Dating sometime between 1923-1935, Fickénscher’s College Songs of the University of Virginia is considered to be the first official collection of early University of Virginia fight songs. This collection of arrangements - rather, transcriptions - features a variety of songs that were sung by early 20th century students and fans intending to inspire the budding Virginia athletic teams. Though most of the songs in College Songs of the University of Virginia are obsolete and are no longer present in UV A tradition, some have stood the test of time and cemented themselves in Virginia convention. At first glance, these early fight songs appear playfully rousing and celebratory, but they have significant implications: they help provide a window into what early UV A culture was like; and more importantly, they beg imperative questions about college pride, sports culture, and nationalism.

The most revealing aspect of the fight songs is their lyrics. The proud lyrics found within the majority of the tunes boast Virginia’s excellence in academia and sport, and they shed a light onto the blossoming pageantry of college football and culture. Phrases such as “every college has its flag, but ours is the best” feed into the emerging ‘us’ versus ‘them’ narrative which modern American sports culture is exceedingly familiar with. To me, Fickénscher’s arrangements accurately depict the ‘college nationalism’ that is allegiance to a university. His arrangements and lyrics hint at the fact that college pride might just be nationalism on a smaller scale. They demonstrate how early Virginia culture might have bordered the line between college pride and college nationalism.

More so, they support the argument that sports, college pride, and nationalism are not remarkably distant from one another. All three involve similar values of unity and pride. Those within a sports fanbase, college, or nation feel like they have a sense of community and group identity. It must be noted that nationalism isn’t solely negative; it has positive aspects such as the ability to unify a large group of diverse individuals and it inspires social cohesion. We can see these aspects within colleges and sports culture as well. Many colleges have an extremely diverse collection of individuals from different backgrounds, but everybody feels like they have their place in the greater community.

On the other hand, why is nationalism dangerous? Nationalism has the capability of being incredibly destructive. Nearly every war and every conflict is involved with nationalism in some way. Nationalism is often rooted in racism and superiority. Extreme nationalism, or advancing a nation's interests without considering its consequences, has serious and devastating socio-political implications. We can see nationalism manifest itself in college and broader sports culture. Sports fans can be extremely tribalistic. It is no secret that modern sports fans are associated with toxicity, vitriol, and bigotry. Throughout the late 20th and early 21st century, there have been a vast amount of examples that exhibit sports fan behavior becoming increasingly hateful and violent. In 1988, toxic rival fans infamously taunted Arizona point guard Steve Kerr about his father who was assassinated by terrorists in Beirut four years prior. In 1994, Colombian soccer player Andrés Escobar was tragically murdered by two Colombian fans after he had mistakenly scored in his own goal in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Finally, between 1994-2021, there have been five incidents of University of Alabama fans killing rival fans after Alabama football games. Fickénscher’s College Songs of the University of Virginia helps determine how early sports culture led to the modern toxic fan culture we know today. The lyrics in the songs reveal how even early University fight songs had their roots in tribalism and nationalism. Before this, however, we must be familiar with the origins of football and what early football games really looked like.

In the early 20th century, college football became an incredibly popular American sport due to its exciting showcase of athleticism, rivalries, and traditions. College football would slowly challenge American baseball’s stadium attendance, with thousands of students, alumni, and fans in attendance. College football, however, was a brutal sport. Prior to 1906, the forward pass was illegal, meaning that the only way to advance the ball on the field was to use brute force. Players needed to use their heads without helmets as leverage against the opposing teams’ formations. It was chaotic and violent. Due to a lack of any serious regulations and safety equipment, early college football games featured many injuries, broken bones, and even occasional deaths. In fact, in both 1897 and 1908 there was a player killed due to injuries sustained at a University of Virginia football game. The Chicago Tribune reported that in 1904 alone, there were 18 football deaths and 159 serious injuries. It wasn’t until 1906 when president Theodore Roosevelt, much due to the public’s perception of the brutal sport, pushed for radical rule changes and safety regulations which made football much safer for players.

After having an understanding of the reality of early college football, it becomes obvious that their playing conditions reflect the brutal, violent culture of modern sports fans. From this we can utilize Fickénscher’s lyrics to support the argument that early college football culture had its roots in nationalism and tribalism. The lyrics in Fickénscher’s Hike Virginia and Give Us A Song Boys demonstrate how early college football was ravenous. They indicate that Virginia aims to “rip ‘em through and through” as well as to “break ‘em up and shake ‘em up.” Their violent imagery supports the early culture of college football that valued victory by any means necessary. Thus begins the causal chain towards college nationalism: victories become great, earned triumphs over competition, and because of this those that attend schools capable of these victories feel superior to those that attend schools less capable of these victories. Schools develop group identities and rivalries with other schools, which leads to the collegiate tribalism that is not significantly different from college nationalism.

An interesting comparison can be drawn between the culture of modern college football and historical pageants. In fact, one can make the argument that college football games are simply a modern re-manifestation of what historical pageants once were. Historical pageants were huge public affairs where thousands of people would dress up and celebrate their own nation’s history and identity. Pageants were a great show of nationalism and group identity, their festivities relied on their expression of community. Modern college football is not extremely different from this. Present day college football games are large festivities where a specific community celebrates their group identity, featuring events, activities, and games that demonstrate their group purpose. Both historical pageants and college football are hinged on nationalism and the aforementioned “us” versus “them” discourse. The comparison between historical pageants and college football allows us to understand and identify the aspects of group identity that have remained constant through history. We as a society value community and unity, but they have potential fallbacks if they lead to the tribalistic and nationalistic mindsets as exhibited by modern college football culture.

Sources:

McGregor, A. (2024). The Anti-Intellectual Coach: The Cultural Politics of College Football Coaching from the New Left to the Present. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 48(6), 379-399. https://doi.org/10.1177/01937235221098915

Bartie, A., Fleming, L., Freeman, M., Hulme, T., Hutton, A., & Readman, P. (2018). ‘History taught in the pageant way’: education and historical performance in twentieth-century Britain. History of Education, 48(2), 156–179. https://doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2018.1516811.

Vom Hau, Matthias, et al. "The Consequences of Nationalism: A Scholarly Exchange." Nations & Nationalism, vol. 29, no. 3, 1 Jul. 2023, pp. 810 - 830.