Have Crystal Palace brought modern fandom to the Premier League?

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The location is central London, less than half a mile from Buckingham Palace, and something is afoot.

A helicopter is circling overhead, it appears there is a security issue and mild panic has spread to the streets below.

Tourists look confused and concerned as they glance up at the sky, point and speculate.

What on earth is happening? Is there a criminal on the loose? Has the King gone for a walk? For clarity, those last two sentences are unrelated.

Anyway, then a distant but distinctive cry emanates from a couple of hundred yards down the road and it immediately becomes clear what the commotion is all about: “Eeeeeeeaaaagles!!”

Crystal Palace have taken over London. And it’s a day that none of them will ever forget.

It is a day that started in Covent Garden, where thousands of Palace supporters have gathered in glorious sunshine to sing, to drink and to build their anticipation.

This is one of the bustling, busiest areas of London on any day of the week, let alone a sunny Saturday in May, but chuck in a sizeable number of boisterous football fans and there is the potential for things to get messy, hence a large police presence.

Not that they have anything to worry about; the mood couldn’t be lighter or friendlier. Palace’s fans have even brought bin bags so they can tidy up after themselves.

Bemused tourists attempt to shuffle through the acrid red and blue flare smoke. Some stop to take pictures, some attempt to mimic the fans by joining in with a shout of “Eaaaagggles” like they are at a zoo impersonating chimps, while one American man blusters through the crowd huffing: “Literally who even are these people?”

‘These people’ are holding obligatory tin foil FA Cups, wearing Oliver Glasner masks and waving flags. And they are all wearing red and blue.

It felt like Palace fans were everywhere across London (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

They are happy, of course they are, it’s FA Cup final day in the sun, but there is a giddy, wide-eyed freshness for a lot of people who have rarely experienced occasions like this. Palace last reached an FA Cup final in 2016 and, as supporter Paul tells The Athletic: “This is a lot nicer than the last cup final.

“It was quite a poisonous atmosphere that day actually, Man United fans were singing about Eric Cantona, it was grey and drizzly. Today is the opposite.”

NEXT STOP WEMBLEY PARK pic.twitter.com/wKNRD5OlKw

— Holmesdale Fanatics (@ultrascpfc) May 17, 2025

As the above video suggests, there is just something a little bit different about Palace fans. Certainly in London, they stand out, or at least a small and very vocal section of them do, for their fanatacism.

That is not a characteristic you necessarily or readily associate with London fanbases; it is more a trait you would link with one-club cities like Newcastle or Leeds, but there is no doubting that in recent years, Selhurst Park has earned a reputation for being one of the rowdiest grounds in the Premier League.

That has a lot to do with the Holmesdale Fanatics, who are a supporters’ group in layman’s terms, but in football parlance are more akin to European-style ultras, in that they all sit (stand) together, wear black t-shirts, produce huge, sprawling tifos, promote anti-establishment causes and tend to sing and chant all game, not just when their team is winning. Throw in some flares and large flags and it could be Lazio’s hardcore ultras with south London accents (and differing political views).

The group, based in the Holmesdale Road Stand behind one of the goals at Selhurst, formed in 2005 from a bunch of mates looking to organically improve the atmosphere at the stadium.

Many of them were in their late teens at the time, but over two decades the Holmesdale Fantatics have become bigger, more organised and central to the club’s fanbase, to the extent that for the FA Cup semi final against Aston Villa last month they led Palace’s eye and ear-catching support with a huge red and blue display complete with a huge tifo of an iconic Palace image, namely a young fan clutching former player Andros Townsend’s shirt.

Well this is cool. 7 years after I took this pic at Manchester City of a lad getting Andros Townsend’s shirt after the match, it’s appeared on a Crystal Palace tifo at Wembley at the start of the FA Cup semi final #cpfc pic.twitter.com/MsxvYOEnB5

— Carl Recine (@carlrecine) April 27, 2025

In that and other respects, the Holmesdale Fantatics and by extension Palace’s fanbase are the antidote to the sanitisation of English football fandom.

That sanitisation comes in many forms. Unsociable kick off times for a start. Then there is VAR and all its awful foibles, like the dilution of stadium atmospheres due to delays and fans not celebrating goals with wild abandon for fear of an offside decision five minutes later. Also see authorities changing fixture times/dates with little notice, football tourists, owners treating fans like customers instead of supporters and clubs prioritising global followers who will spend more money on merchandise rather than the local, hardcore supporters, i.e. the lifeblood of any football club.

Oh and then you have got pre-match music being blared at the decibel level of a jumbo jet engine, preventing an atmosphere being organically built up before kick off. Plus everyone is on their phones, scrolling social media or filming themselves watching the match. And most importantly of all, gluttonous ticket prices have priced out the working classes.

In the face of all that, it’s impressive that Palace are they way they are, despite being Premier League regulars for 12 years now. And finishing between 10th and 15th every single season to boot, with the monotony that brings.

Compare their giddiness at this season’s FA Cup run with City, who failed to sell out their allocation for their semi-final victory over Nottingham Forest (there are many fair reasons behind this, but the obvious contrast is there).

And then a few weeks ago Arsenal’s tifo for their Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain at the Emirates was, by the standards of the biggest and best we see in Europe, or even at Palace, a pretty laughable attempt which was roundly mocked. To compound the embarrassment, Arsenal fan group Ashburton Army had raised more than £12,000 to fund their own tifo, which the club rejected (fans who had donated were refunded their money).

The Holmesdale Fanatics (HF) raised £13,000 for their semi-final display and then more than three times that (more than £45,000) for the final. It was money well spent.

The HF were in position an hour before kick off and, unbeknownst to them at that moment, none of them would leave until an hour after full-time.

The palace fans were noisy and vibrant all day (Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)

They were all wearing white, with ‘Holmesdale’ splashed across their chests, and they were about to bring the noise.

First, the tifo, which was a poignant, touching reference to a famous moment in Palace’s recent history; Darren Ambrose’s iconic 40-yard strike during their victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford in a 2011 EFL Cup quarter-final.

Captured on TV incredulously celebrating the wondergoal was Mark Wealleans, beaming open-mouthed and clutching his two young sons Dominic and Nathan in either arm. The image resonated with all Palace fans.

Mark passed away in February 2017 aged just 49 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. The tifo marked the moment from 2011 and his two sons were both at Wembley to witness it.

Incredible, these lads sitting in front of me are balling their eyes out the TIFO is of them and their old man when Ambrose scored and their dad died a few years back! #CPFC #FACupFinal pic.twitter.com/nGb1KlbcsC

— Jake Warren (@TheJakeWarren) May 17, 2025

No corporate club-produced slogans, no cheesy messages, just something tangible and soulful, created by the fans, for the fans.

Amid the corporate sheen of an FA Cup final at Wembley, Palace showcased the very best of English fan culture, as did City with their tribute to departing legend Kevin De Bruyne.

The fervour from the Palace end as kick off approached, Glad All Over generating mass tingles, with the HF at its epicentre, was quite something. It was feverish and it was pure. And after the first whistle blew they manically bobbed up and down like the front end of an Oasis moshpit.

In fact they did not stop singing or jumping for precisely 32 minutes and 34 seconds, until Tyrick Mitchell fouled Bernardo Silva and the referee pointed to the spot.

The roar that greeted that greeted Dean Henderson’s resulting penalty save from Omar Marmoush was raw and gutteral, arguably even louder than the higher-pitched manic squeal they emanated for Eberechi Eze’s opening goal.

For almost the entire match their support was utterly unyielding. When Adam Wharton went down in the 73rd minute to receive treatment, the noise ceased slightly and the sound that remained was a ringing in the ears.

They just never stopped. Even in the jangling tension of stoppage time, with blocks and ricochets in their own box, most Palace fans were silent and eating their fingers, but the HF continued to beat that drum and sing.

At full-time, there was a disbelieving tone to the Palace cheers. And there were so many tears amid the elation.

a quantidade de idoso chorando é algo mt comovente. Esperaram por esse sentimento a vida inteira.

Se tu não se emociona com isso tu tá morto por dentro pqp, que cena absurda.

Que esporte. ❤️💙

📸: Joao Castelo-Branco pic.twitter.com/pspwetJ73V

— 𝖗𝖆𝖋𝖆 𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖆𝖊𝖘 (@rafamoraes29_) May 17, 2025

“We had a very bad start to the season, three points after eight games,” Glasner said after the match. “Usually the fans get impatient and are moaning and complaining. Our fans always supported us. They could see the effort.

“Three or four four weeks ago we conceded 10 goals in four days, five at Manchester City, five at Newcastle. We were 5-0 down after 60 minutes at Newcastle and our fans were supporting the team.

“This is a special connection. You might say we were lacking something a few times, but that’s when you deserve it, when you’re always sticking together and supporting each other, especially in difficult moments when you need support.

“You don’t need someone who kicks you, you need someone who hugs you and that’s what our fans gave to us. That’s why it’s a special win for this club. A special win for our fans.”

So much of modern football discourse is taken up with banality, immaturity, petty insults, utterly vapid arguments about the size of rival clubs, or fanbases, or the length of trophy droughts. How refreshing it has been then, for first Newcastle and now Palace to produce something unfiltered. Something real.

It has meant so much to them — and English football has been lifted by the pureness of their joy.

At Wembley the party goes on long into the night. Palace have created the greatest day in their history, with the potential for more to come.

It is gone 10pm and one drunk Palace fan is stumbling around Wembley Park station without a clue as to which platform he needs.

“Mate, I’ve no idea where we’re going,” he says to his friend. “We’re going to Europe mate.”

(Top photo: Palace fans put on a show at Wembley; Kevin Hodgson | MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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