A COYSDC Campaign
By Rob Richmond
August 24 2006
In the past I’ve said it’s the responsibility of supporters to show their club that they want to be a part of it. There’s many ways to show your affection, your spirit, your love for your club. I firmly believe that too.
OI! SAINTS FANS!!! GIVE ‘EM THE FINGER!!!
A COYSDC campaign, maybe…
In the past I’ve said it’s the responsibility of supporters to show their club that they want to be a part of it. There’s many ways to show your affection, your spirit, your love for your club. I firmly believe that too, its not Uncle Keith’s club, or Mr. Robson’s, or Wally and Ben's; it belongs to all of us, regardless of whether you’re a season ticket holder or a shareholder or a infrequent visitor.
It’s my personal opinion that we're as big a part of the club as anyone. They’d certainly miss us all if we all decided to head down to
We’ve just as much right to be there as anyone else and we're just as disappointed when we lose as we are elated when we get the win. Lots of us simply ache to be part of something, something that we feel part of, wanted, needed, achieving: the club can offer this and much more but we need to do more than show up and hope for the best. It’s unity; togetherness; something to believe in; an understanding of community. The club is like a family that we’ve chosen for ourselves. That in essence is why I feel it’s ours as much as anyone’s. But like most things in life eventually you end up having to fight for something, what better to fight for than your family?
One of the most vivid memories I have from last season comes from the TV coverage of the Sarries home game and ‘the greatest try that never was’ (copyright Roberto Defingo Armando de Richmond).
As Ben is pushed into the corner and the try is lost the footage cuts to a young lad who is, well, freaking out basically. He was spitting bile at Ben, foaming at the mouth. Eventually his mum calmed him down but it the spite was borne out of frustration….
Not a normal reaction of course, unless you are a regular at FG then its pretty common to see someone throwing a hissy fit and throwing beer and hotdogs all over the place. And to be honest, I can fully relate. As a brother of a guy whose on the playing staff it can often be harder, in fact it definitely is if my old man comes up too… (My father has what can best be described as ‘issues’, most of them are related to the lineout and often lead to a conniption if our kid happens to be called not straight)
I normally sit amongst the player’s family and other staff and dignitaries and such in the upper parts of P section on the south stand and to be honest some times it’s like being in a morgue. I guess my family and I aren’t the only ones who won’t their loved ones to do well. (And what sort of friends and family would we be if we thought any different?) Other times you get to see some special sights, like Ben Cohen going absolutely chicken oriental as we snuck for a late try and a win against
My mind cast back to the two Powergen cup finals from a few years back. Ok we lost and it looked to be on the cards in both games after 20 minutes. Maybe the players didn’t show up but we, as supporters certainly didn’t. We just sat there looking miserable on lovely sunny days. Not really much point in showing up and behaving like its Morrissey’s stag do.
Last week D block monkey and his chums made an awful ruckus. Fair play to them, they’re simply enjoying themselves and expressing themselves. ("What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a Tongan? Is it a Tongan?" was a particular hit, "Hey Bruce" not so,) There will always be a place for the wags (not the football kind in the redtops on a daily basis) to come up with ingenious and clever witticisms, getting them to catch on well that’s another story, and ‘therein,’ as the bard would tell us, ‘lies the rub’….
When you look around it’s often a slur pointed in our direction, “You’ve only got one song!” Well, yes but it’s a bloody beauty. But when I’ve had the pleasure of watching and listening to Worcester Warriors supporters they’ve frequently and constantly put us to shame. They don’t seem smarter than us, or more ingenious with their song making, they do seem more organized and determined to make themselves heard. Ok, ok, I admit, I’m envious and I want to do something about it.
Well I’ve been thinking about it for most of the summer and I’ve come up with what may be silly, may be hackneyed, may be corny and may be too preachy for some of the more cynical and less broad mined Saint’s supporters…
Never the less hear me out…
I watch a lot of NFL football, I mean, a lot. Not as much as Si but still quite a bit. Quite often as the game is coming into the fourth and final quarter of the game I seem to see an awful lot of players making this gesture on the sidelines…
It took me a while to work it out a first, and then eventually it clicked. Four quarters, they’re going to play their hearts out to the end of the game, no half measures, no quit. They were showing their teammates and the opposition that they had no intention of giving in. I liked that, it’s an honest exposure of the team’s spirit and the guts, will and sheer bloody-mindedness often needed at the very highest levels of the professional game regardless of the sport in question.
Remind you of anyone?
There are times in games when things are going against you. There are times in games when everything is going your way (though these are few and far between) but these things don’t last either. Turning points in games are normally exactly that, and often times we’ve been on the wrong end of them. Often times I can see them happening right in front of me can’t do anything about it, just have to sit there and hope for the best. Clapping and shouting along to oh Wendy is about as good as it gets. But what else can we do?
Think back to the home game against London Irish. The final minute of the game saw Bruce kicking for the win. If there was ever a time for us to show him we were behind him that was it, and what did we do? We held our breath.
Surely we can do better…
My idea is simple and hopefully effective.
By standing in the air and raising a finger in the air.
It’s a sign of unity, belief, commitment. In short it says it all. We're in it together all of us as one, one team, one victory. It’s a way to show everyone we believe in the players and in ourselves. That we can rise to the occasion and show the spirit to stay the course. Silently and respectfully saying, yes, we believe in you and we believe you can do it.
It's not aggressive or overtly sexual, it’s as simple as it gets, rising to the challenge. Honest, brave, determined just like the boys. Look I may have gone completely mad but it just seems so simple, something we can all do to offer support when it’s needed most.