There were two guys wearing Drogba shirts. One in 113 (to be fair, there were a lot of tourists there) and one in 114. No one said anything to them. I'm all for a safe viewing experience, but this kind of stuff should not be tolerated.
Also I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but ffs please stop wearing European club shirts to TFC. I don't understand this thought process.
Drogba shirts from some European team aren't the same thing as wearing an opponent's actual kit. I can sort of understand guys wearing the jersey of one of their all-time heroes. I still think it sucks, but those people will sometimes get a pass. I have a tough time hating on David Villa because of everything he did at Barça, but I wouldn't wear my Barcelona jersey to a TFC match.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
A few of us were discussing this recently, if the south is truly a supports section then issue supporter cards instead of tickets, allowing a finite number of ticket transfers say 30% per seat. If you want to bring a buddy then you hand him the card, if you sell your seat then they get the card.This would no doubt completely remove the scalpers and tourists from the section pretty fast.
IMO some of this is football supporters probably feeling out the TFC experience and wearing what they have to support the cause.
I did this for the first year or two wearing Colo-Colo, Atlante, Chile and Mexico national jersey's.
It's just newbies trying it out and wearing the only football jersey's they got.
Be nice, be chill, and help bring them on board for TFC! This is where we recruit new people into the fold.
Funnily enough I wore a TFC jersey for two years subsequent to that, and then stopped and just wear my civies. Didn't think the team deserved me wearing the jersey the way they were playing. When the Bloody Big Deal happened I almost flinched and bought. But years of supporting this team taught me to be patient and see what was happening versus hoping. Still haven't bought a jersey since 2010... things are looking like I'l be buying one again come the end of this season.
Last edited by Alonso; 06-02-2016 at 06:33 PM.
Maybe it's not tourists/newbies/scalped seats but people who have been there the entire time. Maybe they are simply ten years older and have stopped giving a shit what people think ... only to then be harassed by tourists and newbs.
Don't get me wrong, I think if you're going to wear a jersey it should be TFC, and I'm not condoning not giving a shit. I've just been thinking about how long some of us have known each other, and how much has changed in that time.
That and a couple of buddies (long time southenders) wore the new alt kit to the home opener and got some grief - for wearing TFC kits - from some unfamiliar faces. They'd never seen them before. Haven't seen them since.
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
Thread getting a little derailed(although aesthetics is an important aspect of atmosphere).
I think after a few games and in the latter half of the season, the southend will sound amazing. We're all trying and it will work out, no doubt.
So i guess here is a question: Is the atmosphere getting better? It will never be a linear progression but as long as it is generally getting better as the season goes on i think we are on a good track.
It probably was good that you were not in the south so you could fully appreciate the effort that the SGs put forth. From 109 this year the sound and atmosphere has looked outstanding. You guys are much louder, and that carries through the stadium. The (for lack of a better description) slow clap - where we start out slow and then speed up - really catches on throughout the stadium.
Great work guys.
Road Games:
2013 - Montréal , 2014 - Orlando (Disney Classic), Montréal
2015 - Columbus, New England, Montréal
2016 - NYCFC (Leg 2 Conference Semis), Montréal (Leg 1 Conference Final)
2017 - Ottawa (Leg 1 Canadian Championship Semi), DCU, Red Bulls (Leg 1 Conference Final), Columbus (Leg 2 Conference Final)
2019 - Montréal, NYCFC (Eastern Conference Semi @ Citi Field), Seattle (MLS Cup Final)
From where I sit it is getting better. The Montreal-Toronto games are always good ones, but the league games are the litmus test. Yes, it is not linear, but it improves game to game. Big points on Wed for the co-ordinated chants - we sounded less dis-jointed. As a plus, the guys in upper 110 are getting better at keeping the pace, as they typically get ahead of all the good chants... ;-)
Road Games:
2013 - Montréal , 2014 - Orlando (Disney Classic), Montréal
2015 - Columbus, New England, Montréal
2016 - NYCFC (Leg 2 Conference Semis), Montréal (Leg 1 Conference Final)
2017 - Ottawa (Leg 1 Canadian Championship Semi), DCU, Red Bulls (Leg 1 Conference Final), Columbus (Leg 2 Conference Final)
2019 - Montréal, NYCFC (Eastern Conference Semi @ Citi Field), Seattle (MLS Cup Final)
Loved the slow clap this past game. Noticed it right away with the setup and timing of the first drum cue. I sit in 123 and tried to get as many people involved. I was surprised how well the section actually responded. May I make a suggestion to whomever starts it. By the time the majority of the stadium has caught on that this is happening it has already reached it's climax in tempo. I would love to hear it being prolonged a bit longer before the huge increase in tempo. This way in my opinion the rest of the stadium has time to join in. I think it could thunderous this way. Just my thoughts. Love what the South does for the team and rest of the supporters in the stadium.
Yeah that slow clap catches on through the entire stadium. I could really see that.
The drum was very clear. Strange actually as normally I don't hear the drum that well. For this particular instance it sounded like the the drummer did a rim shot, which was very clear to my ear. Whatever the drummer did it worked for me in 123.
Still have to find a way to get drummers to sync up.
Are we still considering moving them closer to each other?
I know I harp on the drums a lot but Parkdales idea of getting a snare in there too would be great. I would love a double drum for one game. I would also love to try a snare only for one game.
It feels like we are always competing with how loud the drum is and cant sync up.
Last edited by Red4ever; 06-03-2016 at 04:01 PM.
I looked around the stadium when we were doing the slow cap and a lot of people in the corners of both the East and West stand were participating. ou8jonesy makes a good point about dragging out the clap longer to let it catch on before the tempo picks up.
Also just a question, how come there was no smoke at the last game? I know CONCACAF doesn't allow it but to my knowledge at least this is only qualification for CONCACAF and not a full on CONCACAF match. I could be mistaken however.
Again... Same thing for the Impact game. You are trying to "coordinate and synchronize" 20 people at the far end of 112 with 40 people at 114 and another maybe 10 people at 116...
Sorry but it is ridiculous. We should all stand next to each other. Having all that distance and tourists between us does not help at all.
^ The short answer: There is still a massive difference between groups. Thats why we have different groups, cause no one wants to do it the same way all the time.
Prolonged moments of unity is all we can really hope for.
The atmosphere is slowly getting more united across the south end as this year progresses, On Wednesday I liked that 112 and 114 and 116 were cordinating much better. The Capo's really did a good job to help improve it. Still lots of work to do tho, we just got to keep working on it.
If there was one thing that has been bothering me in 112 this year it would be that to many people around me are just talking and laughing, often not about what is happening on the field, in fact so much talking, that people are not watching the game, and often not even joining in the songs because they are just talking and laughing so much. Maybe I didn't care so much in the passed because I myself was drunk and having a good time and the team was so bad that it was the only way to enjoy it, but now I really would like to watch this team play, we have some good players out there!
Regarding the speed of the slow clap: I was hanging out with Stitches too much prior to the game. I'll limit the amount of time I spend with Stitches prior to the match because I think I was operating at hyperspeed on Wednesday. We have two drums set up in 114 which may be why it was more audible during the slow clap. I would love to get all of the drums set up up in one section because then we'll be able to have the rhythm section consolidated which will make all other synchronization efforts that much more effective. Great idea putting the drum in 116 on the capo stand in the second half because it made it easier for both 114 and 116 to follow each other.
The synchronization is getting there. The slow clap made me giggle with joy. For anyone in any group, keep your eyes and ears open and help your capo out. A few times 112 launched into a song before we were even finished the previous one (best example from Wednesday is Sha-La-La at the beginning of the match) so if you notice that your section has lost the synchronization point it out to the capo and try to regroup and resync. We did that a few times in 114 and when we all got back on track it sounded great because the 'chune came back even louder and stronger.
Next chant I want to try to get synced on is the Ole Toronto that we attempted (hilariously failed disaster but I got a chuckle out of it because the look on both of mine and Chris' faces was priceless). Ideally 112 would start it and send it over to 113, who would send it over to 114 and then we would send it over to 116 who would in turn send it back to 112. We could eventually get it going around the whole stadium like the 'Wave' but way less cheesy. Check out this video starting around 0:55 to see how it's sort of supposed to work:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFnOTnW9kZs