The creator of New Zealand's greatest contribution to UK terrace chant culture has died.Pauly Fuemana died in Auckland this morning after a short illness.
As lead singer of the Otara Millionaires Club (OMC) Fuemana had an unexpected global hit with the catchy hip hop song How Bizarre.
The song peaked at no. 4 on the UK singles charts and, more bizarrely, was used as a terrace chant at certain football grounds, usually whenever something out of the ordinary happened, football bloopers as it were.
I remember hearing it as a steward for Bristol City at Ashton Gate- it brought a wee tear to my eye and made me stroke my pounamu in pride.
It is somewhat ironic that football fans picked up on this song since Pauly Fuemana was from the Rugby and League stronghold of South Auckland. Being part Maori and Niuean, I'd wager that he would've had little time for the supposed sissyness of Soccer. I might be wrong; He may now be spurning the chance to punt the ole pig skin over those pearly posts with George Nepia, preferring instead to play pick up Football with the Busby Babes and George Best, while the shades of Hillsborough fill that heavenly pitch with the wonder of his one great hit.
Come to think of it, one of the main characters of the song is named Pele, after all....
This post may be only vaguely football related, but nonetheless Pauly, The Football Tragics salute you:
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