I've been hesitating to make this point myself, but you're absolutely right. The Rookery was a lary place to be in the late sixties - no segregation between supporters apart from a thin blue line of coppers being jostled and spat on. All the stuff about darts and sharpened pennies being thrwon etc. But it was vibrant, for want of a better word! Wouldn't ever want to go back to that, but the payback is the quieter atmosphere. As teenagers we were fascinated by it, without ever getting involved with the real bad boys. It was all a bit of a larf. We should have been sickened, really, and of course would be now.
I go to watch the football - the atmosphere is a bonus - if me or my kids get beaten up on the way there, back or at the ground I dont want it - if that makes me stuffy - old - middle class or whatever I dont mind as the old hooligan element is thankfully long gone. I happen to like seating - not being too tall I get a better view from seats and having daft idiots standing up in front of me defeats the purpose. If they want to stand at the back and not obscure the view of others good luck to them Shouting and singing are great - but 60 year olds don't do that - the club wants and needs our money and without it we would be shouting and singing a couple of divisions lower. So let's keep a balance here - football is not all about the young and just because Vicarage Road is not a loud ground does not make it any harder to support the Horns - I and many of my friends have been coming for 40 to 50 years and will continue to do so whnever we can
Mind you - you have to be there to make a noise and for my sins I cannot now claim the honour I held for so many years of holding a season ticket - good on those who do go - whatever noise they do or dont make
At least the moneys been paid irrespective of whether they are there or not! A long time ago when I had an ST if I couldnt go I gave my ticket to a a colleague who was a hornet as well!
Strange how the atmosphere seems to be better on the 'lesser' (for want of a better word) games. Some days it just clicks, others it doesn't - and the players performance seems to match. Invariably the away fans sound louder but it is indeed the law especially as we are a small club - not for the want of trying but thanks to the town infrastructure, council etc (sorry going off topic!) - and we generally make a hell of a racket away from home as if to prove a point as we don't have 25000+ rabid fans singing about whatever coloured flag / woman of ill repute / the colour of the moon or just the blues (the noise the Brummies make is particularly impressive, alas) so we are never going to be as loud. From my lofty position in the UR I don't get much chance to join in but we do know when the Rookeryites are 'doing their job' but away from home I, and my pals, make as much noise as our middle-aged voices will allow. Regarding acoustics in stadia I think you'll find it is acknowledged that 'atmosphere' is not an exact science. Some grounds do hold the sound, creating a 'better' atmosphere - ours does not. Undoubtedly having an empty, half demolished side does not help but there is more to it than that... we just have to make the best of it, sometimes we do and sometimes we don't, and when we don't it is pretty noticable, alas, and a below par performance seems to follow. All that said if the team is playing pants then we won't have bog all to sing about anyway
It's a funny old thing, though, this noise lark. I'm very vocal at times and can have more than a thing or three to shout at referees eg Woolmer and Styles. Sometimes I find myself totally absorbed in the game, the formations, who's tiring, where could we break through, where are our weak spots... and haven't made a peep. I do try very hard to encourage and support the players, particularly the more impressionable ones. And I (like everyone, I suppose) am a different fish away from home. Away, it's all about supporting your team vocally, trying to add your part to upsetting the home side, ridiculing weaknesses in the opposition, singing funny songs. I'm sure some people think we're quite noisy when we visit them and would assume that to be the case at the Vic - if they haven't visited .
Well said . I don't actually think the lack of a side has made much difference, it was the same with that side filled. And it also is different for the evening games which tend to have a far better atmosphere..not sure why that should be, maybe because there are fewer kids?
We once had a lecture at school on accoustics and the guy said that towns starting with W had town halls with good accoustics - hence Watford Town Hall is often used by th BBC for concerts etc - can't remember the other examples he gave - probably fell asleep due to the lack of noise
Town Hall has been the location for some quality classical music recordings as well as concerts. Did he quote any more of these fabled towns beginning with W?
I had a friend who was a recording engineer for EMI. He used Watford Town Hall and several of the London churches quite a lot. When he was in Abbey Road he quite often dealt with The Beatles who treated the office staff there as key minders for their houses while they went touring.
GG - didn't you say you were in the year above me at school? My recollection is that this was a Friday afternoon lecture and I was in the First Year Sixth - so you would have been there in the Second Year - or did you used to bunk off (I usually did) I think Wandsworth was another and maybe Wigan but this is 40 years ago!! Actually the guy giving the talk was an Old Boy of WBGS and he was involved in the design of the Sydney Opera House - he was telling us that his consortium won the "contest" to design it and only later was it found out they had cheated and the "island platform" it was designed on had been 5 metres too small
Nope, I was 2 or 3 years below you. I'm not that old! You were 62-69, I was 65-72. Have we had tea yet, nurse?
To continue the W town theme, Walthamstow Town Hall has also been used for many quality classical recordings. But Watford Town Hall (Colisseum?) is considered by many to be the one of the finest of its type (large orchestral recordings with deep resonant bass) in the WORLD not just UK or even Europe. Far better than any concert hall in London certainly. From the Daily Torygraph (2006): "To generations of classical musicians Watford meant only one thing: probably the finest recording venue in the world." Many film music sound tracks have also been recorded there, including Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Perhaps we should have the old Watford FC club song ("Up, up you Hornets.....") recorded there?....
