Active Support Feedback Thread

[furns]

We trialled having a capo up the back and timmy down the front, and this seemed to work well and could be a good option going forward.

I am hearing people arent a fan of the sitdown during Dale Cavese, I think we just do the overhead claps and save the sitdown for the Torcida chant (which Body and Tim forgot about tonight lol)

Yet again Timmy hit with beers from bay 1 and accosted by random blowins trying to tell him how to do things, who then get physical when people try to reason with them. There will be work done during the offseason to combat this.

To the majority of bay 2 who kept things going until late into the second half, well done that was the best we sounded for ages. We had a nearly full bay and a lot of people were up and active for most of the match.

Onwards and upwards for next season. May as well have fun in the stands especially if its going to continue with this shit on the pitch.

[militiamon]

Yeah, good effort by all involved, including the extras who came in and had a go. I thought we were strong in the first half, if things had gone differently on the pitch in the second half then it would have been a different story.

Dale Cavese/Moliendo Cafe sitdown is good, just wasn't feeling it being started in the 20somethingth minute when we were 1-0 down and playing like shit.

[Chadandkira12]

It's a shame that we need 8000 away supporters to get the rest of the crowd involved is it in bay 6 and sing the along with the songs hoping others will join in but no one does they only did the Newcastle chant in the first half.I love how the RBB got all the fans in he corners to do the we sing for wanderers chant shame we can't do it but well done to Timmy for the year and his support every game doesn't matter how we are going he doesn't stop and to the squadron boys that give us a voice congrats look forward to next year

[Hunter403]

I sit in bay 6 and we do join in. The simple fact is that WSW have a range of chants that are easy to follow and interesting. What is the best that the Squadron comes up with? Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcastle. Dull, boring and unimaginative. Copy some Premier league chants if no one can come up with originals. Get the words out to the crowd so they know what you are saying. I heard one bloke say last night that if it wasn't for the really crap shirts that WSW wear, he would follow them!! the RBB silenced the Sqn last night.

[furns]

RBB have five chants, thats it. And due to them having multiple bays of actives in a small stadium, their chants are louder and the rest of the stadium is able to hear and join in.
This doesnt happen at Hunter stadium due to the size of the stadium and the squadron only being one bay, and also due to the fact that a lot of our chants are of a different style to the Premier League chants, which we find boring and unimaginative. Do you know how many Sloop John B chants there are in football?? Thousands.
The main crowd chants we have are Come On Newcastle and the Jets chants which work well when the stadium wants to join in, which they did for the first half. Unfortunately with the game going the way they did, they didnt get up the rest of the game.

[Pico]

Straight off the bat I don't sit in the active support, and don't have anything to do with the squadron.

Putting aside any one persons taste in chants, what the RBB have is people who ****en join in and don't piss about chants not being imaginative enough.

Question for you Hunter403 do you go and join in the active support bays?

You do know there is a song suggestion thread, why don't you type up your suggestions?

What pisses me off is the constant "should be more like RBB", well here is a thought how bout you actually join in, you know like all the RBB fans you talk so highly of, and don't have one little sing-a-long then sit down because you don't like the next chant, or you could sit back as you do now and say your not as good your boring, whilst doing nothing to improve or even contribute to it. I personally find it a bit disrespectful to be bagging a bunch of blokes for their time & effort when you don't even attempt to step up to the plate.

I can only imagine what it would sound like if the squadron copied the who do you sing for chant off wanders, would be more of a response from the crickets in the surrounding suburbs then the rest of the stadium, just look at the results of the old stand up if you love the jets, unfortunately the majority are not as interested in actively supporting our club.

[militiamon]

Good post Pico.


We had a higher average crowd than the Wanderers this season, yet when we go down there we fill up half a bay, they come up here and fill 5 or 6. It's not that they have more supporters, because they don't, it's the mentality of those supporters.

I think it would be fair to say that most Wanderers fans come from cultural backgrounds where it is normal to be expressive, loud and 'passionate'. They don't get embarrassed about joining in with chants even when they're sitting on the other side of the stadium, and neither do the people around them. The average Jets fan on the other hand comes from a background where yelling out in a group of people is not normal, and reserved only for the loud, drunk or mentally ill.

I'm not saying this as a criticism of our supporters, it's just the way it is. And that is the whole point of this really, there's no point pretending to be something that we're not. Like I said at the start, we have higher crowds than them, just because the majority of these people don't want to participate in 'active' support doesn't make them less valuable.


Finally, lol at people attributing the RBB's success to their chants. I think just about every chant of theirs has been sung by A-League groups previously:

"Who do we sing for?" - done by at least SFC and the Mariners 2-3 years ago ("We sing for Sydney!", "We sing for yellow!")
"Come on come on Wanderers" - done by just about everyone in various shapes and forms

[Superdylan]

Yes its too true Pete C, I hope after wsw visit its opened the minds of certain jets fans.

My question is what bay would help grow the squadron the best? Still credit to everyone in bay 2 for having a go. Does the squadron need general admission bays around to grow better?

[militiamon]

If anyone is interested, check out the Herald's article today about the behaviour of the WSW fans (can't find it online). Basically says what a great bunch of people they are, passionate and well behaved, despite the many, many flares and arrest of one person.

Now compare this to the Herald's coverage of our away trip to Gosford in December 2011 where 1 flare was lit and there were a few ejections (no arrests):

FFA sees red over Jets fans



FOOTBALL Federation Australia is investigating the behaviour of several Jets fans after Saturday’s 2-0 loss to local rivals the Central Coast at Bluetongue Stadium.

The F3 derby produced ugly scenes late in the match. Jets fans fought among themselves, lit a flare and threw drinks at Mariners substitute Troy Hearfield, a former Jets player, while he was taking a corner.

The Mariners match report said 13 people, believed to be Jets fans, were ejected and seven more were refused entry.

A video posted on YouTube titled ‘‘F3 Derby – Squadron Novocastria’’ shows Jets fans with flares, chanting obscenities on their way to the ground and confronting Mariners fans on the street after the game.

FFA said yesterday that it was examining TV and other video footage to identify unruly fans.

‘‘Incidents have been brought to our attention of what appeared to be Jets supporters, but it’s hard to make that generalisation,’’ an FFA spokesman said.

‘‘We’re certainly conducting an investigation into an incident that involved a flare and one that involved objects, which I think were drinks, being thrown.’’

At the start of the season all A-League clubs agreed to a five-year ban for any fan found lighting a flare during a match.

Jets CEO Robbie Middleby said in a statement last night: ‘‘We are looking into it and will assist the FFA in any way we can.’’

Tim Verschelden, president of the Squadron, said none of the offenders were members of the Jets supporter group and he condemned their behaviour.

‘‘This behaviour happens at every Coast away game,’’ he said.

‘‘These blokes that carry on like this claim to be part of the Squadron, but they aren’t.

‘‘They’re only ring-in blokes when they want to be to get on the piss with their mates in Gosford and cause some trouble.
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‘‘In no way do we condone the actions that took place on Saturday night.’’

Verschelden said the fans had tarnished the Squadron’s reputation.

‘‘After all the good stuff we’ve been doing in recent seasons, and especially this year, this is the last thing we needed from the Squadron’s perspective because now the fans of Newcastle are second-guessing us,’’ he said.

The Squadron ‘‘self-policed’’ at away games, which included speaking to ground security before the match.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/44...ver-jets-fans/

Low-flying squadron

ON Saturday, with much excitement, I took my children to watch the Jets v Mariners game at Gosford. I grew up in Newcastle but now reside on the Central Coast, so the family banter started early in the week. When we arrived at the game the Jets Squadron was in full chorus and the excitement built for a great night.

But it was not to be. The behaviour of the Squadron was appalling. Several of their mob were escorted out of the stadium by police and security. Others threw bottles and cups at Mariners players when they were taking corners. Although most of the physical violence was among themselves, some of them preferred to try and provoke spectators with bad language and lewd gestures, rather than watch the game. When they got bored with that they let off flares.

Several Jets fans close to us were obviously cringing, removing their Jets hats and scarves in embarrassment. My 13-year-old felt too afraid to wear his Mariners cap. Shame on all of you.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/44...ying-squadron/

[militiamon]

continued

Newcastle's soccer louts

Tim Verschelden seems like a decent sort of fellow. Certainly as the president of the Newcastle Jets supporters group, the Squadron, he's ambitious if his efforts to portray the Squadron as a group of civilised people are a fair indication. Time after time he has stood to defend the Squadron against those who blame it for dangerous hooliganism at Jets games and time after time he has been betrayed at the next game. In defending the Squadron against criticism of obscenities, throwing objects at players, brawling and lighting flares, Mr Verschelden has blamed a rogue element, a certain pocket within, but on Thursday in response to news that Football Federation Australia is investigating mob hooliganism among Jets supporters at the Jets-Mariners game last weekend he tried a slightly different tack. He said, in the Herald, that the offenders were not members of the Squadron, that they were ring-ins, that while they claimed to be Squadron members they were not. The problem, Mr Verschelden, is that when we see them with the Squadron we see them as part of the Squadron.
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Some of the Jets supporters' thuggery was described in a letter in the Herald on Wednesday by a woman who'd taken her children to the game at Gosford. She described the obscenities, the brawling and the lighting of flares, and a video posted on YouTube (and since withdrawn) showed the Jets supporters' disgusting conduct as they moved as a mob to the Gosford game, at the game and after the game.

Six days before the mother's letter Jets chief Robbie Middleby had his own letter in the Herald. He wrote glowingly of the Squadron and how the Jets were envied by other teams for having such a committed and vocal supporter group behind the club.

Soccer throughout the world seems to attract fans who find their courage in mobs, and it seems that the Jets' thugs are doing their best to emulate Britain's notorious soccer louts. I suggest Mr Verschelden seek the help of the supporters' group for the Newcastle Knights, the Crusade, in cleaning up the Squadron. But, really, does the Squadron have any saving graces? Wouldn't Newcastle be better off if Jets games could be watched only on television?

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/44...-soccer-louts/

FFA closes in on flare culprit

FOOTBALL Federation Australia officials have obtained an image of a man they believe may have information about last weekend’s flare-lighting incident at Gosford and hope Newcastle supporter group the Squadron will honour a promise to help identify him.
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After studying video footage of the unsavoury episode, which occurred during the Jets’ 2-0 loss to Central Coast last Saturday, FFA believes it is close to pinpointing the culprit.

And FFA’s head of corporate affairs and communications, Kyle Patterson, reiterated warnings yesterday that the person responsible for lighting the flare would face police prosecution and stiff sanctions from the game’s governing body, including a five-year ban from attending A-League matches.

Patterson said FFA was ‘‘absolutely fair-dinkum’’ about cracking down on anti-social conduct from fans attending matches.

‘‘We love the passion, we love the colour, we love the football culture that the A-League has, but we will not tolerate this type of behaviour,’’ Patterson said.

‘‘It’s not acceptable. It’s not negotiable.’’

Patterson said that for sanctions to have the desired effect ‘‘we have to apply them pretty rigorously’’.

He said the game’s governing body had noted comments in the Newcastle Herald yesterday from Squadron spokesman Tim Verschelden.

Verschelden has tried to distance the Squadron from any involvement in Saturday’s incident.

He said the people responsible for ugly scenes such as the flare-lighting and throwing rubbish at Mariners players were ‘‘ring-in blokes’’.

He told the Herald: ‘‘Us senior Squadron blokes will always help any authorities in anything around us.

‘‘We will always make sure we help find out who the culprits are that do these terrible things and make sure we get to the bottom of it.’’

It is understood Bluetongue Stadium management were trying to contact Squadron representatives yesterday to identify a person of interest.

‘‘We’ve got an image of a person who should be known to those people around him,’’ Patterson said.

‘‘It seems he’s celebrating the lighting of a flare.

‘‘If he didn’t do it, he probably knows who did.

‘‘We’re going to work through the process to identify that person, then we’re going to give the person the chance to co-operate with us and explain how the flare was in that proximity.
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‘‘If the Squadron are good to their word, which we think they are, they will help us identify the perpetrator who lit that flare.’’

FFA and police have already taken a tough stance on spectator misbehaviour this season.

An Adelaide United fan was banned from Hindmarsh Stadium for lighting a flare after a 1-0 win against Melbourne Victory in October.

The 26-year-old was charged by police with acts to cause harm, possessing and igniting a flare, disorderly behaviour and throwing a missile.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/44...flare-culprit/

Jets Squadron helps police find louts



SQUADRON president Tim Verschelden said yesterday that he would help the authorities identify the Newcastle Jets fans who caused the ugly scenes at Saturday’s F3 derby at Bluetongue Stadium.

Up to 13 people, believed to be Jets fans, were ejected and seven more were refused entry and flares were let off inside and outside the Gosford venue.

Groups of Jets and Mariners fans were also captured on YouTube chanting obscenities and attempting to incite each other after the game.

Football Federation Australia is investigating the behaviour of fans and could hand out five-year bans from A-League games to the supporters who let off flares.

A spokesman for the FFA said yesterday that the result of the investigation could be known today.

‘‘We do a lot of work with venues, venue security and local police, so it’s not a simple matter,’’ he said.

‘‘When these matters go from being, with the case of the flares, a football matter to a criminal or civil matter, then we’ve got to be careful we don’t pre-empt anything that the police might want to do.’’

Yesterday many visitors to the Herald website were critical of the Jets supporter group, the Squadron.

Verschelden has denied any of the offenders were Squadron members and condemned their actions.

He went further yesterday, saying he and other senior Squadron members would assist the FFA, Jets and police in identifying the unruly supporters.

‘‘I’ve got nothing to hide,’’ Verschelden said.

‘‘In our role, that’s what we need to do.

‘‘Us senior Squadron blokes will always help any authorities in anything around us.
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‘‘We will always make sure we help find out who the culprits are that do these terrible things and make sure we get to the bottom of it.’’

Verschelden said the Squadron also took precautions to prevent trouble at F3 derby matches at Bluetongue Stadium.

This involved speaking to ground security and police days before the game and senior Squadron members addressing fans before and during the game about behaving appropriately.

He said the Squadron controlled its membership to keep out troublemakers.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/44...ce-find-louts/

[MFKS]

Yes its too true Pete C, I hope after wsw visit its opened the minds of certain jets fans.

My question is what bay would help grow the squadron the best? Still credit to everyone in bay 2 for having a go. Does the squadron need general admission bays around to grow better?

Precisely right SD. Active support bay/ bays should be unreserved ticketing

I wonder how many stay away coz they feel they ain't ALLOWED to sit their as their ticket indicates a different seat???



As a Member if you wasnt to sit in your seat for game you should be able to.

If you feel the desire to join in the active support for a certain game ie say Gypos at home you shoul be able to front up in the active bay and made to feel welcvome to do so.


It ain't like our 33k capacity is getting close to being breached.


On another note the idiots selling tickets to yesterdays game ****ed up big time. WSW had their allocation in the Druggo Stand so why were their pockets of WSWS scattered across the Jets seats in this stand??? I deadset had at least 50 scattered of them within 10m of me??

I thought the game was categorized as high risk so why allow this type of shit happening???

It wouldn't have taken much to start trouble in the top stand last night if the game had of been closer and their had of been some controversial reffing

[GazFish35]

Does the squadron need general admission bays around to grow better?

Best SD post ever.

To the unfamiliar it can appear you need to buy a squadron specific ticket to get into bay2/1, bay3 is season ticketed regulars, this would make it very hard to grow in number if people who might want to sit on the fringes for a bit before getting involved don't think they can because a GA ticket doesn't let you near the active bays.

RBB for example are flanked by GA bays, making growth (of numbers and knowledge of chants) much easier.

Furns, tim, can this issue be raised with the club?

I know the hill doesn't meet "allocated" seating requirements with entry and exit points etc etc, but a fence at the top of the first concourse of seats would mean the southern concourse seating might. We could be five rows deep, and a few bays wide.

[sammydog]

I know the issue has been done to death, and the location can't move due to the hill not being seated, but I think Bay 2 hurts the squadron.

While its in Bay 2, half the crowd can't see and probably cant hear you guys so they can't join in.

People in the western stands do join in with some of the basic stuff (Come on Newcastle) but generally the squadron has moved on as people start to get involved. With other chants, it really is hard to make out what is being sung.

I don't really have an answer, and its sort of chicken and egg stuff. You want people to join in and I think there are lots who do, but it is hard to know what is actually being sung.

[Pico]

I know the hill doesn't meet "allocated" seating requirements with entry and exit points etc etc, but a fence at the top of the first concourse of seats would mean the southern concourse seating might. We could be five rows deep, and a few bays wide.

I still don't know why the club insists in just allowing the status quo to exist. with a little bit of smart thinking and a little bit of cost they could move the active support out of bay 2 into the front of the southern hill and free up some prime reserved seats for families, whilst putting your standing fans in the obstructed viewing seats & having all your loud boisterous fans all together on the southern drinking hill. Its usually these people who I think would be more likely to join in and help naturally grow numbers.

The entry / exit point I think could be solved, but it would require the club to want to do something. They could for example have access strictly from the pitch level, similar to how they had access for the lower front of the western stand when it was under construction. Have a path from the emergency access point near the terrace with entry from the south entrance area around the front with one or two of the fence gates open to allow access. I actually think the top walkway could be used as a selling point in that it allows much greater patrol ability & entry points for security if there is any trouble, not to mention it allows a good buffer from other fans so there will be no bay jumping from people.

The only thing that might drive the club to do something would be to have a chance to open up a couple of extra bays of reserved community seating. If they are going to try and increase their membership figures, more community memberships would be the ideal target as the entry cost for that membership is minimal.

[GazFish35]

If anyone is interested, check out the Herald's article today about the behaviour of the WSW fans (can't find it online). Basically says what a great bunch of people they are, passionate and well behaved, despite the many, many flares and arrest of one person.

Now compare this to the Herald's coverage of our away trip to Gosford in December 2011 where 1 flare was lit and there were a few ejections (no arrests):

But everyone's saying we should be more like the RBB.

Help. I'm so confused.

[GazFish35]

Is this the one Pete?

[MFKS]

Assuming HSG was to say No to the Squadron moving cart blanche to the Southern Hill seating and you all have to stay in Bay 2 would it even be an idea to send say 15 -20 blokes to go take up seats say half way between Zads Lads and Bay 2 in the seated area???

From there you could start up with the active support at KO just like the Squadron and see who comes down and joins in with you. Could also have some fun with chanting going back and forth over the corner flag between the "Rogue Squadron" and Bay 2.

If you started up doing this quite small even without the clubs approval they couldn't really complain too much when Zads Lads group isn't any different and they are allowed to do what they do

[MFKS]

RBB have five chants, thats it. And due to them having multiple bays of actives in a small stadium, their chants are louder and the rest of the stadium is able to hear and join in.
This doesnt happen at Hunter stadium due to the size of the stadium and the squadron only being one bay, and also due to the fact that a lot of our chants are of a different style to the Premier League chants, which we find boring and unimaginative. Do you know how many Sloop John B chants there are in football?? Thousands.
The main crowd chants we have are Come On Newcastle and the Jets chants which work well when the stadium wants to join in, which they did for the first half. Unfortunately with the game going the way they did, they didnt get up the rest of the game.

Furns may be the solution here is to actually throw in a couple of the chants that may appeal to the wider support base as well as the more cultured Euro based chants. Not all of them who go to the games are as cultured as those on the Foz who follow this game and our club with the passions we do. Maybe throwing in a few of the boring and unimaginative EPL chants as you find them may appeal a bit more to the uncultured Newy riff raff.

Even the dreaded NEW--CAS--TLE chant that rings out at Knights games maybe useful. After all we are wanting people to participate and get involved. Why deny them of the use of this chant at Jets games just because it's origins emanate from the local league side???

At the end of the day regardless of how boring and uneducated one may find this chant it is unique to the area of OUR club and would most likely be embraced by the majority of our generally silent support base

[sammydog]

Thats the thing, start simple and then expand from there. Once people as sucked in they are more likely to go for the harder (cultured) stuff.

[militiamon]

Is this the one Pete?

Yep, that's the one, cheers Gaz.

I wonder how Zad's Lads (who are normally the poster boys for our supporters) would feel about it being described as a fantastic night...


Edit: I should say, I personally didn't see anything wrong with it overall, but the difference in the treatment of the two situations by The Herald is astonishing. And people wonder why The Squadron has an image problem...