Few watching inside Wembley Stadium, and from further afield, would fail to have been moved by the performance of Palace’s supporters on Saturday afternoon.
Their pre-match message, followed by a constant wall of noise emanating from a sea of Red and Blue, celebrated not just what makes Crystal Palace Football Club, but also what makes South London, so special.
It was matched – in feeling, in quality and in desire – by the Eagles on the pitch, who came together with the fans to achieve what BBC Sport commentator Steve Wilson declared as “up there with the greatest days in the club’s history.”
The semi-final supporter display was produced by the Holmesdale Fanatics, who raised over £13,000 to fund it, and have recently opened a fundraiser for a display for the Final.
Can’t Help Falling in Love will be played again ahead of Palace's match against Nottingham Forest at Selhurst Park on Monday evening – and we hope supporters with its iconic anthemic line and chorus.
Selhurst Park connections
A love song first recorded by Elvis Presley in 1961, Can’t Help Falling in Love had been played at Selhurst Park a week prior, in the moments preceding kick-off against Bournemouth, but its connections to Crystal Palace hark back much further.
The song was a popular anthem among football grounds from as early as the 1960s, including with supporters of Sunderland, Swindon Town, Hull City, Huddersfield Town, Preston North End, Swansea City, Airdrie United and Raith Rovers.
Can’t Help Falling in Love became a fixture of the supporters’ songbook at Selhurst in the late 1970s and early ‘80s – a period which saw us secure promotion, in front of a record crowd in SE25, against Burnley in May 1979; briefly sit top of the First Division; and bring through the youthful South London talent of the Team of the Eighties.
