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Post by charliedontsurf on Jan 3, 2011 19:50:06 GMT
If its all about the view for some people wouldnt you be better off in the south stand upper anyway? Been in their a couple of times and the views a lot better than the om. No thanks
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Post by Ricky Otto on Jan 3, 2011 20:03:11 GMT
(1) gets my vote, the view from up there is fine. I don't agree with you scoobs, grouping singers together will certainly have an effect, it's common sense, and noone will be displaced if ppl go top right. England games at Wembley and the Arsenal at the Emirates are perfect examples of crap atmosphere, because the diehard are intersperesed with the casual tourist all around the ground, you are left with a ghostly drift of noise that never gets going. Of course if you can get a good group in the same place it will help. My point was that trying to get ST holders to move so the group could keep together is a waste of time so I was suggesting alternatives. If a group can get together in an empty part of the stand then we can see if it will work and that would be great. However I still think that individuals/small groups can work if the songs are improved and we all try to keep the noise up. Whilst the principal should be sound sadly you're describing the status quo which after many years has proven itself to be hopelessly inadequate on far too many occassions.
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Post by OX4 4XP on Jan 3, 2011 20:16:40 GMT
WWPD?
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Post by scoob on Jan 4, 2011 1:22:40 GMT
Of course if you can get a good group in the same place it will help. My point was that trying to get ST holders to move so the group could keep together is a waste of time so I was suggesting alternatives. If a group can get together in an empty part of the stand then we can see if it will work and that would be great. However I still think that individuals/small groups can work if the songs are improved and we all try to keep the noise up. Whilst the principal should be sound sadly you're describing the status quo which after many years has proven itself to be hopelessly inadequate on far too many occassions. You are right but it is the status quo that has been enforced by the majority most of whom have supported the club through thick and thin and, as a result, have reserved ST seats in the centre of the OMS. I do not sit there but I defend the right of those people who do to retain their seats if they wish. There has been little effort to improve the quality & quantity of the songs over recent season. More people will join in if there is less bad language, I am sure someone will say "bad language at football is the norm blah blah blah" but that attitude is also helping to maintain the status quo. The anti-Swindon songs are very boring and very few join in after one round of "We hate Swindon...............". Grouping together has also been tried but most people do not want to move away from their traditional seats in the OMS including the singers. There have been few attempts to encourage everyone else to sing. Maybe some "sing your hearts out for the lads" could be used by the small groups who try to get the singing going. If people really care about the atmosphere then maybe some of them need to give up their position in the centre and move to the edges to get the singing going as has already been suggested.
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Post by junior1 on Jan 4, 2011 1:25:19 GMT
Whilst the principal should be sound sadly you're describing the status quo which after many years has proven itself to be hopelessly inadequate on far too many occassions. You are right but it is the status quo that has been enforced by the majority most of whom have supported the club through thick and thin and, as a result, have reserved ST seats in the centre of the OMS. I do not sit there but I defend the right of those people who do to retain their seats if they wish. There has been little effort to improve the quality & quantity of the songs over recent season. More people will join in if there is less bad language, I am sure someone will say "bad language at football is the norm blah blah blah" but that attitude is also helping to maintain the status quo. The anti-Swindon songs are very boring and very few join in after one round of "We hate Swindon...............". Grouping together has also been tried but most people do not want to move away from their traditional seats in the OMS including the singers. There have been few attempts to encourage everyone else to sing. Maybe some "sing your hearts out for the lads" could be used by the small groups who try to get the singing going. If people really care about the atmosphere then maybe some of them need to give up their position in the centre and move to the edges to get the singing going as has already been suggested. Fair points made scoob...
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Post by Ricky Otto on Jan 4, 2011 11:14:32 GMT
Whilst the principal should be sound sadly you're describing the status quo which after many years has proven itself to be hopelessly inadequate on far too many occassions. You are right but it is the status quo that has been enforced by the majority most of whom have supported the club through thick and thin and, as a result, have reserved ST seats in the centre of the OMS. I do not sit there but I defend the right of those people who do to retain their seats if they wish. There has been little effort to improve the quality & quantity of the songs over recent season. More people will join in if there is less bad language, I am sure someone will say "bad language at football is the norm blah blah blah" but that attitude is also helping to maintain the status quo. The anti-Swindon songs are very boring and very few join in after one round of "We hate Swindon...............". Grouping together has also been tried but most people do not want to move away from their traditional seats in the OMS including the singers. There have been few attempts to encourage everyone else to sing. Maybe some "sing your hearts out for the lads" could be used by the small groups who try to get the singing going. If people really care about the atmosphere then maybe some of them need to give up their position in the centre and move to the edges to get the singing going as has already been suggested. I don't think I've suggested moving people out of their seats anywhere so agree with you that they shouldn't have to move. I wish they would though! As such sadly I think the only option is for the singers to move to the sides (very untraditional and will mean the whole left side will be much further away from the ingers and even less likely to sing so not an ideal solution. It does annoy me that people without any inclination to sing moved into these central areas in the first place. You don't sit in the east stand for the view...it's pretty poor. You sit there for the atmosphere. There are cheap seats with a better view in the North Stand. They moved into an area well known to be the core of the singers from the London Road days. There are huge numbers who routinely make no effort to sing regardless of situation. They are there now and not much we can do about it. Of course they have every right to be there, but if anything I just find it a bit odd /selfish. They are primarily responsible for the poor atmosphere. There are people who sit in the centre blocks about four rows from the back who regularly seem affronted by the noise coming from behind them. I disagree with you that no effort has been made to change things. The Ultimate Yellows had a go. We got huge amounts of stick for wanting to place ourselves at the front of the east stand centrally where there were lots of spare seats at the time. It was deemed selfish to impact the views of others with flags and standing. We were told by many to move to the back central. See above for problems there! The Oxford Ultras have made a huge effort but mostly seem to get stick rather than support despite giving up huge amounts of time and money to help create a better atmosphere. They sing persistently and with a decent mix of new and traditional songs. Does anyone join in? Do they heck. I used to stand at the back week after week and wouldn't stop singing for 90 minutes. It would sometimes take me ten minutes of singing before more than 4 or 5 people would join in with even basic songs such as Chrissy Wilders yellow army. Try a new song? Nobody's interested if there are more than 3 lyrics to remember. Myself and a few others have tried consistently to get decent new songs going...despite trying dozens of genuniely decent songs only a handful have made it.... Alfie ole ole ole Posh Spice (I know you don;t like that one but at ;least it gets some reaction and is different) Do do do do do do do OUFC There are plenty more but people just aren't interested for some reasons. Our home fans are genuinely very poor for the size of support. We always say we have better fans than those around us. Well firstly we've been compariong ourselves to conference and leage two clubs for about ten years, OUr natural size is about league one and we're not a patch on most of those supports for singing. It's all very disappointing.
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Post by hairy on Jan 4, 2011 11:52:17 GMT
A lot of the above can be put down to the fact that although the east stand was supposed to take over from the london road the make up of the support in there is no different to the other two stands. A terrace tends to attract groups of males from 13 to 40 somethings who do all of the singing at football. The east stand is a mixture of familys, couples, old people and very young kids, there are groups of lads in there but they are mixed in with all the other groups.
I sometimes sing at games but not much now to be honest, it is embarassing being one of three or four in quite a large area to be the only one making any noise. You feel very self concious when there are so few of you doing it. At the home play off game I was singing and there was a slightly larger group making some noise around me and actually heard some complaints about the noise (this is to the back and to the right of goal in the ES), just confirmed to me that in no way will the east stand ever have much atmosphere.
Would move in to a singing area in the east stand if there was one but dont know how much hope i hold out for that, the only solution might be for everyone wanting to improve the atmosphere to move in to the north stand and group together there.
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OUFC Gav
Junior Member
www.mincheryfarmweb.co.uk
Posts: 94
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Post by OUFC Gav on Jan 4, 2011 12:16:39 GMT
Went for other as i think the only way to improve the om is to have open seating ie sit where you want. This would allow all the people who want to make some noise to congregate together and if thats in the middle at the back then great. A singing area will not work as some of our fans will still want to sit in the middle of it even if their only vocal contribution is to moan and boo, As they "have always sat there and i aint bloody moving". Some of our most miserable fans deludedly believe they are supporting the team/contributing to the atmosphere with their constant moaning so would buy season tickets for a singing area destroying any attempts to create an atmosphere. A sit where you want policy would allow people who wish to help create an atmosphere move towards the loudest area and would eventually become a singing block anyway. How would the club judge who should be able to buy ST/match day tickets for the singing area? Hold auditions at the ticket office? As entertaining a football fan style x factor would be it is not exactly practical is it? Open seating is the only practical way of improving the atmosphere short of giving out prozac at the turnstiles. The only thing with not having reserved seating is that by the rules, you are not allowed to sell 100% of the seats, thus reducing capacity.
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Post by hairy on Jan 4, 2011 12:24:36 GMT
Went for other as i think the only way to improve the om is to have open seating ie sit where you want. This would allow all the people who want to make some noise to congregate together and if thats in the middle at the back then great. A singing area will not work as some of our fans will still want to sit in the middle of it even if their only vocal contribution is to moan and boo, As they "have always sat there and i aint bloody moving". Some of our most miserable fans deludedly believe they are supporting the team/contributing to the atmosphere with their constant moaning so would buy season tickets for a singing area destroying any attempts to create an atmosphere. A sit where you want policy would allow people who wish to help create an atmosphere move towards the loudest area and would eventually become a singing block anyway. How would the club judge who should be able to buy ST/match day tickets for the singing area? Hold auditions at the ticket office? As entertaining a football fan style x factor would be it is not exactly practical is it? Open seating is the only practical way of improving the atmosphere short of giving out prozac at the turnstiles. The only thing with not having reserved seating is that by the rules, you are not allowed to sell 100% of the seats, thus reducing capacity. Not a massive problem that, we dont sell out any way.
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Post by sarge1 on Jan 4, 2011 14:30:21 GMT
hmmmmmm- heres a few thoughts on the subject
theres a campaign for safe standing at the kas stad just getting off the ground, ... an ideal area for singing, if of course the campaign is (which it should be) successful
a number of avid London roaders from the manor days are now in areas of the kas stad other than the East Stand-including SSU and SSL ( family area), if each pocket joined in ( as DID happen often at The Manor btw) with some songs & chants, voila instant atmosphere increase, as this should in theory, give shyer potential singers the oppertunity to join in with others in close proximity to them.
Variety of songs/chants has got staler than last weeks left over turkey, again, back to the manor days, new songs were often introduced and instigated by handing out 'lyric' sheets- although at the Manor the sheets were handed out as the faithful arrived through the london road turnstiles, at the kas stad a wider distribution will be needed ( Priory pre match, quadrangle pre match, outside/inside all 'home' turnstiles.
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Post by agioliver on Jan 4, 2011 23:24:02 GMT
You are right but it is the status quo that has been enforced by the majority most of whom have supported the club through thick and thin and, as a result, have reserved ST seats in the centre of the OMS. I do not sit there but I defend the right of those people who do to retain their seats if they wish. There has been little effort to improve the quality & quantity of the songs over recent season. More people will join in if there is less bad language, I am sure someone will say "bad language at football is the norm blah blah blah" but that attitude is also helping to maintain the status quo. The anti-Swindon songs are very boring and very few join in after one round of "We hate Swindon...............". Grouping together has also been tried but most people do not want to move away from their traditional seats in the OMS including the singers. There have been few attempts to encourage everyone else to sing. Maybe some "sing your hearts out for the lads" could be used by the small groups who try to get the singing going. If people really care about the atmosphere then maybe some of them need to give up their position in the centre and move to the edges to get the singing going as has already been suggested. I don't think I've suggested moving people out of their seats anywhere so agree with you that they shouldn't have to move. I wish they would though! As such sadly I think the only option is for the singers to move to the sides (very untraditional and will mean the whole left side will be much further away from the ingers and even less likely to sing so not an ideal solution. It's not particularly traditional but it is happening at some grounds in recent years, e.g the Holmesdale Fanatics at Palace who stand in the far right bottom corner behind their goal. The left side would be further from the singing, but they would respond to the improved atmosphere coming from the right. Another major positive of some singers grouping together at top right would be that everyone who is interested in joining in with/making songs would be together. They would then develop naturally. If I hear a new song being given a go at the back, I would like to join in, but I'm normally towards the front, and I'm not gonna join in on my own when noone around me will respond...and I'm sure there are many who feel the same way
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Post by agioliver on Jan 4, 2011 23:32:15 GMT
By the way the fact that the singing section thread is now in 'Ground', and has popped up in here is pretty unhelpful since a lot of people don't look in this section.
Someone move it back!?
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wispa
Full Member
Posts: 105
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Post by wispa on Jan 4, 2011 23:55:42 GMT
I don't think any of us (The ultras) are too fussed about the view. Originally, we started up there because we thought the back of the stand is where most singers are, which is true. Unfortunatley, the singers have dispersed since then, north standers being an example, and the core of people standing has dwindled, from once being a fair few rows at the back, too around 3 rows.
But yeah, none of us would mind if a section was created far right even if the view is poorer.
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Post by amarillo on Jan 5, 2011 11:59:42 GMT
I brought along a few extras for the Macclesfield game and all commented on how quiet the crowd was and asked things like "why is hardly anyone singing?" etc
Obviously in that game part of the reason was that half the crowd are part-timers, but even at an average home game, our support is very quiet and a large part of that in my opinion is because when people come up with an idea to create more atmosphere they are criticised. We love to criticise "tinpot" clubs like Stevenage and Aldershot but we could learn a lot from their home support.
I agree, the lack of songs is also a problem, Again, trying to teach newcomers the songs is a bit embarassing because we don't have anything really unique to the club.
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Post by Ricky Otto on Jan 5, 2011 15:43:06 GMT
We could maybe learn from Aldershot.
Stevenage? Not so much!
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Post by amarillo on Jan 5, 2011 16:08:22 GMT
I thought they created a fantastic atmosphere in their main stand last season.
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Post by hairy on Jan 5, 2011 16:47:33 GMT
But that was a huge game for them last season, is a bit like taking the rushden home game as representative of our atmospheres. They never made a lot of noise on any previous visits. We face different problems in creating an atmosphere at the kassam than those two anyway, so not sure they are relevant examples.
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Post by amarillo on Jan 6, 2011 12:23:25 GMT
fair point, the openness of the Kassam stadium is a problem unique to us and probably a major factor.
I know a lot of people are against it (and that conservative attitude is part of our problem) but I honestly think drums would be the best way to generate atmosphere for us.
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Post by Gavin Archery on Jan 6, 2011 13:09:53 GMT
Don't anyone suggest vuvuzelas. :-(
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Post by agioliver on Jan 6, 2011 15:55:53 GMT
I'll learn to play the trumpet then
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