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[Football] Atmosphere in Premier League matches



Swansman

Pro-peace
May 13, 2019
22,320
Sweden
Interesting discussion in the Hamburg vs St Pauli thread.

So.. while I do understand not everyone likes pyro stuff, I'm a bit curious a lot of people seem to think that the often almost quiet supporter culture is seen by some as a good or at least acceptable thing.

People make fun of German fan culture where a lot of the teams supporters sing and jump for 90 minutes. "They dont care what happens on the pitch", they say, which is of course utter bullshit. Watching Brighton I hear more booing than singing, is that the common feeling about how supporter culture should be?

I understand that football sort of makes people a bit nationalistic. You dont want to admit your own football culture got flaws. And I imagine the people who can afford to go to games these days come from a class that call the authorities if kids laugh too much in the playground, but still... doesnt it sound the least bit exciting to be part of 30, 40 or 50 000 people passionately singing about your team for 90 minutes?

I remember about ten-fifteen years or so a lot of people reacted to how supporter culture in the UK was changing. This seems to be completely dead now. People have accepted the modern PL (and Championship for that matter), they seem to have accepted that 3000 away fans from Czech Republic, Sweden or wherever for 90 minutes can outsing the home team in European games.

The general mentality seems to be "oh look at our world class league, so good, so perfect, its the Mona Lisa of football. That singing, drumming, pyro burning, the banners in other countries... barbaric bullshit". Well I'd like to tell you this: watching a game at Westfalenstadion, Cruyff Arena or likewise is a pretty ****ing nice experience.

To older fans, I'm curious about how you feel the atmosphere has changed over the years, because while English football fans have never been the most passionate or loud, there surely used to be more life, more lively singing and less dead, wealthy tourists. Do you feel something has gone missing, or do you feel it doesnt matter since the football on the pitch has become better and better?
 




Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
49,992
Goldstone
Watching Brighton I hear more booing than singing, is that the common feeling about how supporter culture should be?
No.
I imagine the people who can afford to go to games these days come from a class that call the authorities if kids laugh too much in the playground
:shrug:
doesnt it sound the least bit exciting to be part of 30, 40 or 50 000 people passionately singing about your team for 90 minutes?
Yes it does. Being forced to sit down, however, puts a bit of a dampener on that. It also doesn't help that our stupid government won't let us take drink to our seats.
The general mentality seems to be "oh look at our world class league, so good, so perfect, its the Mona Lisa of football. That singing, drumming, pyro burning, the banners in other countries... barbaric bullshit".
That's not our mentality.
Well I'd like to tell you this: watching a game at Westfalenstadion, Cruyff Arena or likewise is a pretty ****ing nice experience.
No shit.
To older fans, I'm curious about how you feel the atmosphere has changed over the years
We're not happy about it.
 




father_and_son

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2012
4,646
Under the Police Box
If fans wanted a less sterile environment then they would make it less sterile.

We moved from SWC to NS a couple of seasons ago and have gone from sitting and singing to standing and singing. We moved when _and_son felt he was tall enough and ready to stand at the back, but he has always given it large at the games.


The atmosphere is nothing to standing or sitting and is completely down to how involved you want to be in the chants/songs.

Quiet crowds are totally down to quiet people and not standing/drinking/etc
 




Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
Interesting discussion in the Hamburg vs St Pauli thread.

So.. while I do understand not everyone likes pyro stuff, I'm a bit curious a lot of people seem to think that the often almost quiet supporter culture is seen by some as a good or at least acceptable thing.

People make fun of German fan culture where a lot of the teams supporters sing and jump for 90 minutes. "They dont care what happens on the pitch", they say, which is of course utter bullshit. Watching Brighton I hear more booing than singing, is that the common feeling about how supporter culture should be?

I understand that football sort of makes people a bit nationalistic. You dont want to admit your own football culture got flaws. And I imagine the people who can afford to go to games these days come from a class that call the authorities if kids laugh too much in the playground, but still... doesnt it sound the least bit exciting to be part of 30, 40 or 50 000 people passionately singing about your team for 90 minutes?

I remember about ten-fifteen years or so a lot of people reacted to how supporter culture in the UK was changing. This seems to be completely dead now. People have accepted the modern PL (and Championship for that matter), they seem to have accepted that 3000 away fans from Czech Republic, Sweden or wherever for 90 minutes can outsing the home team in European games.

The general mentality seems to be "oh look at our world class league, so good, so perfect, its the Mona Lisa of football. That singing, drumming, pyro burning, the banners in other countries... barbaric bullshit". Well I'd like to tell you this: watching a game at Westfalenstadion, Cruyff Arena or likewise is a pretty ****ing nice experience.

To older fans, I'm curious about how you feel the atmosphere has changed over the years, because while English football fans have never been the most passionate or loud, there surely used to be more life, more lively singing and less dead, wealthy tourists. Do you feel something has gone missing, or do you feel it doesnt matter since the football on the pitch has become better and better?

No idea where you plucked “more booing than singing” from. I am guessing you just made it up to try and back up your rather skewed idea of English football. Have you been to Selhurst Park or Fratton Park, that is where you’ll find the best supporters in English football. Passionate and noisy, one of them even has a drum and often uses flares. Give the next Brighton game a miss and try one of those grounds, I think you’ll love it :wink:
 
















Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jul 11, 2003
59,210
The Fatherland
If fans wanted a less sterile environment then they would make it less sterile.

We moved from SWC to NS a couple of seasons ago and have gone from sitting and singing to standing and singing. We moved when _and_son felt he was tall enough and ready to stand at the back, but he has always given it large at the games.


The atmosphere is nothing to standing or sitting and is completely down to how involved you want to be in the chants/songs.

Quiet crowds are totally down to quiet people and not standing/drinking/etc

Very much agree with this. If fans want a bigger atmosphere then they’d create one.

The OP asked about older fans. I started going to The Goldstone in ‘77 and whilst the North was rowdy and they sang a lot, the often repeated idea it was a seething cauldron of noise is a fib. Most of my time was spent on the halfway line either on the East Terrace or in the west stand and these were very very sedate places. I also spent quite a few years in the north and even that wasn’t as mad as I was led to believe. I’m not convinced the current atmosphere is that much different to the Goldstone to be honest.
 




portlock seagull

Why? Why us?
Jul 28, 2003
16,981
Introverts always outnumber extroverts in British society. We don’t do emotion very well. And we’re generally pretty obedient. Our backbone was broken as a nation after the war. We lost the peace and submitted to a PC, multi culture, Orwellian society driven by greed not communal well being which is reflected in our football stadiums today.
 




Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Nov 15, 2008
31,769
Brighton
Interesting discussion in the Hamburg vs St Pauli thread.

So.. while I do understand not everyone likes pyro stuff, I'm a bit curious a lot of people seem to think that the often almost quiet supporter culture is seen by some as a good or at least acceptable thing.

People make fun of German fan culture where a lot of the teams supporters sing and jump for 90 minutes. "They dont care what happens on the pitch", they say, which is of course utter bullshit. Watching Brighton I hear more booing than singing, is that the common feeling about how supporter culture should be?

Granted, I've not read the hamburg st pauli thread, but you seem to be suggesting this is a widespread sentiment. I have never heard anyone say it.

I understand that football sort of makes people a bit nationalistic. You dont want to admit your own football culture got flaws. And I imagine the people who can afford to go to games these days come from a class that call the authorities if kids laugh too much in the playground, but still... doesnt it sound the least bit exciting to be part of 30, 40 or 50 000 people passionately singing about your team for 90 minutes?

People are constantly moaning about the lack of atmosphere at games, the stifling of atmosphere by being forced to sit down, the prawn sandwich brigade, etc, which seems to fly in the face of people not wanting to admit our football culture has flaws.

The general mentality seems to be "oh look at our world class league, so good, so perfect, its the Mona Lisa of football. That singing, drumming, pyro burning, the banners in other countries... barbaric bullshit". Well I'd like to tell you this: watching a game at Westfalenstadion, Cruyff Arena or likewise is a pretty ****ing nice experience.

The 'greatest league in the world' has never, to my knowledge, been reduced to fan participation. It's built around marketing, there is (or used to be) the argument that we had 4 or 5 teams that could challenge each year, v 2 in Spain, 1 in Scotland (after Rangers reset), 1 in France (when PSG took all the money) and so on. I don't know anyone who has argued it's the greatest league in the world on the basis of fan behaviour.
 


Diablo

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Sep 22, 2014
4,173
lewes
All seating stadiums killed the atmosphere
Full stop

Sent from my EML-L09 using Tapatalk

They have certainly done nothing for it.......40 years ago was happy to stand. However see you like myself are in your sixties. Would you/Could you stand now for couple of hours. I know I`d struggle.
 


father_and_son

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2012
4,646
Under the Police Box
Very much agree with this. If fans want a bigger atmosphere then they’d create one.

The OP asked about older fans. I started going to The Goldstone in ‘77 and whilst the North was rowdy and they sang a lot, the often repeated idea it was a seething cauldron of noise is a fib. Most of my time was spent on the halfway line either on the East Terrace or in the west stand and these were very very sedate places. I also spent quite a few years in the north and even that wasn’t as mad as I was led to believe. I’m not convinced the current atmosphere is that much different to the Goldstone to be honest.

There are pockets of noise... I can honestly say the area under the Police Box don't shut up at all for all 90 minutes, but it's a relatively small number of people involved, sometimes it spreads and sometimes it doesn't, very much depending on what's happening on the pitch. With the exception of SWC, everywhere else I have sat in the stadium has been quite sedate and I don't believe that is any different to any other time or any other ground I've been in the last 49 years. Small pockets of continuous noise, sometimes catching and spreading but mostly not.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jul 11, 2003
59,210
The Fatherland
There are pockets of noise... I can honestly say the area under the Police Box don't shut up at all for all 90 minutes, but it's a relatively small number of people involved, sometimes it spreads and sometimes it doesn't, very much depending on what's happening on the pitch. With the exception of SWC, everywhere else I have sat in the stadium has been quite sedate and I don't believe that is any different to any other time or any other ground I've been in the last 49 years. Small pockets of continuous noise, sometimes catching and spreading but mostly not.

Very much this.
 




pastafarian

Well-known member
Sep 4, 2011
11,902
Sussex
Okay I will agree that I made a slight exaggeration and actually the Brighton fans seems to be among the more lively fans in the league atm, but still.. I WANT MORE.

Not too loud please, some of us are trying to sleep off the beer.
 





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