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June 06, 2007
London paper praises DIY attitude of MLS fans
London's Guardian newspaper merits mention for the second day running with Steven Wells' column titled "US soccer punks 1, McFans 0," in which Wells asserts that "Independent, witty, irreverent fan culture is triumphing over Major League Soccer's preprogrammed Disneyfied McFan experience."
We Earthquakes fans tend to focus on what was done incorrectly by the team's former management, but this brings to mind one of the big things that they did right. Unlike places like Kansas City or Denver, we never suffered through music being played during the match in efforts to pump up the crowd, even in the game's natural pauses at goal and corner kicks. Instead, fans were given an opportunity to express themselves in ways of their own choosing, which gave the game experience a loose, organic feel. Any music that was heard was thanks to the songs, chants, and drumming of the Casbah, and over time a surprisingly large percentage of the people in the stands throughout the stadium came to know those songs and join in.
Maybe it's because we had UK traditionalists like Peter Bridgwater and Johnny Moore in the GM's chair, but thinking back, we have to salute whomever it was who first decided to see what happened if they went without hype, the "noise for the sake of noise" attitude we've seen in other sports and other MLS cities.
If you want a truly unique atmosphere, sometimes the thing to do is to let the fans create it themselves. It seems to be a lesson that more and more MLS teams are learning.
Posted by Jay at June 6, 2007 04:56 PM
Comments
I second the kudos to Peter Bridgwater or Johnny Moore or whoever it was that limited the in-game music (though I've heard somewhere that it was actually Frank Yallop that asked for less music after having trouble relaying instructions to his players while the music was playing). But be forewarned that fans shouldn't be asked to provide ALL the atmosphere, as was the case a few years ago with the embarrassingly ill-fated (but thankfully short-lived) experiment of not bringing in a National Anthem singer, instead erroneously expecting that the crowd would sing it by itself for every game.
Posted by: Goodsport at June 7, 2007 08:33 AM
This cannot be stressed enough.
In my own case, the organic, fan-created aspect of the experience at Earthquakes games was an integral part of my becoming a soccer enthusiast. I loved the joyfully irreverent songs and chants rising from the Casbah, providing a sambah-party backbeat to the artistry on the field.
And the best part of a Quakes goal was seeing the giant flag unfurl over hundreds of fans in the north end-zone, flapping in the breeze as the fans stompped and cheered below it and all around it. No cannon blasts or fireworks were necessary to mark the event. To be below the flag, to assist in the unfurling, was also a great honor, providing a sense almost that you had participated in the goal because indeed you had, since the unfurling was as much a part of the event as the foot or head upon the ball.
Posted by: Don Gagliardi at June 7, 2007 09:10 AM
Jay,
Music from the Casbah? Thanks, but I think that's a stretch...:)
Posted by: Jorge G. at June 8, 2007 08:14 AM
Jorge, it may be a bit of an overstatement, but I think the next time I hear the Casbah, it will be some of the sweetest music I have ever heard!
Posted by: Jay Hipps, SSV at June 11, 2007 04:57 PM