I have had a lot to say on crowd support in the past, so I'll try and keep this brief:
IMO St Kilda is on the precipice. After it's 100 & so years of failure and pathos-ridden exploits interspersed with proud moments and great teams, and about 10 years of (mostly) highly professional progress, it currently sits in the bottom half of the 10 Victorian clubs.
We saved ourselves from bankrupcy and we survive, despite everything, but surviving will not be enough, we need to strengthen the support and revenue or this club may have to do more than play 2 or 3 games in NZ to survive.
Strenthening support is the key obviously. We need to attract new members. Believe it or not the people most integral to this happening are us, in a few different ways:
1) We need to have kids and give them the gift of StKilda heritage! Likewise to our sibling's children, and cousins' children. Create a family dynasty. How do we attract them? See point 2).
2) We need to go to games, and cheer and create a mad atmosphere that is ELECTRIC and INFECTIOUS. The sort of support that someone might see on TV or games and think "That looks like fun, I want to be part of that!"
3) If we do 2) properly, we will also create an environment that will inspire our team to greater victories and achievements, which will then inspire greater support. Collingwood and Adelaide are two examples of rabid home & away support (Crows less away for obvious reasons) that create a huge break for their team.
4) If we do 1), 2) & 3), we create huge bargaining power with the AFL and we get, to a certain extent, to dictate terms (e.g. Eddie McGuire).
Let's look at Point 2):
Loads of us here go to games. That's why we support a team in the first place. But how many of us really get out of our comfort zone to give loud and proud support to the team for the entirety of a game, every game? How many of us can be counted on for that support? It's easy to rock up in your normal clothes and have a few cheers with a couple of mates, and go home again, but the cheersquad do a lot more than that. Their lives seem to revolve entirely around the club. The effort that they have put in over the decades, through good times and bad, is immense and deserving of more respect that is shown here.
The fact that it is clearly not enough is not the fault of the cheersquad, but ALL THE OTHER SUPPORTERS. They are doing what they can, how many of us can say the same?
We need to create a cult that will be written about and focussed on on TV coverage, that will be Tweeted about, something like the Animal Enclosure but more positive. Here's how I'd do it:
First of all, it must NOT come from the club, it mustn't be official, otherwise it will be discounted as inauthentic and corporate. The cheersquad are required to be there, even though they are volunteers, they are part of the club organization. They need support from us.
We need chants. "
Miiiiiilney!" and "
Give us another one" are OK, it's the fact that they are the ONLY chants that annoys and embarrasses us. in the 3 pages and infinite threads I've read on this site, I've seen people bagging those chants but NOT ONE alternate suggestion. Weak. What's the matter, are you afraid your suggestion will be laughed at? Or maybe you have no imagination of your own? There are 22 players in our match day squad, we should have chants for at least half of those. They don't have to even be chants; remember that noise the Blues fans used to make whenever Ang Christou kicked the ball? That was when I first started watching footy, and I don't remember anything about the player, but I remember that sound! What does that tell you?
I want to see threads suggesting chants or songs or noises - it doesn't have to be Shakespere, the simpler the more effective it will be. Pick a tune that everyone knows and change the lyrics. If you want to see this done effectively look at the English Premier League. Even if all the songs are a variation of
There's only one Tony Lockett, it's better than nothing. Don't wait for someone else to start it,
you do it, get your mates to back you up. If it works, it will catch on and in a few months you'll have the whole crowd - or at least the red white and black section - doing it, you'll have the commentators remarking on it, you'll have kids doing it in the street. You'll even have the club picking it up and making it into a thing; look at the way the doggies used to use the WOOFometer or whatever it was called, or the way the Tigers use the
Yellow and Black section of their song. But it's not easy to start something, knowing that you could be laughed at.
That's what I mean about getting out of your comfort zone. I've got the ball rolling, have a look here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=76088 If you can do better, then by all means...
We need banners/flags. Dooley has already told us that the AFL are party poopers in that respect, so if they can't be big, make them effective in other ways. How many times have you seen the YOU BLOODY BEWDY banner or the one with the naked lady on Saints telecasts, or the girl who insists on telling the world that she's FREE FOR THE BROWNLOW. Good on those people! If only we had 100 times that number. So many wisecrackers on here, you're telling me you can't think of anything better than that? Dr Spaceman has got to be the go-to guy for banner copy, you could take every post that he writes and turn it into a banner. Even the Watter man signature that he's got would make a good one.
We need costumes. I'm not talking about the lame club merchandise, I'm talking about red white and black explosions of colour in the crowd, the more mental the better. If your kids want to dress up for it, let them and do it yourself. You can get changed at the ground. This one is the most full-on for commitment, and frankly a bit beyond me, but if there is anyone out there doing that, they should be celebrated, not ridiculed.
Most importantly, we need attitude. If you're dressed like a wizard holding a MILERA MAGIC banner and sat there like a bloody potato, no one will give a continental. Look at the Jiggling Saint. I've seen him on the telecast more than once, always positive, always enjoying the game, no matter what the score. I don't even know the guy, but he's a legend. He represents our club just as much as Nick Reiwoldt, perhaps more because long after Roo has stopped kicking goals, and long before I'd imagine, the Jiggster will be/was there on camera, giving it all for the club he loves. To look again at the English soccer, Portsmouth are a club notorious for the best support, even though they have a modest achievement.*
This last point about attitude is the most important. We have to know where the line is and conduct ourselves with self-respect, the absolute minimum of behavior that you would not like to see yourself at the games, like violent abuse or lewdness, you don't want to be That Guy picked out and kicked out. Also, negativity is not attractive; no one is going to want to join in with a bunch of whiners who pick out their own players. It's not accepting mediocrity, it's called support. Leave it to the club and the coach to give the players a kick up the arse. If they don't then their failure will manifest itself in St Kilda's achievements and they will eventually be replaced. Don't focus on abusing the opposition or the umpires either; that is boring. We have to represent our club with self-respect outside the stands as well, on Public Transport, in traffic, in pubs, in the street; walk tall, be proud, be loud but don't be a knob. Especially these days when someone could film you and stick you up on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter in a matter of minutes.
Stand together. Support anyone going for St Kilda who stands alone, who sings alone, who needs your help. 20'000 individuals are one thing. A giant monster with 20'000 heads is another, know what I mean? People love crowd movements, and so does the media, so the more unified we can be, the better chance we'll have of picking up new members to jump on the bandwagon.
OK Look, I tried to keep it brief. I failed. I also live in France, so there's no way I can do any of the things I'm suggesting. I used to go to games and yell support throughout the game - not always positively - but I can't now.
But instead of bagging the grannies who support our club, I think we need to provide support to that support. From other posts, it seems there are other areas of support, so if you're not the maverick type and you work better as a follower than a leader, why not join those other groups and help make their voices louder and the area wider.
AND If anyone tells you to shut up, you ask them to get involved or go home. And cheer louder. If you are abused, look for support from your fellow supporters. If you are kicked out, write to the AFL and tell them that their stewards are over policing the game, that without the supporters, the AFL wouldn't have any money and demand finals tickets as compensation, and send that letter to the media.
By the way, I also think we should petition the AFL to remove size restrictions on flags and banners.
*
(they are on the brink of survival now, but that's more to do with the administration's appalling business decisions and private ownership, it couldn't happen in AFL)
( God help me)
