Late last year I started a thread about trying to get the supporters groups to get some continuity in their chants in hopes of getting other fans involved. This also brought up a march into the stadium right when the game was getting started. I believe the march was tried but the timed chants were not. We now have some time to plan ahead for the home opener. Should we attempt to get a march in with drums at the beginning of the match? Should we attempt to have a particular cheer at the 20, 35, 75 minute marks? I think if the supporters groups worked together, even if we had a mic sending the chant over the PA from the the Barra/Eagles area, this may help get fans involved. Thoughts? Discuss After some comments and ideas are made, I may ask someone to summarize what we intend to do, and I will put it up on my site. www.dcunitedstadium.com for general viewing. #1 Stunna
I don't know what will work but I can say that during the normal course of a game, the quiet side cannot understand a word that any of the Supporter's Groups are saying except for once in a while the DC United cheer. Other than that, RFK keeps the sound in but there is no way to tell what the sound is.
I don't think anyone in the Eagles or the Barra has a problem with this. There's no reason we can't do march-ins with regularity. There are at least two logistical problems, from what I can tell, with coordination within the stadium: 1. Speaking as an Eagle who stands only 5 or 6 seats from the Barra, it's often difficult to hear what the Barra is chanting. I'm sure the Barra would say the same for the Eagles. With all the percussion and assorted other noise going on in both sections, this will probably always be a problem. 2. Language. The Barra has numerous chants in Spanish, some of which are great. But numerous non-Spanish speakers don't understand them.
There are also some chants that are not suitable for the family types. I'd be very nervous that the wrong kind of chant would be broadcast and all of us and United would get a lot of nasty feedback. I'm all for getting more people involved IF they want to. We've all vented our spleen how we don't like RFK and CSC cramming various rules down our throats and maybe folks on the quiet side would react the same way if drumming and cheering was crammed down theirs. People do elect to sit over there for a variety of reasons and if one of them is TO NOT be near the supporters sections (for whatever reason) well I think we should respect that. Maybe a better idea is to try to get the 200 level folks behind the SE/BB sections involved as they seem closer to us and seemingly more open to what we're doing. It would also make the whole side louder (and quiet siders could hear what was being said). K
Trying to get a herd of fans in various stages of intoxication to chant at specific times seems to me about as likely as getting the Metroscum to admit they will never win anything and that they will pay fans to come watch their pathetic displays (the first of which will happen but they'll never admit it and secondly, they should pay their fans to watch that crap!). The biggest issue is that a lot of people don't follow the clock except occassionally. They are watching the play and not paying attention to what minute it actually is. I don't see this changing. It gets mighty confusing down in the Nest/Barra when the drums get going, chants are flying, the game is intense, and DC United is scoring!
I agree with what has been posted and suggest that the clubs and individuals start off trying to coordinate on a smaller scale. It is difficult to try to coordinate the Barra and Eagles and they are right next to each other but last year I think that some progress was made on that front. I think it will continue to get better this year. The March in idea is one of the best and is easy enough to do but the problem is that the Barra is impossible to herd together early and get them to the tunnel on time and the other groups do not want to wait for them. Not dissing the barra just speaking the truth as others will attest to.
It is way past time that our fans start getting into synch. Ahhh, I miss the days when 76,000 fans were in unison: www.nycosmos.com/
As a volunteer cat-herder last season I will attest to the difficulty of getting a coordinated march in to work... over long distances. I think a good strategy may be this: Try as hard as possible to march in from the tailgate(s) together. If that works, great! If not, I propose that the ragtag bunches of smaller groups make their way to the mouth of the first tunnel on the Southeast side of the stadium and then march in with 5 minutes (or some other designated time) to go before kickoff. Depositing various Choir, Barra, SE, and Nortenos along the way. After a few tries, we might nail the timing such that La Norte arrives as the team comes out of the dressing room. As far as coordinating songs goes, the only thing that works is for people to actively listen to what's going on around them. If I hear a song begin, I hold off on the one I was going to start and join in (if I know it) on the one in progress. Too much orchestration is not only implausible, it's boring. You have to adapt to the match and let the creative juices flow (just not down the seat in front of you).
That's a fantastic idea IMO. That is where I sat when I went to my only DCU game, DC vs. Vasco da Gama at RFK. I was 11 or 12 with a couple of my friends and we were trying to walk down there and see if we could get closer and to jump around and stuff, but security told my friends and I to return to our seats.
Best Tailgate in town. Nobody wants to leave. Go figure....... BTW, we figure it's easier to congregate inside the concourse and not the tunnel outside.
I think if we have some kind of signage about the march in or try and get the word out, other people who aren't just in the supporters groups would join in also. The march in should become a DCU tradition, showing our commitment to the team. Not only that, but I think that it would be very intimidating to other teams. We don't want other teams to enjoy playing in RFK. I think this is very feasible. #1 Stunna
Ok, sorry, but I'm not quite positive how the marching process works. How exactly do you do this? Do you lineup and at kickoff march into the stadium real loud playing drums, singing, etc.?
In my ideal world, the Nest would be full at least 30 minutes before the game started. The banners would be up and the songs would already be started. We could do things like chant a player's name until he gave us a wave and try to make a big spectacle when the teams come in, in the manner of La Norte. I think it would make a great pre-game atmosphere for the stadium. But... I recognize this clashes with the tailgate environment that has been created with the various supporters' groups. It also clashes with The March. These are great things which bring the supporters together and build atmosphere as well. That's the bottom line and that's the fundamental purpose of the Nest and every other supporters' section. So...let's try to continue The March this season, try to build it little by little. Maybe we could agree on a few simple goals for this season For example, agreeing to and sticking with a starting time, getting all the groups to take part, getting 50 people or 100 people to take part...things like that. Anyway, that's my 2 cents.
I dont like set songs. maybe its not my style, but if your thinking about when to chear your not really chearing because you want to. The idea of music from the PA is not the best thought. If you want people to hear you sing, sing louder. As much as i think getting the fans involved is a good thing, its not the biggest. You are singing for your team, when they see that, people come back and see you doing it again, maybe later they will come back and join the party. Thats when you get the die hard fans coming out from the ranks of "normal" people..... wow, that was the most obnoxious post i have ever written. #1 Stunna
Re: Re: Re: How about some Supporters Unity? what the _____ i hit edit and it did that... im lost. sorry. dont mind the second version.
I think if the supporters groups worked together, even if we had a mic sending the chant over the PA from the the Barra/Eagles area, this may help get fans involved. Thoughts? PSG I like how you got one Half of the staduim to cheer. You forgot La Norte even though we have a High number of Salies over there we still can out Chant them. That Idea of coming marching in is good. The more people into it. And Chant at 20 25 40 min stink. But we could have someone send a signal to our side and get the half going with a Dc United chant.
It's good to have organized supporter groups, but I think if you sync up too much with the organization, it can seem forced. Chanting loud is good; chanting over the PA system feels like a school announcement. The coordinated march-in has promise, I think.
Every Norteno I've talked to likes the idea of the march in. We'd be up for that, along with the other supporter groups. We should start entering the stadium about a half-hour before game time and assemble and then hit our sections as we go along. By the time the Eagles and Barra Brava (if they choose to join the march rather than drink) hit their section, La Norte should be entering the lower bowl. It may take several games to get right, but I'm sure it can be done. If people want to continue to tailgate before the match, let them. Those that want to march in can and those that don't can come in later. As for the coordinated chants, there are two ideal times for it. Right after the national anthem and at the second half kickoff. Perhaps all three groups can start the "DC United" chant at that time. But none of this addresses the other issue PSG Stunna brought up: How to get more people involved. The only solution for this will probably be extremely unpopular in the supporter sections. The only way to get people to join in is to sing the same song, over and over again, for 5-6 minutes at minimum, no matter what happens on the field. That way, people in between the supporters sections and on the "quiet side" have a chance to internalize the songs. An example: Beginning at kickoff of the USA vs. El Salvador game, La Norte/USA Supporters sang the "oooh U-S-A" song for nearly 5 minutes straight. It got the entire section involved and people outside our section as well. The same thign happened in Miami when we kept up the same chant for several minutes. People had a chance to learn it and join in for at least a couple of rounds. Sachin
Here are some ideas: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27142 I think something simple like "Are you Chicago Fire in disguise?" to the tune of "If your happy and you know it" would work. You could replace Chicago Fire with whoever the worst team in MLS is.
KISS (Keep It Simple Supporters) It's really up to the supporters groups whether they want to sing their own songs or whether they want to lead the stadium into loud chants. If you want the rest of the crowd to join and get some volume then KISS. (Keep It Simple Supporters) Personally, I don't believe that anyone, anywhere in the stadium, ever takes offense if the supporters group gets a stadium-wide chant going. About the only chant that ever really brings in the entire stadium is the basic "DC United" supported by drums. It may take a bit, but even the "quiet side" will join in if you keep it up. But rarely do the three supporters groups really seem make any concerted effort to get that one going--and then keep it going. Often just as others on the "loud side" have really gotten going--and long before it's had a chance to spread solidly to the "quiet side"--the supporters groups go quiet or the drummers switch. The drummers are especially crucial. The drummers can't make people chant along, but they can kill a chant if they start drumming something else. By the way, the other simple way to get the "quiet side" going has been the "DC" on the "loud side" with a pause for the "United" response. It's easy, but again the key is once it's started not to give up easily and switch to something else. (La Norte could help by leading the response whenever BB/SE start this one.)