Too Quiet

[Victory]

Just one quick idea... I sit in section 22 and for the most part the fans were enthusiastic but pathetically quiet except for a few. My suggestion is to do the Ole chant more often and longer because it seems like that's a chant most casual fans enjoy and will participate in.

[fuegote]

Regarding the “one voice” Jules, I believe that most of the posts on this thread are concerning the “one voice” of the stadium and not just the Loyalist section.

My $.02: Don’t worry about it. Seriously, do what you can and then enjoy!

Let’s get this out of the way first. We couldn’t hear you and you couldn’t hear us. That would have been beyond the power of physics since both groups are cheering towards the West Stands. I’m sure if we were both behind the keepers we could hear each other.

I didn’t stand with the Loyalists, but I’m sure you were pretty loud. I’m also sure you missed the voices of the RCB. I’m positive you missed the cowbells. All of this added much volume to the corner.

I’m also sure you didn’t miss some of our chants and some of our antics.

We did miss the added voices. We did miss the drums. We didn’t miss those drums drowning out any cheer we tried to get going last year because we weren’t the “chant leader.”

I’m sure you had people coming to stand with you because they thought, “hey what a great place to stand.” That is what drew us over last year. We had the same thing happen when our section size nearly doubled by half time.

Make sure we all learn from last years mistakes and get those new guys motivated to always sit there.

I know there’s proof you guys made a difference. I wasn’t there so I can’t provide it.

How I know we were loud enough to make a difference:

1. Meola showed us his number (and IQ) after they scored the goal indicating they were winning. That means we were in his head the entire match (on both ends).
2. “Gay”vera in stoppage time grabbed his crotch at us. Again, we were clearly in his head.
3. #1 Porn Stache, Kenny Cutler gave us the ‘stache solute as he left the pitch after the match.

We maybe didn’t sound as loud as last year as a whole but give it time. I remember hearing the Loyalists last year and it wasn’t loud, it was faint, but it looked like fun so I was there every game afterward.

Just consider the supporter’s groups as the virus of the stadium. We’ve now infected another area, we’ll both probably grow in size until someone else wants to start another group in another corner, then the crazies will spread there as well.

And just have fun!.
PS: it’s okay to use paragraphs while posting.

[fuegote]

$.02 more:

What worked extremely well for us last night is having 3 core cheers that you use the whole match. We mixed a couple of “salty” personal chants against certain players but as soon as that was done, we went right back into one of the 3 core chants.

People will catch onto those three and follow suit.

The key: Keep doing those three and don’t stop. We did R…S….L… for about 15 minutes (with a couple of personal chants in between) but always going back to the R..S…L… chant. After 15, we switched it. Be patient with your chanting.

[clarette]

Originally Posted by Aerick

Did RCB have a hand in getting them going? If so, kudo's to those guys!

Not unless RCB decided to stand at the very top of the section and had no idea that Jamie Watson wasn't even on the bench last night.

Those of us who don't belong to supporters groups can yell too 😉

[Aero]

Originally Posted by rslfutbolfan

And darned it...both of the fan club groups need to get along and work together. Neither group is better than the other (I am a member of both groups...and the GDI), they are just different. The only competition that should be happening around the game is the competition between our team and our opponents. Having the two groups fighting all the time is a turn off and scares people away. As far as I can tell, we have similiar goals and want a similiar atmosphere at the games so we need to work together to get it to become a reality. I would say our first priorty should be to sit down and work TOGETHER. RCB, the Loyalists, Board members, not board members, the FO, and just regular fans that arent members of either group. Everyone needs to be included and everyone needs to feel a part of what is going on.

As far as I can tell, last year is in the past. So far, both groups have been getting along great this year. I don't think that people should let what happened last year color their perceptions of this year. We had some growing pains, but that is over now.

I'm wondering where you get this idea actually. Unless I missed something, I can't remember the last time the groups were "fighting" because it was so long ago. I'm curious where the idea that we are "fighting all the time" comes from.

Go Loyalists and RCB, but mostly go RSL!

[fuegote]

I'm always fighting with my weight. Maybe that's it.

[El Chalan]

I definitely missed the RCB's voices. I have a friend who sits in the press box and he said that he could hear us last year but now he couldn't hear either group. I kinda bummed me out. I have been thinking about how to get a louder sound for the past while since the game. I don't have any solution but some ideas. I liked what people were saying about recruiting people to come sing with us. Maybe we could set up a booth by the entrances and not try to sign them up, but tell them about our section and ask them to come sing with us. Hopefully they will sign up later after having a great time. I was also thinking that maybe we could have someone with a walkie talkie in the loyalists and one with the walkie in the RCB and we could coordinate songs a bit. I thought of the old jumbotron idea again where maybe a couple times a game like in minutes 25, 45, 75, and 90 we try to get everyone to sing ole, ole, ole...or maybe we have a song that everyone sings for each corner and the words are on the jumbotron. People seem to get more excited about corners or maybe on the free kicks in the offensive third. The other idea I had was that maybe we could ask all the loyalists that don't sit with us or maybe I should say stand with us to make the sacrifice to give up the nice seats for a while to help the section grow. We sang hard and jumped etc but we really need more people.

[the cup]

Originally Posted by El Chalan

I was also thinking that maybe we could have someone with a walkie talkie in the loyalists and one with the walkie in the RCB and we could coordinate songs a bit. I thought of the old jumbotron idea again where maybe a couple times a game like in minutes 25, 45, 75, and 90 we try to get everyone to sing ole, ole, ole....

I don't think the walkie talkie thing would work. Even if we were singing the same song at the same time we wouldn't be able to hear it. There is just too much space between us and I still think it is just too few voices in a crowd of 16k or more.

The jumbotron idea though has merit. Although I like that we usually only sing the Ole Ole Ole Ole song after we score. Its makes the song more sacred I think, only brought out in times of utmost pleasure.

However some other basic R - S - L (clap, clap, clap) could work for that.

[the cup]

I think the answer in the long run is that we are going to have to eventually come together under one "umbrella" organization and stand in the same section. Similar to what Chicago has with Section 8. Otherwise we are always going to be just a couple of groups of supporters but with voices that get lost in a stadium with thousands of other fans.

Not right at the moment but quite possibly when the new stadium opens hopefully in 2008.

Look at the rest of the league. Who has the best supporter sections? DC and Chicago. But only becuase they work together. DC with Barra Brava and Screaming Eagles but they stand side by side. Chicago with Ultra Red Side, Barn Burners, Mike Ditka Street Crew (and others) but together as Section 8.

Now if we give ourselves a couple of years this could work by giving us time to grow our numbers and get more organized. Not to mention giving us time to let by-gones be by-gones.

I'm also thinking that when the new stadium opens it might also have to be a necessity. I'm wondering if the FO is going to want renegade bands of hooligans spread throughout the stadium. They may want us all in the same area. Right now in RES it's not a problem because with a crowd of 20k there is still room for fans that don't want to be behind a group of supporters standing the whole game to move to another area to have a better view. But in the new stadium that isn't going to work. With close to 20k at every game it will more than likely become a problem due to much fewer empty seats.

Looking at the early designs for the stadium the South End looks like a likely home for a raucous supporters section. Notice the smaller section on the south side seperated from the rest of the stadium.




Or in this image in the lower right hand corner in front of where the stage would be.




By that time a third supporter group could grow out of the current ones. If need be that group could stand in the middle keeping the Loyalists and RCB seperated just like Mom use to do. (Oh by the way, does anyone know where the Jesters were last night? Were they still in attendance?)

Give us a couple of more seasons under our belts but keep in the back of your minds plans to come together. Otherwise we will be nothing more than Columbus' V-Army, New England's Midnight Riders, or Dallas' Inferno. Just a couple of groups that mean well but really pale in comparison to the big boys.

[keyph]

How about making signs to hold of for certain chants?

Like R-S-L: we could have the east side say R, the north side say S, and the east side say L. Have a couple of people with signs on the east side for R, a couple of people go to the north side with signs, and then hold up signs for the east side.

Just a thought....

Megaphones would also help.