead says:

      02:07pm | 28/10/10

      Yeah it’s pretty awesome if you like stomping gypsy heads - you do know it’s a skinhead anthem right…

      Reply

    • Barry S says:

      06:31pm | 28/10/10

      Aussie warcar is only embarassing for weasles who want to destroy Australia from within and can’t stand our proud heritage.

    • Coookie says:

      02:09pm | 28/10/10

      Funny, it’s only the bogans who don’t cringe and hide when they hear it…

      Reply

    • harry says:

      02:09pm | 28/10/10

      i can’t stand the aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi chant either. call me arrogant ( i do go to a private school so that would be somewhat appropriate stereotypically), but all the schools in the region have about 10 different walkcries all of which sound brilliant and it makes an athletics carnival out at qsac better than going to watch professional sport. they fill the main stand each year and its full of original surprising and sometimes hilarious stuff. I can’t stand the oi oi oi chant but thats only because im a private school boy and my stomach clenches everytime i see a bogan. Would be great to see some better stuff at the big events for sure though!

      Reply

    • Reg says:

      05:26pm | 29/10/10

      Don’t hold back Harry, feel free to give yourself a good flailing in the best tradition of private schools.

      If we can’t compose a decent anthem then I think we should put some good Australian words to Come all ye Faithful. Except it’s probably copyright by some back-room Hong Kong mob.

    • Colonel of Truth says:

      02:11pm | 28/10/10

      We have a national penchant to abbreviate all words we can.

      Are we the only people in the world who have brekky, pollies and journos? I fear so and, noting that “Aussie” is an abbreviation, it follows that “oi” is also an abbreviation.

      For “oik”. Look it up.

      So, in unabbreviated English, we are saying “Australian, Australian, Australian; oik, oik, oik”.

      Why we want to self-identify as a nation of oiks is beyond me. Plenty of other nations do that for us. Why help them?

      Reply

    • Reg says:

      05:43pm | 29/10/10

      The word Australian falls back into a darker sound. especially in the…ahemm… uneducated and the “E” sound is the most forward. Thus we have “Cooee.”  which seems to me to me related to Aussie.

      Probably the best plan is to change the name of Australia to something that ends with E. I can’t think of one just now. Stewie, Hughie, Booie ... hey that’s how the Yanks pronounce BUOY.  Buoy Land. That might work but no doubt the feminists would be up in arms.

      buoy, buoy,buoy. Two front bright sounds would be an excellent thing for the Australian accent. A forward OO followed by a forward EE. Say it fast enough and it sounds like an invitation to a cheese tasting. That’s GOT to be upmarket..

    • Mitch. says:

      02:31pm | 28/10/10

      The English soccer fans used to chant this back in the late 60s.
      Ziga Zaga Ziga Zaga Oi Oi Oi.

      Cant say the Aussies can lay claim to it.  Who would want to ?
      Childish then and chidish now.

      Reply

    • Timothy says:

      02:38pm | 28/10/10

      People need to understand that the ones who like the oi chant cant afford to travel so have no idea of how embarassing it is.

      Reply

    • RaniGirl says:

      03:52pm | 28/10/10

      Mine god! Just sifting through the jumble of responses here is making my head spin.  Yup, there are plenty of boguns out there…. and just as many “stuck up latte drinking pissants” as Richard so eliquently put it.  We are Aussie, and yes we are cringeworthy sometimes… but that’s what makes us the fabulous nation we are.  So you pissants, get your heads out of your arses and join in the chorus…. ‘coz yooz are no bettar than thu rest of us tongue wink

      Reply

    • Nigel Pissant says:

      03:07pm | 29/10/10

      (Distant echo,) I am.

    • ?? says:

      05:08pm | 28/10/10

      two weeks ago, a groups of lads were chanting it on the frankston to city train line for no reason (unless i missed some significant sporting event??). horrible. i just turned the sound of my ipod up and slowly slunk down into my seat.

      Reply

    • lance boyels of baywater says:

      06:08pm | 28/10/10

      dont care for it myself but wont try and stop others from making a git of themselves after all its there right to be a tool if they want

      Reply

    • Linus L says:

      06:38pm | 28/10/10

      For gods sake ban it !
      Aussies have become conforntational and offensive the last few years, and this is their war cry.
      Especially if you are form certain countries, or have lineage from there (azzuri).
      People who have contributed to Aus society also.
      Ban that All Aus sporting teams in yellow and green too, is that the best Aus designers can come up with?

      Reply

    • Jet says:

      06:46pm | 28/10/10

      I cringe whenever I hear it - urgh.

      Reply

    • Reg says:

      03:14pm | 29/10/10

      Then there’s that other ultra common “Whoo Hoo” on most unsuitable occasions. Real bogans have no idea when to stand silent smiling in appreciation and admiration. They have to behave like chooks at feeding time and draw attention to themselves.

    • Citizen says:

      07:00pm | 28/10/10

      You’re wrong Garry. It showcases a low-brow Australian mentality to the world. Its nothing to be proud of or to identify yourself with.

      Reply

    • oi says:

      07:16pm | 28/10/10

      it may be silly, it may be simplistic, it may be embarrassing but if everything in life has to be serious, intelegent and uptight then its just not worth it.
      Lighten up a little and stop acting like your above it just because you dont have a ratty or wear a wifebeater.

      Reply

    • andy says:

      07:19pm | 28/10/10

      haha, so many uptight people. so many people who are faaar to sophisticated for a chant. maybe once in a while you should just let loose and do something even if its a little embarrassing. well, unless youse are all up yourselves!

      theres so many things to get angry about in this world, racism, homophobia, injustice… why get upset about a group of people celebrating their national sporting identity with a harmless yell?

      well, its mostly because a lot of you are very precious about how australians are perceived by the rest of the world. heres a tip: they arent discussing this in the cafes in paris, they arent laughing at us walking through central park, and they arent mocking us in a teahouses in tehran. its just. not. really. very. important.

      this is coming from someone who has zero interest in sport, bogans, v8s, whatever… but ive joined in on a bit of oi oi oi when appropriate. the feeling of suddenly finding oneself in unison with a bunch of strangers in a strange land is pretty cool, really.

      Reply

    • mary wide bay says:

      07:46pm | 28/10/10

      Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi !!!

      Reply

    • Reg says:

      03:17pm | 29/10/10

      Haven’t you got some sugar-cane needs hugging?

    • jj says:

      09:43pm | 28/10/10

      I love the self proclaimed upper class here. The reality is, as a bogan I could buy them, their lives and squash the lot with my petty cash.. Got to love Australia and the bogans that built it.. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

      Reply

    • hot tub political machine says:

      02:33pm | 29/10/10

      Its not about how you dress, your education ect. Its about how crass it is to talk about buying people.

    • Reg says:

      05:53pm | 29/10/10

      No you don’t love the upper class here JJ. You’re being dishonest in the traditional Australian manner of being sarcastic. First you wave the Australian cringe by labeling yourself a bogan and then you hold up wealth to indicate you are not a bogan at all. Identity crisis?

      I can’t say I love the Aussie tradition of not saying it as it really is.

    • Tony King says:

      07:11am | 29/10/10

      All of you who like the OI are obviously a monarchists as th OI is from British origin.

      Reply

    • Judas says:

      12:26pm | 01/11/10

      Whilst it is a disgusting, feral mating call; it shouldn’t be banned.

      It allows the secret bogan to be identified, even when he or she is clad in other than standard bogan attire. For this reason, it should be encouraged.

      That said, those reprobates who disrespectfully chanted it at Don Bradman’s funeral should have been shipped off to a cultural reeducation camp.

      Reply

    • kaz says:

      03:31pm | 05/01/12

      true…. u cant ban group learnt stupidity.

      it isnt a crime.

 
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