[Football] Why are English football grounds so boring (compared to Europe)??

Garyoldfan said:

You know it’s possible to create an atmosphere in seats. We’ve done it a few times.

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GingerBeerMan said:

This is basically it. Because violence was so bad in the 80s the next 40 years was dedicated to methods to prevent it. It's pretty obvious the most violent are likely to also be the most vocal.

It also has never been an English way to support teams with flares, drums and huge banners. Every country has their thing, our thing is providing the highest quality football, and a huge football pyramid which is unrivaled anywhere in the world.

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Weststander said:

Manufactured, by blokes at the front with megaphones.

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loz said:

Not the megaphones, but wasn’t it always “manufactured” but a certain group of lads / ladies who everyone new were the singing lot, they started we followed.

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Kalimantan Gull said:

It's just noise though isn't it? Watching on the telly I thought they were largely bland atmospheres in Marseilles and Rome. Yes a lot of noise, an extreme amount of noise, and awe-inspiring to see at the start, but where was the connection with the game? Where was the ebb and flow and the crescendo as the home team attacked? Were there recognisable songs and chants? You couldn't hear the away fans at all, which seems to me to be lacking one of the key parts of a great atmosphere, the back and forth between rival supporters. Noise and pyro, fine, but an atmosphere is something to be savoured.

That's not saying that English atmospheres are generally much good in these days of allseater stadia, usually dull, but they can sometimes be amazing, and I'd take that anyday over the European version

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Guinness Boy said:

Yes, exactly. The Cappo is just a DJ or Conductor. There's a set list of songs to go through. No room for moments like at The Goldstone playing against Ipswich when the North Stand broke into "John Wark looks like a hippo's bum" right up to last week with the new "teargassed in Athens" song on buses and in the ground, via 'cry in a minute' every time we played Mr Tumble. It's a performance, nothing more or less.

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Guinness Boy said:

Palace tried bringing in a Euro atmosphere and everyone laughs at them. It’s just not how we watch football.

The big things we have are humour and reaction. There’s no wit, no banter, no ebb and flow overseas. Just the same song droning on, uninterrupted even when they concede a goal. English crowds are usually reactive, and while this makes the base atmosphere worse, it allows room to build, room for a funny new song or witty comment about an opponent or referee.

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Weststander said:

A silly one that me laugh, in a mid 90’s Goldstone game against Plymouth was “You only sing when you’re fishing”, also p-takes about sheep when Cardiff or Swansea visited. The (harmless) chants to Hodgson were brilliant “Hodgson, Hodgson, give us a wave” …… I wanted him to ….. to anger the hooded 17 year old nerds.

Do the faux DJ’s at Marseille or AEK games improvise with irony, sarcasm or off the cuff abuse?

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hans kraay fan club said:

The OP question asks, "Why are English football grounds boring?"
Perhaps the truth is, the question should just be "Why are THE ENGLISH boring?"

Now, don't take this wrong - I don't think we are 'boring' - (nor a homogenous group) but as a whole, the English are far quieter, more reserved and dare I suggest, self-conscious than a lot of other peoples.

Yes, the Stade Velodrome is louder than the Emirates - but is it just a football thing?

The crowd / atmosphere at an IPL match is very, very different to that at Lords.
The crowd / atmosphere at the US Open is very different to that at Wimbledon.

For good or for bad (and in most scenarios, I suggest it is for good) we are not ones for making a show of ourselves.

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hans kraay fan club said:

The OP question asks, "Why are English football grounds boring?"
Perhaps the truth is, the question should just be "Why are THE ENGLISH boring?"

Now, don't take this wrong - I don't think we are 'boring' - (nor a homogenous group) but as a whole, the English are far quieter, more reserved and dare I suggest, self-conscious than a lot of other peoples.

Yes, the Stade Velodrome is louder than the Emirates - but is it just a football thing?

The crowd / atmosphere at an IPL match is very, very different to that at Lords.
The crowd / atmosphere at the US Open is very different to that at Wimbledon.

For good or for bad (and in most scenarios, I suggest it is for good) we are not ones for making a show of ourselves.

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Mellotron said:

100% agree that the English must be among the most self-conscious nationalities. Who would score above us on this metric?

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Kalimantan Gull said:

It's just noise though isn't it? Watching on the telly I thought they were largely bland atmospheres in Marseilles and Rome. Yes a lot of noise, an extreme amount of noise, and awe-inspiring to see at the start, but where was the connection with the game? Where was the ebb and flow and the crescendo as the home team attacked? Were there recognisable songs and chants? You couldn't hear the away fans at all, which seems to me to be lacking one of the key parts of a great atmosphere, the back and forth between rival supporters. Noise and pyro, fine, but an atmosphere is something to be savoured.

That's not saying that English atmospheres are generally much good in these days of all seater stadia, usually dull, but they can sometimes be amazing, and I'd take that anyday over the European version

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Guinness Boy said:

Palace tried bringing in a Euro atmosphere and everyone laughs at them. It’s just not how we watch football.

The big things we have are humour and reaction. There’s no wit, no banter, no ebb and flow overseas. Just the same song droning on, uninterrupted even when they concede a goal. English crowds are usually reactive, and while this makes the base atmosphere worse, it allows room to build, room for a funny new song or witty comment about an opponent or referee.

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Brovion said:

I think it's two things. Firstly yes we are still paying the price for the mass hooliganism of the 70s and 80s. Hillsborough was a direct result of that. Yes I know there was no trouble on the day but even with incompetent policing and stewarding nobody would have died if they hadn't been fenced in - and the fences were built because of hooliganism. Even the Goldstone had them. The whole "Sit down, shut up and just enjoy the Match Day Experience (TM)" culture that we have in the UK is a direct result of that.

Secondly the mainland Europeans have always been a bit different. Back in the 70s everybody and his brother used to bring air horns to matches. You could always tell when a match was being played in 'Europe' because the only crowd noise you could hear was a constant drone of "Paaaaaarp!", it was like being stuck in an enormous, angry traffic jam. Which side where they supporting? You couldn't tell.

Even though I wish we weren't so timid ultimately I do prefer our organic way. Yes it does mean that a lot of (all?) English grounds these days aren't a patch on their continental cousins when it comes to sheer noise, and as we all know they can often be utter libraries. But if the atmosphere is dynamic then the flip side of it is when it is good it is absolutely electric.

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Psychobilly freakout said:

I think this hit it on the head with a sledge hammer.

I much prefer the organic feel to the English crowd, there is also a lot of humour at an English game, some absolutely die laughing moments.
The regional chants and mickey taking are unique to us, last year a friend came with me to Southampton at home and he is a season ticket holder at Nantes and used to run with their ultras, he commented on how flat our crowd was at times, he acknowledged it was probably nerves due to the possibility of European football if we won, and said the sound does not travel well around our ground, but he loved the songs and chants, the gallows humour and general lack of aggression at the match, which he said is prevalent in the French league, where away fans are treated like scum or not even allowed to attend some games due to the violence.

I like many lived through being chased around back streets of grim northern towns, and dodgy side streets of London, with bricks and coins, racist chanting.

Give me what we have now any day.


The only thing I would change at the Amex is move the away fans, and look at the acoustics, to see if anything can be done to capture or throw the noise somehow.

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ozzygull said:

But when I watch DeZerbi cam or Pitch Side videos there seems to be a constant noise.

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