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In the we look at the world of football chants with , a fourth-year doctoral candidate in Socio Musicology ��ɫ��Ƶ’s Centre for the Study of Popular Music and Popular Culture supervised by and

Phil’s journey began far from the terraces. Trained as a cellist, choir singer and musicologist within the elite world of the Conservatoire de Paris, he was immersed in the traditions of classical music. Yet amid the elitism of that environment, he found himself searching for a more grounded, collective form of musical expression. A mentor encouraged him to explore sociology, and there he discovered a bridge between music and everyday social life.

That bridge led him to an unexpected subject: football chanting. What began as a curiosity evolved into a full-fledged PhD project examining the sonic, social, and emotional life of football crowds. Phil’s research listens differently to the roar of the stadium, hearing not chaos or noise but structured moments where melody, rhythm, and emotion forge fleeting yet powerful communities.

For Phil, these chants are living cultural artefacts, vessels of identity, creativity, and contradiction. Yet they also reveal deeper tensions.

His work confronts the troubling persistence of homophobic chants in French football, exploring the uneasy relationship between fan expression, institutional authority, and social responsibility. Attempts to censor discriminatory language, he explains, can sometimes be perceived by supporters as censorship of their identity itself.

Through this lens, Phil’s research asks urgent questions about voice, power, and belonging. Who is allowed to be heard in public spaces? Whose voices are dismissed as noise? And how might we transform harmful practices without silencing the passion that gives football its soul?

Looking ahead, Phil shares his vision for a participatory podcast project, uniting football ultras, LGBTQ+ activists, and feminists to reimagine chanting culture collaboratively—turning stadium soundscapes into spaces of reflection and change.

From the Conservatoire to the curva, from Bach to the bleachers, this episode reveals how the sounds of football can illuminate the dynamics of culture, community, and social justice.

Tune in to explore how a symphony of voices in the stands can teach us about power, identity, and the social music of everyday life.

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