[Football] Why are English football grounds so boring (compared to Europe)??

[Sheebo]

I prefer English atmospheres any day. Sporadic, reactive and humorous.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

I prefer English atmospheres any day. Sporadic, reactive and humorous.

Absolutely bo, unique chants, original to each club:

‘We’ve got super (insert manager), He knows exactly what we need...’
or
‘You’ve seen (insert club) now f**k off home’
or
‘(Insert score) and you f**ked it up’
or
‘We all follow (insert club) over land and sea...’

etc etc

 

[Pinkie Brown]

All true. However, when we do there's normally alcohol, singing and self deprecating humour involved. For example The Hollies stand at Edgbaston is different to both Lords AND the IPL and the Aussies simply can't compete with the Barmy Army on away Ashes tours.

The Australian support in England looks like Merv Hughes has gone around the RSL's, emptied a few hundred pensioners out and given them matching green or yellow T Shirts.

Or it's actually just a mural.....

 

[ozzygull]

‘We all follow (insert club) over land and sea...’

I wish we would sing this more now that it is factually true, about "over land and sea". As I don't remember us playing a competitive game in another land before this season.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I wish we would sing this more now that it is factually true, about "over land and sea". As I don't remember us playing a competitive game in another land before this season.

Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport

 

[ozzygull]

Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport

fairy snuff! but they were in the same division as us and the head office of my company in the UK is in Newport, so trips down the M4 are too plentiful for me to think of them as a foreign land, even if the signs look like the words have been constructed by getting a cat to walk over a computer keyboard.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Absolutely bo, unique chants, original to each club:

‘We’ve got super (insert manager), He knows exactly what we need...’
or
‘You’ve seen (insert club) now f**k off home’
or
‘(Insert score) and you f**ked it up’
or
‘We all follow (insert club) over land and sea...’

etc etc

And it's (insert club) , its (insert club) FC, we're by far the greatest team, the world has ever seen.

This chant is absolutely SH!TE and I cringe everytime our fans sing it.

 

[abc]

I do miss an expertly luzzed bog roll though, emerging from the midst of swaying terrace behind the goal, looping over the crossbar and wrapping itself round the goalie’s ankles.

Tracing paper bog roll always helpfully supplied by British rail on the way to the game. And thank goodness, as Andratx rolls from home would never have made it over the northstand fence!

 

[jcdenton08]

Really loaded question. I’ve seen loads of boring games of average quality in “Europe”, try watching AGF vs Horsens in Denmark, or Almeria vs Rayo Vallecano in Spain.

There’s good and bad games, atmospheres, leagues and stadiums in every top league in Europe.

To answer your question - my answer is simply they aren’t. I find English football the most exciting and best to visit.

 

[Coozi]

This is basically it. Because violence was so bad in the 80s the next 40 years was dedicated to methods to prevent it. It's pretty obvious the most violent are likely to also be the most vocal.

It also has never been an English way to support teams with flares, drums and huge banners. Every country has their thing, our thing is providing the highest quality football, and a huge football pyramid which is unrivaled anywhere in the world.

So basically, your "thing" is attracting foreign regimes' money so they buy big players for you, without any cascading effect onto your National team?

 

[Coozi]

It's just noise though isn't it? Watching on the telly I thought they were largely bland atmospheres in Marseilles and Rome. Yes a lot of noise, an extreme amount of noise, and awe-inspiring to see at the start, but where was the connection with the game? Where was the ebb and flow and the crescendo as the home team attacked? Were there recognisable songs and chants? You couldn't hear the away fans at all, which seems to me to be lacking one of the key parts of a great atmosphere, the back and forth between rival supporters. Noise and pyro, fine, but an atmosphere is something to be savoured.

That's not saying that English atmospheres are generally much good in these days of allseater stadia, usually dull, but they can sometimes be amazing, and I'd take that anyday over the European version

"Watching on the telly".
First attend the game in person, then comment.

 

[Coozi]

Palace tried bringing in a Euro atmosphere and everyone laughs at them. It’s just not how we watch football.

The big things we have are humour and reaction. There’s no wit, no banter, no ebb and flow overseas. Just the same song droning on, uninterrupted even when they concede a goal. English crowds are usually reactive, and while this makes the base atmosphere worse, it allows room to build, room for a funny new song or witty comment about an opponent or referee.

Based on what evidence you say that?

 

[Guinness Boy]

Based on what evidence you say that?

The non stop droning noise on the television and at the games I've been to.

 

[Coozi]

The non stop droning noise on the television and at the games I've been to.

I see.

 

[London Irish]

There is just less organisation and collectivity among English football fans. The stuff that happens on the continent doesn't happen by itself, it's the result of the work by various fans clubs and associations, in that impressive behind the goal display at Roma, there were numerous little fan clubs banding together to do that. We used to have Bisa when the club was threatened - the supporters club have low membership of mostly quite elderly folk. It would take something like the work of NSK to really take off and lots of other groups like that to spring up. Not impossible but kind of unlikely as the move from Withdean to the Amex tapped into quite a consumerist, family leisure market who now fill a lot of the stadium. Never say never tho, things can change over time

 

[zefarelly]

Welcome to the nanny state, it’s going to get worse, CCTV is everywhere and will continue until it covers literally everywhere, then add in facial recognition. Forget the nanny state, welcome to 1984.

It's been coming slowly buy surely for quite some time . . . . .

 

[RandyWanger]

English people are too precious

 

[BN41Albion]

The non stop droning noise on the television and at the games I've been to.

To be fair I thought that but then read the book A Season With Verona by Tim Parks (brilliant read) and realised that's not the case - there's plenty of wit and humour (often far more crass than here) in Italian football at least, where city rivalries are much more heated in general life let alone football

I do think the atmosphere overall over here isn't as bad as its made out - we are just very reactive to what's going on on the pitch, how it's always been. When its good it can still be brilliant. You can't deny though that unfortunately there has been a sterilisation here compared to other countries, which is great in some respects (far more safe and family friendly etc), but shit in others (more expensive and restricted, more tourists etc = a drop off in overall atmosphere)

 

[Guinness Boy]

To be fair I thought that but then read the book A Season With Verona by Tim Parks (brilliant read) and realised that's not the case - there's plenty of wit and humour (often far more crass than here) in Italian football at least, where city rivalries are much more heated in general life let alone football

I do think the atmosphere overall over here isn't as bad as its made out - we are just very reactive to what's going on on the pitch, how it's always been. When its good it can still be brilliant. You can't deny though that unfortunately there has been a sterilisation here compared to other countries, which is great in some respects (far more safe and family friendly etc), but shit in others (more expensive and restricted, more tourists etc = a drop off in overall atmosphere)

I’ve read it and agree it’s a good read. Yes there’s a lot of wit and vicious put downs in it. He also talks about internet / message board wind ups and a couple of the away trip stories are very similar to away days here.

My point was merely that all of that gets lost in the ultras need for constant noise no matter what.

It’s not just Italy though. I’ve been to Barcelona home games and although there’s reaction it’s mostly just whistling opposition players or the ref. Their ultras are as much performance artists as fans. Marseille over here let off pyro in the middle of the move we scored from and just carried on with the same song when it went in. Legia Warsaw ultras kicked ordinary fans out of their main stand to send a message to URFA about closing their section. It’s always all about them.

I don’t disagree with your final points at all. Premier League football is becoming ever more sterilised, ever more tourist focused, ever more a business and it does harm the atmosphere. As a result, though, non league crowds are way higher than 20 years ago and the atmosphere at Worthing and Whitehawk, for example, is excellent.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

And it's (insert club) , its (insert club) FC, we're by far the greatest team, the world has ever seen.

This chant is absolutely SH!TE and I cringe everytime our fans sing it.

You cringe when you hear that?

You wouldn’t have like to have been with me then when I shit myself in Tesco’s