n6gooner wrote:safcftm wrote:Hmm, this looks like an interesting thread, I'll need to read it all when I get home. Because I havent read it all I'm not too sure how far you've managed to get but good luck with it. Personally I think the days of passionate home supports are finished in this country, but it would be good if a set of fans could prove that wrong. Sunderland are getting a singing section next season (with away fans being shifted) but tbh no one has high hopes for that, the game has just, unfortunately, moved on
safcftm's already made a useful contribution without even reading the thread!.....confirmation there's an epl precedent for creating specific sections in the ground
Aye, clubs have done it- heres our website mentioning it
http://www.safc.com/news/20111124/resul ... 13_2526117 and I'm sure Newcastle had a singing section created as well. You could presumably do it just as we have by shifting the away fans and using the current away end as a singing section
Our concern though, and the concern I'd have for your lot if AFC acted in a similar way, is that it will be very much a club organised singing section. It makes me think of a McDonalds singing section if you know what I mean. When you let the club get cotnrol of it, you are at their mercy a bit. For example, SAFC did a survey and asked what we wanted the south stand to be used for out of a list of options- the vast majority (70% or so) said singing section. About 15% wanted yet another family area. Now the club releases the results and says "they want a singing section, with 15% wanting a family element incorporated into it"- no we fucking dont, 15% want it to be a purely family area, they lost the vote because 70% want a singing section, and almost all of those want it to be free of kids/ families etc if having them will mean you cant stand or swear, we dont want a watered down, PL friendly "singing section" with wankers with jesters hats and kids in facepaint bouncing around like bellends. This is the problem with it- if you all just somehow arranged to move yourselves somewhere (I realise this is near impossible), you could do it in a much more organic way.
We're fortunate that we have fan initiatives going on at the minute, such as "haway the flags" which is purely fan funded and will be introducing a new flag every home game for the rest of the season, but even they have to be ran past the club first. The key to making anything successful, imo, is keeping the club out of it as far as is possible or else they'll do everything they can to look like they're helping out, when really just controlling it and ensuring it doesnt take a direction they dont like.
Fact is, most of the people wanting this to happen at Arsenal will be thinking about 3 or 4 thousand fans standing, swearing, jumping about etc- it'd be amazing but the club wont want it so if they're involved they'll find a way of stopping it. They want atmosphere as it helps sell the club to the plastics, but they dont want the type of atmosphere that most fans want as it might put people off- clubs are shit scared of a return to hooliganism and whilst I know thats not what the gooners want at all, and I'm not suggesting thats what you're planning, the club will worry that any fan movement looking to create atmosphere is a step towards it
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