Olé, Olé, Olé

"Olé, Olé, Olé" (from Spanish: "Oé, Oé, Oé") is a football chant.

Origin

One evidence of the chant appeared in an article of the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia from 1982. It was during the final match of the Spanish Football League that year. After Real Sociedad had been proclaimed champion, the people at the Atotxa Stadium in San Sebastián started to sing "Campeones, campeones, hobe, hobe, hobe", which literally means "Champions, champions, we are the best," with the latter three words belonging to the Basque language. The chant expanded to the rest of Spain, and became known as "Oé, Oé, Oé".

The word "olé" itself, being a Spanish interjection thought to be derived from an Arabic invocation of Allah, or the oath والله (w-állah, “by Allah!”) ^[1] is mostly associated with the bullfighting of last centuries, but also with other sports after the 19th century.^[2] It was chanted when individuals seemed to rise above themselves in performance.

The chant is used frequently in football games around the world (for example by the supporters of the Republic of Ireland national football team^[3][4]), and can be heard in Montreal Canadiens hockey games when the team is winning.^[5]

In Argentina, sometimes the name of a person the people could be cheering to is added at the end; e.g.: "Olé, olé olé olé, Die-go, Die-go! (referring to Diego Armando Maradona).

Use in music

"Olé, Olé, Olé (The Name of the Game)"
Single by The Fans
Released	1987
Genre	Pop
Label	ZYX Records
Writer(s)	Armath – Deja
Producer(s)	Roland Verlooven

In 1946, "Ole Ole Ole Ole" was first heard on film on the show I Love Lucy by Dezi Arnaz during his song to Babalu-Aye, an Africa deity. The song was written by Margarita Lecuona in 1939.

In 1985, Hans Kusters, the head of the Belgian label Hans Kusters Music, asked music producer Roland Verlooven and singer Grand Jojo to "write a song for the Belgian football champs Anderlecht called “Anderlecht Champion”".^[6] It was composed by Armath (an alias of Roland Verlooven^[7]) and Deja, and recorded both in French and Dutch by the Belgian singer Grand Jojo, along with the players of R.S.C. Anderlecht, and released that year by Disques Vogue.

A year later, he recorded another version, "E Viva Mexico", which introduced the chorus "Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé, We are the champions".

Both of the versions used a slightly different variation of the chant, which probably was also originated in Spain. This chant was the basis for many versions to be recorded by many other artists.

In 1987, Roland Verlooven produced a more internationally popular version of the chant, "Olé, Olé, Olé (The Name of the Game)" by a group known as "The Fans",^[8] and published by Hans Kusters Music. It was released in Spain by Discos Games, and in Germany by ZYX Records.

Next year (1988) the Czech songwriter František Ringo Čech wrote the Czech lyrics for the Olé, Olé, Olé (The Name of the Game) which was then recorded as music video and sung by choir of famous Czech football players including Antonín Panenka, František Veselý and others.^[9]

In 1998, Chumbawumba recorded the hit "Top of the World (Olé, Olé, Olé)".

In 1999, it was used in the chorus of "¡Olé!" by the Bouncing Souls on their album Hopeless Romantic.

In 2009 it was recorded by Overtone and used in the 2009 film Invictus.

In other sports

The chant is most synonymous with Conor McGregor fans in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). It is commonly adorned by Irish fans towards any of their national representatives, as a show of support and kinship. It rose to popularity in Ireland during the country's successful run at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, where the phrase made up the chorus to Put 'Em Under Pressure, the official song for the national team's campaign.

The chant is also used in ice hockey in Canada. Especially with regards to the Montreal Canadiens hockey club. In the United States, the chant has been used at American football games. The chant is also common at WWE events taking place in Europe, in Montreal or in the U.S. with a large European crowd, such as the April 8th, 2013 edition of WWE Raw at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey the night after WrestleMania 29, as well as the March 30, 2015 edition of Raw emanating from the SAP Center in San Jose, California, the night after WrestleMania 31. The chant was repeatedly heard throughout the May 4, 2015 telecast of WWE Raw that took place at the Bell Centre in Montreal, thereby establishing the arena as one of the loudest crowds in WWE.^[10]

New York Mets fans have adapted the chant from "Olé" to "José" and use it to cheer for José Reyes. Toronto Blue Jays fans similarly used the chant for José Bautista.

More recently in WWE NXT, the cheer has become associated with Sami Zayn, who used the Bouncing Souls song as his entrance music when he performed as El Generico. Zayn is also a resident of Montreal, where the chant is popular.

The cheer is also wildely used by supporters of college soccer in the United States and led to the creation of a mascot at the University of California, Santa Barbara, simply named Olé.^[11]

See also

• Olé (sports newspaper)

References

External links

• Anderlecht Champion at The Originals
• Ole, Allah and all Claim for the etymology of olé from Allaah (Allah, God) and lack of evidence
• Oley!! short film on Hudud Law