Walkers needs the Fosse Boys
As season ticket holders in the Kop at the Walkers Stadium, my son and I want the club to appreciate how much we enjoyed seeing and hearing the new group known as the Fosse Boys during the game against Middlesbrough.
What a bonus it made to our "match day experience" that they were there. The atmosphere in the Kop generally was much better during that game, despite the 0-0 scoreline, than it has often been at the Walkers Stadium during matches Leicester have actually won!
However, it seems that a small number of killjoys have contacted the club to complain that the Fosse Boys were "too noisy".
Perhaps they were confused and thought they had gone to the theatre for the afternoon? A complaint of fans being too noisy seems too ridiculous to be true, but apparently the club have taken these complaints to heart and threatened the Fosse Boys with being ejected from the ground.
How can people at our football club be so petty? And how can so-called fans want the stadium to be quiet?
There is a reason why visiting fans insult home supporters by singing songs suggesting that their ground is "just like a library" – it is because vocal home support makes a difference to the team's fortunes on the pitch, and a crowd that isn't loud and lively is letting down its players.
I'm not sure if the club are aware of the research demonstrating that the amount of noise generated by fans at home games has a direct correlation to the so-called home advantage in sport, but they could for instance see the work of Professor Alan Nevill at the site below.
I would have thought, therefore, that it was in the club's best all- round interests that a group of fans who wish to make noise, sing and cheer for their team throughout the game were encouraged and enabled to do so.
Not only that, but the presence of the Fosse Boys in the Kop, rather than in L block, means that the home end behind the goal has again got the potential to become an intimidating "wall of sound" for the visiting team.
www.wlv.ac.uk/default.aspx?page=14185
Nick Holden, Wigston.
2 Comments
by DB, Northampton
Saturday, September 04 2010, 6:39PM
“How is it unfair to other fans if they are not blocking their view?
The Fosse Boys stand at the back of the Kop, so where's the issue from other fans' perspectives?”
by David, Great Easton, Rural Leicestershire.
Saturday, September 04 2010, 3:39PM
“I very much resent Mr.Holden's assertion that if a "crowd isn't loud and lively it's letting the team down", that is pure twaddle.
I've been a supporter for over 50 years and have made a lot of noise over the years, infact, as I have said before noise and banter is part and parcel of the game. However, in that time and on many occasions there hasn't been enough excitement on the pitch to warrant fans getting at all enthusiastic.
The game is certainly not all about the crowds. I think this issue is more to do with folk standing for long periods of time, if not the whole match, which isn't fair nor responsible and considerate to other paying fans. This is, after all, whether we like it or not an ALL-SEATER stadium. Thank the events at Hillsborough and Heysel for that and not berrate other fans whose pleasure is being spoilt!!”