Northampton Town DJ apologises for playing Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ and ruining Whamaggedon for over 7,000 people

A DJ for Northampton Town F.C. has apologised for playing Wham!‘s ‘Last Christmas’ at a recent match, potentially ruining the game ‘Whamaggedon’ for thousands.

• READ MORE: Andrew Ridgeley on ‘Wham!’: “The music has a vibrancy and energy which appeals to Gen Z”

In the cult game ‘Whamaggedon’, players try and avoid the Wham! classic until Christmas Eve, and are knocked out of the game when they hear it.

In Northampton Town’s game against Portsmouth on December 2, DJ Matt Facer made the unfortunate decision to spin the track. “I never knew people took it so seriously,” he said. “I gave it a spin, thinking it would be quite funny to wipe out 7,000 people who couldn’t avoid it, but clearly it isn’t funny.

He went on to say he had received “a bit of an insult on Twitter, light-hearted, [saying] it was not a nice thing to do, and apparently that was quite tame to what was being said in the stadium.

“So I officially apologise to everybody whose Christmas I’ve ruined.”

In our regular series Does Rock N’ Roll Kill Braincells?, NME asked Wham! member Andrew Ridgeley whether he knew the name of the annual game. “Yeah, well good luck with that! Whamageddon,” he said.

He also reacted to the single finally reaching Number One in 2020: “Oh yeah! Although we were both fully behind the Band Aid purpose and donated our royalties from ‘Last Christmas’ that year to charity, it did needle that it had kept us from the top spot because we felt right from the word go when George first composed the bones of it on a rainy Sunday in October ’84 that it was a nailed-on Number One. And it was – it just took 37 years!”

‘Last Christmas’ is a contender to top the charts again this year, alongside The Beatles‘ final song ‘Now And Then’ and Sleaford Mods’ charity single cover of ‘West End Girls’.

Two campaigns have also been launched to snag the top spot. AC/DC fans are determined to get the band to Number One in celebration of their 50th anniversary, whilst those wishing to honour Shane MacGowan’s recent death are campaigning for Pogues classic ‘Fairytale of New York’ to finally topple the chart.

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