Supporters Synergy

Re: RSL SG's La Barra Real wants a few words

I agree!! The SEA fans are fantastic! How do we become that way? What will it take for the SG's to get together. I know its not all, just a few or maybe one?? Im not in any SG, but I would be if they would come together and get things in order.... The SEA fans got quite a bit of camera time - something I dont see us getting unless LBR has their big RSL flag up..

The reason for going to the games is always for the team first. The atmosphere is second. We have awesome fans, we just need to get them all together to truly become the 12th man.

 

Re: RSL SG's La Barra Real wants a few words

Great idea! I can't believe nobody's thought of that before...

Sorry about the cynicism.

This has become one of my pet peeves since the birth of RSL in 2005: the constant cycle of creation and destruction of organized support of this team. The reason it works in Seattle and not here is they don't have the religious issues we do. And that's the basic problem with our supporter's groups: each one has their beliefs about how to support the team, and nobody is willling to compromise their beliefs at all for the sake of unified support.

Seems like RSL is the only team in the league where the critical mass of a supporter's group is about 15 people. Any more than that and you're going to get a divide along moral lines. This is also the only team in the league where you can get two buddies who sit by you and be called a supporter's group.

Long ago I gave up on the idea that our supporter's groups would care more about cheering for the team than fighting against other groups. Long ago I gave up on the idea that we could be anything more than hundreds of tiny groups who do their own thing with a blind eye toward the rest, even just once during each game.

 

Re: RSL SG's La Barra Real wants a few words

Boy, there's nothing I love more than people who whine on BigSoccer about how terrible and in-fighting all of our supporters' groups are when they "gave up on them long ago," aren't part of them, and aren't willing to try and help improve anything themselves.

The south end has seen growth and improvement this year. The way we've sounded the last few games is significantly better than the way we sounded at the beginning of the season. We've still got some problems but we're working them out. But hey, I suppose we should all just give up like IBIK, bitch about it on the internet, and then bring back Samba Gringa.

 

Re: RSL SG's La Barra Real wants a few words

So are you or are you not denying the infighting?

Your point is?

You don't know me. I've been a dues-paying member of both the Loyalists and RCB up until this year, even though the fact that I work during games means I can't stand with them.

Again, my job keeps me from standing with supporters, but I'd like to think that what I do makes a big difference to RSL...they seem to think so.

Do you have any ideas about improving things, or do you just prefer to attack people who point out the problems? Speaking of actions that won't improve anything....

 

Re: RSL SG's La Barra Real wants a few words

Sure there's disagreements between the supporters' groups. But what's been this biggest disagreement since last year? It's not personal politics. It's not whether or not we should say bad words. It's not where we should hang banners. It's not any other of the petty infighting people here constantly accuse the supporters' groups of. Our biggest problem is that we have a very loud and passionate group, La Barra Real, who seem unwilling or unable to work with the rest of the supporters' groups. You may call that infighting, but consider: if none of us gave a shit about working together, if we were all in it for our egos and didn't want to unify, why the hell would we care that Barra wasn't working with us? Now, maybe you're in a completely different part of the stadium during games and that's why you're unfamiliar with everything that's happened this year, but here's a partial list off the top of my head:

--SG's (with the exception of Barra until last meeting, see gaffer's post on that) have been attending monthly meetings with the FO to give input and discuss issues.
--The RCB/Salt City United have created (thanks Trev!) a chant booklet and chant sheets that have been distributed to non-SG members in the South End to try and get people to join in.
--With the permission of the FO, at least two chant leaders have been on the field at all times most of the year, getting things started all across the South End and unifying chants at least among the lower few groups.
--Credit where it's due: Barra has organized things like bus trips with a pretty high degree of success, helping people travel to away matches.

This is not to mention improvement in numbers, banners, chants, fundraisers/events like Section 26's home brew contest, printing of shirts, our first (albeit small) attempt at tifo, etc., etc.

If you don't want to be a part of the supporters' groups, that's fine. I could give a shit. But if you don't stand with us, if you don't know what we're working on, if you don't know what we've accomplished and are trying to accomplish, then you should probably refrain from talking out of your ass about how little we're doing.

You're like the soccer version of the guy who doesn't vote and rarely watches the news but complains loudly about his representatives for what he thinks they're doing. You want change? Work for it. Don't care? Don't complain.

Normally I try to be diplomatic on here and not get into flame wars. But I'm ********ing tired of people who have no idea what they're talking about (and no, outdated and preconceived notions of how we're doing things don't count as "knowing what you're talking about") criticizing the people who are actually trying to get shit done and making at least some progress. If you have constructive criticism--and by constructive criticism I mean "here's something that could be improved and suggestions on how to do it," not "Gosh guys, why aren't we Seattle already?!"--that's great. But this constant bitchfest about how we're supposedly not trying--with the bitching done by people who don't actually spend any time with the supporters--is getting ********ing old.

</rant>

 

Re: RSL SG's La Barra Real wants a few words

This is civil. I didn't talk about ********ing his grandma.

 

Re: RSL SG's La Barra Real wants a few words

^proof^
a suggestion to be more appealing to people: cut down the swearing. it doesnt bother me, but its a hard sell to my wife when we walk down there and every other word is "********".

We live in a unique area, dont ignore that. Families are huge here. i'm not saying make it mickey mouse, but it is possible to support your team without the vulgar words

 

Re: RSL SG's La Barra Real wants a few words

Despite some complaints about the number of SG's that RSL has, I feel like this is actually one of the biggest and most valid reasons that we have a few different groups--so people have options with regard to taste. The RCB is pretty vulgar, yeah. We have a few people who bring their kids and don't seem to have any problem, but I absolutely understand that not everyone is comfortable participating in the kind of chants that we sometimes do. That's where groups like Section 26 and the Loyalists come in, I think. Generally as a chant leader I won't go too far down toward the Loyalists if I start a chant that's heavy on the profanity (if it's got a "damn" or a "hell" I don't worry about it too much, but "shit" and "********" I usually try to keep in sections 8-10). That said, I don't want to lose the more "offensive" element because there's a lot of recruiting potential there as well (think the MUSS). I think as long as groups like the RCB still participate in some inoffensive chants--I'd estimate 50-75% of our time spent chanting is spent on chants that have little to no profanity--we can have our cake and eat it too in that regard, allowing for a varied atmosphere that still has some unity.

Edit: Also thanks to Prime (or whoever modhammered this) for splitting this into its own thread.

 

So what about us who sit in sections 32 or 33?? True, im not in any supporters group, however, I want to sing along as well, yell a chant or two at the top of my lungs - with other people. Ive done it before with my 13 & 11 year olds in 32/33. And no one else. I want to get into that atmosphere instead of straining my ears to hear the echo of what is going on in the South end.

And yes, ive sat in the Colonels Corner more than a few times as well to get a little closer to the action. Ive tried to follow along with the SGs while sitting there, and its not as easy as one would think. Ive seen a couple of people turn to the CC and try to get them involved, but nothing ever comes to fruition.

You are right, we dont know what happens at the meetings, only what information you chose to share with us. However, know that we believe you are all doing what you can to make it work out. Because we know that if it gets to the point that all the SG's are happy with, the rest of the stadium (ie. those of us sprinkled thoroughout the other sections who want to join along in the fun but cant sit in the SG sections for whatever reasons..) will benefit as well.

 

Is anything more predictable than IBIK commenting on and informing us all on the history of SGs in Utah?

Give it a rest. The rest of us have. If you haven't stood with supporters since Marlon Rojas left town then the post count on the topic ought to be a little lower imho.

And your implication that someone should compromise their beliefs for the sake of unified support of the team is just as offensive as some of the stuff that is against my beliefs.

 

Our ultimate goal is definitely to get the whole stadium involved in chants and songs. On the occasion that it happens (i.e. back when Section 26 did the stadium-wide "R-S-L" chant or the "Bullshit" chant during the Arabe Unido game) it sounds awesome. But the way that we're looking at it, the first step to making that happen is to get the entire South End united, which has been our main focus this year. Overall we've made quite a bit of progress--we get the lower parts of sections 8-12 on the same chant at least a couple times a game, and sections 8-10 are consistently chanting together. But (and I hate to keep harping on this, but it's true) we still have the drums going up in LBR's section. We've asked them to switch off, to do some chants together, to reduce the number of drums going at once, etc. Thus far, nothing has worked out and I'm beginning to lose some of the optimism I had after the San Jose away match . If there's members of LBR or Union Real on these boards I'd love some input either here or via PM. We're not asking that you stop supporting the way you do, only that you make an effort to get with us on some things.

That, or the FO could split the supporters' sections so that not all of the noise was being made at the same time in the same sections.

 

Without realizing it, I think you just defined the problem.

See above. If you're still standing with the supporters, maybe your post count on this topic ought to be a little higher imho.

Sorry -- I didn't realize you had to be down with the supporters to want improvement. Unfortunately for you, when the south end sounds like shit, we all pay the price.

If you can't take some criticism....well, I don't know what to say then. I take a fair amount of criticism for my writing, and I am grateful for it because it makes me a better writer. Following your logic, I should ignore any criticism that comes from anyone outside the press box because they're not up there with me, right?

 

Hey Blitzzfan, it's all your fault.

 

In the spirit of offering something to improve things rather than just complaining about how we're not Seattle yet, I was wondering if we could all get together and put a display similar to the one in the picture below.

The display above is made from those plastic table rolls that you can buy at party stores and stuff. Now I have three very thick plastic table rolls in my garage, one red, one yellow, one blue. They've been sitting there since either 2005 or 2006, I can't remember for sure when we bought them. But they were used very sparsely. I've got tons leftover. Probably enough to make something similar to the picture, but y'know, RSL themed.

From what I understand, these kinds of banners are held together with packing tape, and tend to be one off type displays. A whole shload of packing tape can be bought from Staples or the like for about $10. Then, if we wanted to make a design on the banners, we would need a little paint to do so with, maybe another $10 or so.

I'd like to do four big parts like the one in the picture. Or maybe just three...one each for the letters RSL maybe.

Do we have enough supporters in the end zone to hold those banners up or is this something that needs to be put off until next year or something? (Sorry for my ignorance. I've had less disposable income lately, so I haven't been to as many games this year as other years).

 

I think we can pull off something like that. Earlier in the year the RCB did a smallier version of that using painters tape that lasted almost the whole Toronto game. Though it did rain that game so it was used as a rain shield. That might have contributed to its early death. Here is a photo of it:


As far as the larger issue for the our supporters groups sucking ass. I think the groups have settled into habits are hard to break. Despite the problems that are going on with Barra they seem at least capable of doing things and willing to work. Salt Lake United which is a sub group of the RCB are also doing alot. The Royal Pride are doing wonderful things with raising money for charities. While the older groups RCB and Loyalists seem to just doing what they do for the large part with out a group wide effort for improvement. I was one of the people to represent RSL supporters at the league wide supporter round table is Seattle. Afterwords the person from the ECS said are people were nice but none of us are leaders. Being we just need some who wants to take RSL SG's to a higher level who is willing to be crapped by the groups for while until it happens.

 

That seems doable. A three-parter would probably be easiest, since the middle of the South End is generally not as heavily populated as sections 8-10 and 12, so we could shift some guys over a bit if we needed to. That'd be something I'd like to see once the Damn Pole comes down, after the KISS concert IIRC. Maybe a "final home game of the year" type of thing?

 

I wasn't making it to enough games, so I left it with the Loyalists after the final home game last year. Stucki said that there was some supporters storage closet that they were going to keep it in.

It's kind of useless the way the stadium is set up with the hole for the stage. The Loyalists section only goes up about half the distance that the banner covered, so the top half of it was just laid out on the cement whenever we ran it up. That's probably why you never see it anymore. Although I have no idea. It could just as easily have been thrown away by some janitor cleaning out the closet or something. I don't know.

So you're thinking put it up over sections 8-10?

And you read my mind. I was thinking last game of the year, or playoffs. Once we finally get the freaking bleachers back.

How much do you think the gaping hole of the stage contributes to the supporters troubles with creating atmosphere?

 

8-10 would work, but I was actually thinking (as inspired by the picture you posted) of sending some of the "extra" guys from 8-10 into 11 to hold up the "S" and then giving the "L" to section 12, or doing 9-11. Either way would work though, and it honestly might just depend on crowds for that particular game (as well as size of the banners).

It doesn't help. It's still not our biggest problem IMO, but if someone comes to a match one week, has a good time, and then the seats that they liked aren't there the next week, it doesn't do much to encourage them to consistently be in the South End. Plus it just looks like shit. I understand why they wouldn't want to be constantly taking up and putting down the stage all year long, but it seems like if there's more than a couple games in between concerts (i.e. one is on July 13 and the next is on September 22) they could take it down. I really hope they get it down quickly after KISS, I'd like to have the whole field viewable for the cRapids match.

 

I probably ought to get the dimensions of the sections. But is that even possible until they bring back the missing sections?

 

Height will probably be more important than width, and that should be the same between all the sections.

 

I think that we can accomplish the same thing with more people (God forbid) and something like 3'x3' colored cards.