[Football] Atmosphere in Premier League matches

herecomesaregular said:

Been to the Nou Camp and Levante's stadium when Real Madrid visited - no atmosphere created at all, zilch. Much worse than any English game I've been to.

Comparing apples and pears with Germany, Sweden, Turkey, Greece - our game moved forcibly to outprice the working classes some years back after Hillsborough, aswell as a move to get much greater numbers of kids and women. (successfully).

If you want atmosphere you need the male rough working classes (and I don't mean the England Away contingent).

However, I like English crowds as they are now, still reactive to what's on the pitch and humourous. Hate a drum, hate a "conductor" at the front. But then I have tinnitus ;- )

The only problem with the Amex is the North often singing two different songs at the same time or the same song out of sync.

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Bakero said:

My experience on Spain is similar. Not helped by the typically low away contingent, with the notable exception of derby games. Sevilla Betis gets pretty rowdy. Overall though, Spanish atmosphere is lacking. The Camp Nou in particular was awful.

When I lived in Cagliari I was a regular in the Curva Nord and it was rocking for 90 minutes every match, aided by booze, no seats and non-existent stewarding. Unfortunately, the fans in the Curva Nord have been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently

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herecomesaregular said:

Is there a link to atmosphere and a large far-right element in the crowd?

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Diablo said:

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.

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rippleman said:

The demographic has changed now with so many forced out of going to games because of the cost. The "we will strictly enforce the dress code to protect our revenue streams" sums it up really! That is the demographic that clubs aspire to; they want those with the money not with the footballing heart.

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Swansman said:

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?

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Raphael Meade said:

Since moving to LA and not being able to attend the Albion each week, I got season tickets at LAFC - new team in the MLS. Was very skeptical going in and just fancied watching football each week even if it was shit. The team is very fun to watch (Carlos Vela tearing up the leauge) but the atmosphere is insane. Not quite the artillery barrage of the Hamburg derby but constant singing - and very loud - for the entire 90 minutes, literally not even 5 seconds of silence from the north stand where the 'singing/fan section' is. Really impressive and honestly puts any premier league atmospheres to shame.

Very shocked by it at the start and they will of course never replace the seagulls, but a fun way to spend a Sunday evening. Seems to coordination that keeps it going, with a 3 little podiums along the front for a 'band leader' or whatever you want to call it to start/stop each chant. That and the safe standing seats/railings make a massive difference.

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Raphael Meade said:

Since moving to LA and not being able to attend the Albion each week, I got season tickets at LAFC - new team in the MLS. Was very skeptical going in and just fancied watching football each week even if it was shit. The team is very fun to watch (Carlos Vela tearing up the leauge) but the atmosphere is insane. Not quite the artillery barrage of the Hamburg derby but constant singing - and very loud - for the entire 90 minutes, literally not even 5 seconds of silence from the north stand where the 'singing/fan section' is. Really impressive and honestly puts any premier league atmospheres to shame.

Very shocked by it at the start and they will of course never replace the seagulls, but a fun way to spend a Sunday evening. Seems to coordination that keeps it going, with a 3 little podiums along the front for a 'band leader' or whatever you want to call it to start/stop each chant. That and the safe standing seats/railings make a massive difference.

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BN41Albion said:

To be honest that is a little bit depressing. Even the Americans can create a better atmosphere than us for a sport that lives in the shadow of the NFL etc (yet i accept is growing rapidly)

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AZ Gull said:

I have only ever attended one match at an MLS stadium and that was at Portland Timbers. The atmosphere was similar to the one you describe (complete with "Timber Joey" sawing off a slice of tree trunk that was then carried around the ground when the team scored!). And all this even for a mid-season friendly against a South American side (I've never been to an actual MLS fixture).

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Raphael Meade said:

Since moving to LA and not being able to attend the Albion each week, I got season tickets at LAFC - new team in the MLS. Was very skeptical going in and just fancied watching football each week even if it was shit. The team is very fun to watch (Carlos Vela tearing up the leauge) but the atmosphere is insane. Not quite the artillery barrage of the Hamburg derby but constant singing - and very loud - for the entire 90 minutes, literally not even 5 seconds of silence from the north stand where the 'singing/fan section' is. Really impressive and honestly puts any premier league atmospheres to shame.

Very shocked by it at the start and they will of course never replace the seagulls, but a fun way to spend a Sunday evening. Seems to coordination that keeps it going, with a 3 little podiums along the front for a 'band leader' or whatever you want to call it to start/stop each chant. That and the safe standing seats/railings make a massive difference.

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AZ Gull said:

I have only ever attended one match at an MLS stadium and that was at Portland Timbers. The atmosphere was similar to the one you describe (complete with "Timber Joey" sawing off a slice of tree trunk that was then carried around the ground when the team scored!). And all this even for a mid-season friendly against a South American side (I've never been to an actual MLS fixture).

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BN41Albion said:

To be honest that is a little bit depressing. Even the Americans can create a better atmosphere than us for a sport that lives in the shadow of the NFL etc (yet i accept is growing rapidly)

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Raphael Meade said:

Yeah I think Portland, LAFC and Atlanta are probably the leading teams for atmosphere.. Seattle is good but they play in such a big NFL stadium so gets tricky if its not packed to the rafters.

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Raphael Meade said:

Since moving to LA and not being able to attend the Albion each week, I got season tickets at LAFC - new team in the MLS. Was very skeptical going in and just fancied watching football each week even if it was shit. The team is very fun to watch (Carlos Vela tearing up the leauge) but the atmosphere is insane. Not quite the artillery barrage of the Hamburg derby but constant singing - and very loud - for the entire 90 minutes, literally not even 5 seconds of silence from the north stand where the 'singing/fan section' is. Really impressive and honestly puts any premier league atmospheres to shame.

Very shocked by it at the start and they will of course never replace the seagulls, but a fun way to spend a Sunday evening. Seems to coordination that keeps it going, with a 3 little podiums along the front for a 'band leader' or whatever you want to call it to start/stop each chant. That and the safe standing seats/railings make a massive difference.

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herecomesaregular said:

Sorry, I wouldn't want this. Prefer to join in spontaneous crowd chants rather than 3 people dictating all the chants.

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Swansman said:

A good capo can usually inspire people to go from having spontaneus feelings to expressing them. Its really not a bad idea and more or less every really lively crowd in Europe got a capo or two.

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