I feel the same way. I come down from Cleveland a few times a year and usually stand in the North End. One thing I have noticed, both at the qualifier and also from other supporters groups, was that the chants were more supportive of their team as opposed to derogatory to the other team. That would allow for more consistent chants that could be used game to game. If McCullers is talking about handing out cash, one thing that should be considered would be a simple flyer with two sides. The front would have a general description of V-Army and the guidelines for activities in the north end. The opposite side could have a listing of the most used chants and songs that would encourage newcomers. It could also help spread the chants and songs outside of the north end.
A couple years ago, Zak approached the FO with an idea of a free Crew jersey for every season ticket bought in section 137. That idea was scrapped. The first year (1999) we all got scarves. Maybe a free jersey is too much, but something else might work.
Simpler stuff. A yellow t-shirt with the V-Army logo on it. Or maybe just a North End logo. And frankly, it probably would be better if that came from within.... You should be able to find a vendor who can do the t-shirts for around $5. Make dues $10 and there you go. Remember, the FO doesn't make money, and doesn't have money to throw around. A jersey ain't cheap. Shoot, if they are footing the bill, scarves aren't much better.
All good ideas, I'll even echo the bit about the PA guy shutting up and only speaking during subs, bookings, goals, etc. I see the point about moving to a smaller section in the south end. Perfectly valid. In regards to the flags, if we only put it up as the team runs onto the field, and immediately after goals (down by kickoff), then what's missed? I do agree though, it doesn't need to be up in minute 2 of a 4 minute stoppage time. People pay money to watch the game, not to have their sight line blocked.
Simpler stuff. A yellow t-shirt with the V-Army logo on it. Or maybe just a North End logo. And frankly, it probably would be better if that came from within.... You should be able to find a vendor who can do the t-shirts for around $5. Make dues $10 and there you go. A simple shirt with "I stand in the North End" on the back would be good enough. Remember, the FO doesn't make money, and doesn't have money to throw around. A jersey ain't cheap. Shoot, if they are footing the bill, scarves aren't much better.
We did that a few years ago as well. Problem is, not everyone in 137 wants to be associated with v-army, and may not buy a v-army logo t, if we did it again. Where do you get those prices? The US-Mexico scarves were $20 individually, and a jersey is at least $65, if not $70. But yeah, the FO doesn't have big money to spend.
Want to know how to develop a better section 137? I've got the answer, well at least 9/10ths of it. Have Mark take whatever cash he was going to give to section 137 in the way of gifts and discounts, and have him spend it on a striker that actually looks like he's going to score. In the absence of a consistent 20 goal scorer people in the N. End might as well plan on another long season. I made comments early on in this thread, and many of those comments are still consistent with the way that I feel. One thing of note, ticket discounts become less and less of an issue. If the FO wants to offer $180 season tickets, fairplay, but $10 tickets, I'm not so sure it's that big of a deal. Reason being most people that are committed to sitting in 137 will do so irrespective of the price (within reason, obviously). Handing out gifts, trinkets, scarves, while well and good, and are a nice touch, mean very little at the end of the day. If Crew put an attractive and winning side out on the park, 137 will be sucessful. And before Pothead Peter comes on and states "well we have no control over that." Well you do, as evidenced by what happened when people finally jumped on the Andrulis Out! freight train. Literally, this thread is like a dog chasing his tail until the FO makes substantial moves to bring a winning team to Columbus. You need, as I say, a 20 goal scorer, and someone to step in for Fraser (who won't be able to play every game, especially Saturday/Wednesday combos). That's a good enough start.
Hence my suggestion about a general "North End" t-shirt. That way, if the v-army wants to do their own t, they can, but along the inclusionary lines, you don't have to be v-army to stand in the North End. Maybe "North End" isn't the way to go - maybe something even more generic "I support the Crew"? Just throwing out ideas. Well, let's assume that you plan on a run of 50. It is a lot easier for the FO to consider ponying up $250 rather than $1,000.00. One issue that came up with us was when the team said, "We'll do the t-s, but it will have a sponsor on it." We went along with it because they were free and we didn't have a great way of doing it on our own. Not sure if everyone will make the same decision.
I think everything posted here is good, and I think things will be better next year, naturally. With all the negativity going around for the past two years (mainly toward GA) it kind of put a damper on the whole section, as well as the rest of the stadium. Also events like the team playing well puts everyone in a better mood, and I think that alone would help with the "welcoming in" thing that is being discussed. If we can have a decently successful season on 06, and V-Army as a whole can keep a positive attitude, I think that will really help to attract more people. I think people should take the suggestions posted by others very seriously, and I think we (as Crew fans) will find it easier to bring people to games/make friends at games now that we're not constantly worried about a bad coach.
Not necessarily. We actually grew in number from the beginning of Southlake all the way through the end of 2004. Sure, winning helps. But if you're having fun with your friends and fellow fans, you ought to be able to have a core of 30-40 a game no matter how bad the team is doing. Even if all you're doing is singing "We're going down! If we could, we'd go down!" I do agree that getting the FO to spend money on the North End isn't the best way to move forward.
I have no idea how Dallas is as a sports town, but Columbus is notoriously fickle. Crew are going through that now, BJ's if they aren't careful will be there soon. The BJ's however went out and had an outstanding offseason, and re-signed arguably the best player in the league in Rick Nash. If Crew have a similar offseason, things will improve. And by the way, we DID get free jerseys with season tickets. It took a year to get them and many people had moved on or I didn't have contact info. But in the end we did get them. The reason why that didn't continue is because other season ticket holders apparently caught wind of it and wanted a similar hand out. What a load of old rubbish that is. There was really only 5-10 people on the planet that new where the jerseys were coming from, many of them were inside the Crew organization. IF there was a leak, I tend to believe there wasn't, it had to come from inside Crew. So if you really want to ask for it, and Mark is committed as you say he is, then yes a free jersey is a real option.
Re the flags. If you want new people to come and stand in 137/wherever, you run the risk of excluding them as i would assume the "regulars" would be in charge of the flags. Is that what you want or do you want more people in the section or do you just want to have the kudos of being in charge of flag operations. Make the big flags an event not an everyday occurence.
Bingo. [begin ranting in an unoriginal way that some have done so in the past]But we're not DC or Fire or Dallas, Fiddy; we're Columbus and we have to do it our own way.[/end pointless, unoriginal rant]
Feel free to do what you want. Obviously, it is your call. But honestly, we're not trying to tell you what to do rather than share what we've learned and what works in general. Considering that most of what has been suggested here has worked in KC, DC, Chicago, NE, Metro, SJ, LA, Salt Lake, Dallas - basically, everywhere but Columbus and Denver - maybe there is something to it.
Dallas is as fickle as they come this side of LA. Remember all those attendance jokes? I'm not saying that they *can't* do the jerseys. Just that maybe that isn't the best use of resources - for either them or you.
I can confidently state that we've tried everything. In the face of that, poor play from Columbus Crew is the only variable out of our control. Yet, it's seemingly the most important.
This doesn't need to get solved today. We all obviously have many ideas that need to be discussed and debated this off season. I love 137 and I can't imagine standing anywhere else during a Crew game -- I wouldn't even know what to do with myself. It is true that it took a long long time to feel like I fit in with the section - I finally spoke out enough to meet Blake, Vestfals, Sedley and eventually Zak and most of the now departed old guard. I think if we're given resources we ought to do things that make us more visible in the stadium. I have long been a proponent to moving to the south east lower corner next to the "best seats in the house" so that we are visible to the television audience and within ear-shot of more of the crowd. We've cleaned up our chants remarkably in 2005 and it is something I am the most proud of -- and we've kept things relatively simple singing a lot of chants and songs whose only word is "Columbus." I think that we need about 15 new people with strong voices to make the section twice as noticable and I also feel like we are neglecting a big natural resource of people: The Ohio State University. If we can figure out how to effectively recruit within the student body we'd go along way. Anyway, I agree with Zak that a lot of this is a "poor soccer product" problem but a lot of it is up to us.
True. No doubt, a poor product makes the sledding harder. But... See, that shouldn't be as hard as that. Someone should feel like they fit in and welcome the moment they step into your part of 137...... I *really* think this is the ultimate key. The other stuff, you know how to do. Maybe you overanalyze and overthink things, maybe not. But your success or failure isn't going to boil down to complex chants or trying to get jerseys from the FO. It is whether you are a group of people a newbie can come to and feel not just okay to be there but WANTED. My two cents.
Why should we be given resources? If people contribute themselves they will take more ownership of the section. Expecting the Front Office to give resources to us is a recipe for disaster.
I think Zip was more pointing out what people should do with whatever resources are available, not necessarily expecting those resources to come from the Crew.
I saw that, but just thought it was a typo. Why wouldn't they just do it on the South End? Doing it on the North end would also require putting up another Jumbotron (or two).