ARSENAL are gearing up to play Chelsea in the FA Cup final, however they’ll be without the audience they’re used to.
The coronavirus pandemic has meant that all matches played after the quarantine period have been played behind closed doors.
Arsenal wore their signature yellow kits during their 1978 FA Cup finalCredit: Getty Images
The final between the two top teams will be the first ever to be played with no familiar chants spurring the teams on.
One in particular being Arsenal’s ‘She wore a Yellow Ribbon’, a song that fans are taught the moment they become a Gooner.
What’s the history behind the chant?
The original song appears in a 1917 US war poem by George A Norton, titled “Round Her Neck She Wears a Yellow Ribbon (For Her Lover Who is Fur, Fur Away.)”
Like a lot of other fan chants, it’s derived from another piece of prose, this one being about a girl who waits for her partner to return home from war.
It was also adapted and performed by Andrews Sisters in the 1949 John Wayne film ”She Wore a Yellow Ribbon”.
Why do Arsenal fans sing ‘She wore a Yellow Ribbon’?
The song emerged for Arsenal fans in the 50’s-70’s period but became popular between 1978 and 1980 when the club reached back-to-back FA Cup finals.
They wore yellow in three of those finals, losing against Ipswich and West Ham while emerging victorious against Manchester United.
It’s been apart of Arsenal history ever since.
The team who won against Sunderland during the 1979 final wearing the yellow kitCredit: Arsenal FC
What are the lyrics?
She wore, she wore,
She wore a yellow ribbon,
She wore a yellow ribbon in the merry month of May.
And when, I asked, Oh why she wore her ribbon?
She said it’s for The Arsenal and we’re going to Wembley.
Wembley, Wembley,
We’re the famous Arsenal and we’re going to Wembley.
Arsenal’s winning squad in 1979, the team that spurred the She wore a Yellow Ribbon fan chantCredit: Peter Robinson/EMPICS Sport
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
