1SimonGarner
Senior Member
On Saturday I had a day out in the JW lower near the away fans to see what the atmosphere was like. There were literally 15-20 of us singing, and whilst I'm not really a big fan of needing a drum to get an atmosphere, there it was.
Some things to mention from my experience. Firstly I enjoyed actually being around people, however few, who showed some real passion and feeling for the club. Despite it obviously being a poor performance on the pitch I literally heard just one negative comment in the whole 90 mins from the section I was in - what a breath of fresh air. There wasn't a mass exodus 15 mins before half time to get a pie or a pint, everyone was in their positions when the second half started and all barring a couple were there when the final whistle went - what a novel idea, watching the full game!
A few of the lads in there went a bit far with the banter with the City fans, running towards them, looking for a fight and whilst I obviously don't agree with that, I'd still take one of them over the vast majority of the so called fans we get at Ewood every other week. There's a balance, you can sing,swear, even abuse the opposition players and fans without being a hooligan, it's etched into the fabric - or should be - of what being a partisan football fanatic is all about.
Another thing to mention is that I didn't once hear ANYTHING from the Blackburn end, not once, I couldn't believe it. Yes we were poor, but it was still 0-0 after 42 mins and not one bit of noise that was audible from 100 yards away. I could understand it if there was a large away following making loads of noise that was drowning the BB end out, naturally because you're closer to them, but although the City fans made a good bit of noise it wasn't a big enough following to be drowning out 4,000 avid nutters in the Blackburn End. Of course that's because we don't.
I've banged on about a few times already on here, I know some in principle agree with me and some won't, that's fine, but the atmosphere - or to be more precise - lack of it at Ewood is something that as proud fans of the club, we should be trying to do something about. If you want to sit in the ground and not sing, that's fine, even in the terrace era there were lots of places on grounds were people just wanted to sit or stand and watch the game, if however you're like me and you want to scream and shout for 90 minutes, why should you looked upon as doing something wrong? I've lost count of the number of fall outs I've had at the Rovers because of this, I'm not a hooligan, but I DO want to make as much noise as I can, in all honesty I wish we had 20,000 like me, the place would be bouncing every game.
So as I say, if you don't want to sing, fine, some people aren't comfortable with it (that being said I'm pretty shy and quiet away from the football but the polar opposite when I get on the ground), but if there are any like me reading this, why not come and join me in W01, the more the merrier, if we had just 4 or 500 in that section near the away fans it would improve the atmosphere and experience no end on matchdays.
I'll be sticking with it whatever, I stood and clapped until every last Rovers player left the pitch on Saturday and was amazed that some in that section stayed and did the same. No vitriol, no slagging off, genuine disappointment but the realisation that it's one game and we'll get em next week! The bloke next to me shook my hand on the way out and said, see you next game..... yes you will and I hope a few more too.
ROVERS 'TILL I DIE.
Some things to mention from my experience. Firstly I enjoyed actually being around people, however few, who showed some real passion and feeling for the club. Despite it obviously being a poor performance on the pitch I literally heard just one negative comment in the whole 90 mins from the section I was in - what a breath of fresh air. There wasn't a mass exodus 15 mins before half time to get a pie or a pint, everyone was in their positions when the second half started and all barring a couple were there when the final whistle went - what a novel idea, watching the full game!
A few of the lads in there went a bit far with the banter with the City fans, running towards them, looking for a fight and whilst I obviously don't agree with that, I'd still take one of them over the vast majority of the so called fans we get at Ewood every other week. There's a balance, you can sing,swear, even abuse the opposition players and fans without being a hooligan, it's etched into the fabric - or should be - of what being a partisan football fanatic is all about.
Another thing to mention is that I didn't once hear ANYTHING from the Blackburn end, not once, I couldn't believe it. Yes we were poor, but it was still 0-0 after 42 mins and not one bit of noise that was audible from 100 yards away. I could understand it if there was a large away following making loads of noise that was drowning the BB end out, naturally because you're closer to them, but although the City fans made a good bit of noise it wasn't a big enough following to be drowning out 4,000 avid nutters in the Blackburn End. Of course that's because we don't.
I've banged on about a few times already on here, I know some in principle agree with me and some won't, that's fine, but the atmosphere - or to be more precise - lack of it at Ewood is something that as proud fans of the club, we should be trying to do something about. If you want to sit in the ground and not sing, that's fine, even in the terrace era there were lots of places on grounds were people just wanted to sit or stand and watch the game, if however you're like me and you want to scream and shout for 90 minutes, why should you looked upon as doing something wrong? I've lost count of the number of fall outs I've had at the Rovers because of this, I'm not a hooligan, but I DO want to make as much noise as I can, in all honesty I wish we had 20,000 like me, the place would be bouncing every game.
So as I say, if you don't want to sing, fine, some people aren't comfortable with it (that being said I'm pretty shy and quiet away from the football but the polar opposite when I get on the ground), but if there are any like me reading this, why not come and join me in W01, the more the merrier, if we had just 4 or 500 in that section near the away fans it would improve the atmosphere and experience no end on matchdays.
I'll be sticking with it whatever, I stood and clapped until every last Rovers player left the pitch on Saturday and was amazed that some in that section stayed and did the same. No vitriol, no slagging off, genuine disappointment but the realisation that it's one game and we'll get em next week! The bloke next to me shook my hand on the way out and said, see you next game..... yes you will and I hope a few more too.
ROVERS 'TILL I DIE.
I didn't realise those lads were still around (presumably the ones who used to be at the back of the Darwen End?). People don't tend to believe me when I say this but it was my lot who started all that. First game of the 2009/10 season City at home so couldn't go there, second game against West Ham 7 of us went up in the top corner, surrounded by empty seats with a few families down the bottom.
