Why were Watford Supporters so quiet?

[yorkshirehornet]

I am a firm believer that support lifts the team. But for half the game it was quieter than a library, (and I tell you they can be noisy these days) What is it about our supporters,,, 34,000 there for the biggest game in years?

Palace supporters consistently sang in unison.. and there appeared to be a solid block of them who kept it going.

I know people will say that the team need to play well to lift the supporters. It really seems to be like that with us. BUT the reverse is true and we have our part to play. The players then feel under it etc if we don't support them solidly.

I am 60 and I was chanting with just a few scattered folk in my block..... Always gets me when I go to games.


Any views?

 

[Toby]

Really Yorkie?

I thought it was pretty lively and I was only a block away. Compared to the Vic anyway...

My throat hurts now...

Still pissed off too

 

[Busy Being Headhunted]

If the team play poorly then the supporters are always quieter
Also a high amount of Watford fans who went to Wembley are not regulars and will sit and watch the game for most of it

 

[Guy1960]

We are a family club which has merits in a lot of ways but sometimes like yesterday it doesn't work to our advantage.. There were too many of our supporters just out for a good day rather than to shout our boys home.

 

[Bloother]

Really Yorkie?

I thought it was pretty lively and I was only a block away. Compared to the Vic anyway...

My throat hurts now...

Still pissed off too

I'm inclined to agree. To get all 34,000 fans singing at the same time is pretty difficult. The Palace fans weren't a massive amount louder until they scored. Then you had all of their fans noisy at the same time. Until then there were pockets of noise plus the bouncy lot near the front. From what I recall from my block (113) there was a lot of noise coming from the top up over my left shoulder. I didn't sing quite so much because I was so damn nervous.

 

[babyhornetdan]

If the team play poorly then the supporters are always quieter
Also a high amount of Watford fans who went to Wembley are not regulars and will sit and watch the game for most of it

this exactly. There wasnt anything to really cheer about unfortunately and because of those who arent regulars its harder to generate that volume.

The block you speak of yorkie was probably the "ultras". They are a co-ordinated group which we dont have.

 

[yorkshirehornet]

Where I was, block 120......

For most of the game, and mlle yorkie said it too, we could hear the palace fans louder than ours, and we were nearer our fans end. I guess the "ultras" were the ones who kept it up throughout though and lifted the others.

shame we cant do more.....

 

[Yellowvoice]

When me and the junior hornets go to away games where the away attendance is roughly 1000 Watford fans the atmosphere is excellent and noisy. I may be wrong but for every extra thousand away fans our fans are quieter and and weaker. For me I feel that when the lower and upper Rous fans go in force ( of which I am one) the atmosphere becomes diluted into mediocrity due to the relaxed nature of these supporters

 

[wear_yellow]

Palace obviously managed to get the supporters Dan refers to into one area right behind the goal - cannot be a coincidence. So they had a co-ordinated group all in one block and they kept everyone else going - we did not have that.

 

[Toby]

There were an awful lot of kids around us, something I don't always agree with.

I think there should be a separate kids section, one of them in front of me was playing with his DS and every time anyone swore it the parents turned round and gave them evil glares (which makes it hard when Geijo is playing....)

I never hurl abuse or swear in front of kids but it damages the atmosphere and I will start snapping those stupid flags if one of them gets waved in my face again...

Of course I want people to bring their kids, they're the future supporters of the club, but there has to be a better system...

 

[yorkshirehornet]

When me and the junior hornets go to away games where the away attendance is roughly 1000 Watford fans the atmosphere is excellent and noisy. I may be wrong but for every extra thousand away fans our fans are quieter and and weaker. For me I feel that when the lower and upper Rous fans go in force ( of which I am one) the atmosphere becomes diluted into mediocrity due to the relaxed nature of these supporters

I think there is something of that... I don't expect everyone to cheer all the time obviously... but...

Palace obviously managed to get the supporters Dan refers to into one area right behind the goal - cannot be a coincidence. So they had a co-ordinated group all in one block and they kept everyone else going - we did not have that.

I did wonder how they managed to do it..... That was really noticeablae

 

[Ethelhorn]

Two things really, firstly the family aspect, from what I saw there were considerably more children within our support that I noticed going in and out of the stadium and although my seven year old shouted his heart out you can't compete with fully grown men. Second, Palace fans are always the loudest supporters that come to Vicarage Rd, I don't think we'll ever be in a position to challenge them on that front !! To be honest my brother and I always have a sweepstake on how many minutes it will take for the opposition at Watford to sing "you're support is fuc....." ( Palace started before we got in the ground yesterday ! ). Lastly, and I know this is number three, I thought as supporters we did ok yesterday, hopefully a lot more of those 34,000 will turn up for the first game in August ! I'll be there and Ethel Jr !

 

[Bloother]

...and I will start snapping those stupid flags if one of them gets waved in my face again...

Mini Bloother is a ST holder, attends away games and has vowed to keep waving his flag. This season has really cemented his support (although it was never in doubt) and if flag waving creates atmosphere...fine by me (in fact I was the one waving it at he end!!!).

 

[yorkshirehornet]

Two things really, firstly the family aspect, from what I saw there were considerably more children within our support that I noticed going in and out of the stadium and although my seven year old shouted his heart out you can't compete with fully grown men. Second, Palace fans are always the loudest supporters that come to Vicarage Rd, I don't think we'll ever be in a position to challenge them on that front !! To be honest my brother and I always have a sweepstake on how many minutes it will take for the opposition at Watford to sing "you're support is fuc....." ( Palace started before we got in the ground yesterday ! ). Lastly, and I know this is number three, I thought as supporters we did ok yesterday, hopefully a lot more of those 34,000 will turn up for the first game in August ! I'll be there and Ethel Jr !

Good one Ethel

Mini Bloother is a ST holder, attends away games and has vowed to keep waving his flag. This season has really cemented his support (although it was never in doubt) and if flag waving creates atmosphere...fine by me (in fact I was the one waving it at he end!!!).

Flag waving does add to it... except when it goes up the nose of the person behind!

There were an awful lot of kids around us, something I don't always agree with.

I think there should be a separate kids section, one of them in front of me was playing with his DS and every time anyone swore it the parents turned round and gave them evil glares (which makes it hard when Geijo is playing....)

I never hurl abuse or swear in front of kids but it damages the atmosphere and I will start snapping those stupid flags if one of them gets waved in my face again...

Of course I want people to bring their kids, they're the future supporters of the club, but there has to be a better system...

Difficult one... I do hope most kids who went to Wembley will go to the Vic.

When I was a kid I used to sit in the stand with one of those really loud wooden rattles.... I used to get a lot of looks when I rattled it! There was also a women who sat behind us in shrodells in those days with a school bell

 

[Toby]

Mini Bloother is a ST holder, attends away games and has vowed to keep waving his flag. This season has really cemented his support (although it was never in doubt) and if flag waving creates atmosphere...fine by me (in fact I was the one waving it at he end!!!).

I don't mind the occasional flag wave, it does add to the atmosphere.

It's not something to be done all game though, it blocks the view and if the kids aren't careful it generally results in the people behind getting hit in the face.

That's fair, no? Why should their right to wave a flag take precedence over my view of the game and my eyes not being poked out?

 

[F1Hornet]

I was singing in parts, but I think a lot of people like me were perhaps overcome with the nerves of the situation. It was pretty clear after the first 10 minutes that we hadn't turned up. Palace were winning the ball in the midfield, Zaha had seen off his period of bad form since January and as the game went on I just couldn't see anyone other than Palace winning. If your team is looking likely to score, and has the better of the game, you are naturally going to sing louder. Normally if we are losing I would still sing, but the tension just got to me, I was just waiting for Palace to score in the second half.

As someone said, the hardcore group of Palace fans making noise throughout the game helped them. Its also a shame we don't have a singable 'club song' the equivalent of Glad all over.

 

[Bloother]

I don't mind the occasional flag wave, it does add to the atmosphere.

It's not something to be done all game though, it blocks the view and if the kids aren't careful it generally results in the people behind getting hit in the face.

That's fair, no? Why should their right to wave a flag take precedence over my view of the game and my eyes not being poked out?

Fair enough, I'll keep an eye on him

 

[Lloydinio]

A lot of people that went were non-Watford supporters, and a lot of them were acting like dicks. This is why the chanting wasn't very loud. I think that only Watford supporters should get tickets, as a lot of fans didn't get them whereas others that weren't fans did.

 

[HaslemereKev]

As previously mentioned, the more fans we have the quieter we seem. I think a lot of it is often down to those "singing" fans being more spread out, so almost competing with each other to start a song. We seem to generate more noise in the away matches with a thousand fans than anywhere else.

I don't think it helped yesterday that the main area fans wanted to go, ie behind the goal, was allocated to club employees and box holders before tickets went on sale... Meant your typical rookery fan would be one side of the other, not behind the goal

 

[yorkshirehornet]

As previously mentioned, the more fans we have the quieter we seem. I think a lot of it is often down to those "singing" fans being more spread out, so almost competing with each other to start a song. We seem to generate more noise in the away matches with a thousand fans than anywhere else.

I don't think it helped yesterday that the main area fans wanted to go, ie behind the goal, was allocated to club employees and box holders before tickets went on sale... Meant your typical rookery fan would be one side of the other, not behind the goal

Ah.... I agree.... people were spread out.... I assumed our main chanting would come from behind the goal..... I didn't realise about that allocation.