Nice quality match by TFC.
I'm getting a good feeling about this squad!
Nice quality match by TFC.
I'm getting a good feeling about this squad!
I have a good feeling about this franchise! The old TFC community is back and we have new fans joining them! I cant believe this game was in North America, quality support, quality facilities and turnout as well as quality entertaining play! I watched Liverpool play a few days ago and it seemed like amateur hour in a dull stadium (yeah i know, it was Anfield but so what) compared to tonight. Brought two women who know absolutely nothing about the game to this and i think we have two new fans. Lets keep coming out, sell every game, fill every pub and go for the Cup!
Great atmosphere. The anthem was the loudest and best I've ever heard.
Two good teams. Good result.
Part of the anthem.
https://twitter.com/Eastend1/status/...538855936?s=09
The anthem gave me chills. Beautiful night.
Good game, but TFC seemed to run out of gas towards the end a little. Johnson was great, such a tidy player to watch.
My only problem is that it just took me two hours to get home. And I only live on the Danforth! This is going to be a long season trying to get to BMO each week!
I can't speak for anyone else, but I would admit that last night's atmosphere seemed rather muted throughout much of the game. Aside from the anthem, which was probably the BEST I've ever heard, I think a lot of songs were dying out to quickly or not getting picked up very well to begin with. I'll readily shoulder some blame myself, I was getting over a cold and popping Fisherman's Friends like a sonofabitch. But all said, we definitely weren't at our best. I don't think it's the start of a trend or anything, though. Everyone can have an off-night.
Visually we looked great though - especially the Giovinco banner. The Toronto banner moving across the West Stand upper deck? Not so much.
Last edited by Cashcleaner; 05-08-2016 at 11:39 AM.
Did the USA , of all countries, just fix soccer? - C. Ronaldo, May 27th commenting on the FBI-led investigations into fraud and corruption throughout FIFA.
I mostly agree, but there were a couple occasions where a song got picked up over a few sections in the South and it sounded pretty good, I think. I got a sense of the potential.
Coordination between sections and groups needs to improve. I think it's embarrassing when two sections are singing two different songs at the same time. I think group leaders need to have more discussions on how to work together. Supporter groups are meant to support the team, not ourselves.
I think if supporter groups coordinated on the chants better it would help to some degree. However, even then, that would probably be about 2 to 3 thousand fans total that know any chant beyond "TFC clap clap clap" or "When the Reds go marching in". The other 27 thousand just don't take the time to learn (what I like to call) more sophisticated/unique TFC chants. That's the shame unfortunately. Even with 3000 fans coordinated, they still have to compete with 27 000 others who are either trying to start their own chant or talking to their neighbour. Essentially chants have to come above the "noise". And right now with the canopy, all sounds get trapped, including the noise. Hence why it sounded much louder on TV.
The reason Oh Canada sounded amazing is because everyone in the stadium knows the words, and they also knew exactly when to start singing it. If you are ever able to get 30 000 fans here on the same page for any other it will sound amazing. Saying that is easier said than done but the canopies give the physical infrastructure needed to get there.
Having said that, the chants you could make out on TV sounded better than last year. I even noticed the echo effect.
Your point about not enough people knowing supporter group songs is totally valid.
And I doubt that will change much unless we come up with new song choices.
We need people to put their thinking caps on and find songs that are current and popular,
And songs that don't require much, if any, changes to the lyrics.
We've got Endoh
Tsubasa Endoh
And I just don't think you understand...
The U-Sector capo looked like he was getting a bit frustrated with the lack of co-ordination. But when we did get in-sync, things worked out very well. I know we like to do our own thing and all, but sometimes it's also good to step back and take the cues from someone else. U-Sector are all good guys, the more we can work with them the better.
Did the USA , of all countries, just fix soccer? - C. Ronaldo, May 27th commenting on the FBI-led investigations into fraud and corruption throughout FIFA.
To be fair, in most MLS stadiums, the only chants you hear from beyond the supporters areas are call and response of the name of the team.
My only concern about co-ordination is the "play the hits in this order every game" approach that seems to have taken over Seattle and to a certain extant Portland. I suppose its nice to know that at 33 minutes in every game, you'll be able to sing "I can't hear a BLEEPING thing" but its ridiculous when faced with 15 away fans up high in a corner or even worse, a goal by the opposing team.
Yeah I am not trying to criticize what each group does. Sorry if it came out like that. We all really appreciate what each group brings. Trust me, the groups are huge to our support cause. I was just trying to point out the challenges to coordination. It can't be easy!
This is ridiculous to me - that was around the 80th minute of a tense game. Context always matters with TIFOs and chants. You'd think the people running the team, of all people, would know that.
If you are under that, and you are missing 2-3 minutes of the most meaningful game action, just so that the marketing dept of TFC has something good for their ads...
you have every right to be seriously annoyed.
Last edited by ensco; 05-08-2016 at 12:11 PM.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Just a few thoughts after last night...
At times that was the loudest I've ever heard bmo (anthem particularly) but I'm not sure if that was the new roof, the larger crowd, or most likely, both?
But I'm hoping that with all of the changes, we are in for some of our loudest games ever this season.
Part of the problem with sustaining chants in the south end has been the gradual influx of "one off's" replacing regular ssh's. I'm hopeful that with an entertaining and competitive team this year, more ssh's will show up regularly, making them familiar with the chants. And the "one off's" that do show up turn in to committed fans due to the dynamic atmosphere and competitive team.
And it seems that evening games have the best atmosphere (for a few reasons), and we have quite a few of those this season.
Oh, I don't you were. Just agreeing with you that we could stand to co-ordinate a bit better. But like you said, even that will go so far as there are a lot more fans who don't know the words or even want to sing. And that's fine. It's just that as supporters we will usually be the ones who are expected to create the atmosphere.
Did the USA , of all countries, just fix soccer? - C. Ronaldo, May 27th commenting on the FBI-led investigations into fraud and corruption throughout FIFA.
One of the biggest issues with having so many people in our section is that the drummers have a hard time seeing the capo which results in them not being able to keep beat as well as the capo acts as a conductor to the drummer. To the people that stand directly infront of the drummer, it doesn't hurt to ask the guy if he can see the capo. I see peole bitching all the time about the drummers being out of beat. This is the main reason why. They can't see the capo
if we want to get ALL supporters singing together you have to keep it super simple:
TFC *clap clap clap*
Come on you reds
'Jesus Christ' T-O-R
Oh When The Reds
Unfortunately the average North American fan just isn't built to learn complex songs. Call and response songs will never catch on as well as these simple overly-well-known chants. But I don't think any of the SG's are interested in dumbing things down that much.
We have a big gap between the SG's that want to make things "uniquely TFC" with unique songs, and the majority of fans who will never get past "TFC *clap clap clap*. These are the same average Toronto sports fan that never gets any more complex that "deeeefence" or "Lets go blue jays".
TFC CLAP CLAP CLAP sounded pretty dam loud last night in 107 where I was sitting, sometimes the simplistic chants are the best.
This year is proving to be interesting, I think' going forward more so we will be able to figure out one another as the season progresses, the biggest thing I've noticed is the fan support and how "booming" the stadium was for this match. I think that with alot of games going forward, we'll be able to keep on pace on a one game to day basis to keep the hope going for the ultimate victory, the championship.
This. x1000. I remember attempts to paper sections with song sheets, most of those ended up on the floor.
The other thing that would need to be done is carry things long enough for it to catch around the stadium. Even the best intentioned can't keep up around the stadium when things change as fast as they do.
I wonder what would make for a more intimidating atmosphere. A small group of folks in the South End singing more complex songs, or the whole stadium going with much simpler stuff...
I had to miss the match - did the roof trap in enough sound that the noise from the regular match goers drown out the supporters? That would be an interesting twist if true.