Lack of atmosphere

DevilDom

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #1
Is it just me or is the atmosphere at the IAW getting worse? It’s never been constantly good, but the last 4-5 games the atmosphere has been very flat. Last week we steam rolled 2 big rivals and for most of the game it was very flat. Tonight, and I appreciate we have already, qualified the atmosphere was even worse when the team really needed a lift. Have we become complacent as fans? Do we expect too much? Is there anything we / management can do to improve the atmosphere? I’d love to see a standing area behind the goal we attack twice so all the noisey buggers can congregate but I can’t see it ever happening. I do think we need to pick it up as fans though.
 

DevilDom

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #4
Possibly some fans want to see the odd big hit and a fight to get the atmosphere going?
I agree this helps and I too miss the hits and occasional fight that we used to have but sometimes I just think the team needs a lift and us as fans could do more.
 

tigertemme

Active Member
#5
Problem is, we are playing some Damn sexy hockey, when we get going I don't think anyone in this league can live with us. But, a big hit or fight gets every fan going, however, big hits and fights are it conducive with winning

Catch 22 right there
 

Rob Batch

Well-Known Member
#6
I would bring Mr Hendrickx back for fan entertainment !! Me and my pardner have talked about this. We love the skill the speed and the quality of our phenominal team, but in reality we miss the violence of an equal on ice fight. Adrenaline needs a fix.
 

Rob Batch

Well-Known Member
#8
No probs, I'm not really talking reality I'm talking intention. He seemed to glide in from out of nowhere and put people on their arse ! So entertaining !! Fu guildford, more annoyed for paying fans than team.
 

BostonBart22

Well-Known Member
#10
I would bring Mr Hendrickx back for fan entertainment !! Me and my pardner have talked about this. We love the skill the speed and the quality of our phenominal team, but in reality we miss the violence of an equal on ice fight. Adrenaline needs a fix.
Dont think hendo would come back after the way he was released, agree great entertainer though...
 
#11
The reason the atmosphere is poor is because all we sing is devils duh duh duh devils duh duh duh devils duh duh duh..

We have no chants or any other song to sing where crap in that department!!

Apart from a few guys in block 9 who sing all game and a drummer sometimes it’s always gunna be poor.
 
#12
Unfortunately, you can’t hear a lot of the chants started behind the benches as the noise doesn’t carry to the opp side unless a fair few are singing.

Because of this I feel it will take more of a group effort to educate the rest of the crowd to some of the lesser known ones sung more frequently at away games.

Yes, we would be reliant on the usual chanters to help get these going initially, but maybe if the drummers could join in these other ones also to encourage, it would grow from there? Would take time though.

But yes...we need more chants! Get your thinking caps on everyone!
 

RTfarty

Active Member
#13
Without a dedicated section for those who want to sing chants and create the atmosphere, this issue will always exist. You could make up as many chants as you want, but you’ll never get everyone on board as there are too many spectators with no interest in doing so.

If anyone has ever been to a Cardiff City game, you’ll know that the atmosphere comes mostly from the Canton end. Those are the fans that want to stand and chant for 90 minutes, as opposed to the rest of the stadium who sit and watch the game in a more reserved manner. If you split that section up (ala Wales at the Principlaity Stadium) then the atmosphere suffers.

Those that traveled for the CHL campaigns will also be familiar with this set up. I would imagine it takes a few years to bed in a set up like that, but unless a specific section is created I struggle to see how the atmosphere will improve much.
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#14
The reason the atmosphere is poor is because all we sing is devils duh duh duh devils duh duh duh devils duh duh duh..

We have no chants or any other song to sing where crap in that department!!

Apart from a few guys in block 9 who sing all game and a drummer sometimes it’s always gunna be poor.
No it isn’t. We never had too many chants at WNIR and the BBT and never had any issues with atmosphere. In my experience, you can’t force a false atmosphere, it just happens, usually when the game is eagerly anticipated, close, exciting or physical. We just haven’t had too many games like that this year apart from the CHL games when the atmospheres were generally great, from smaller crowds. IAW still feels a little soulless unfortunately for the most part, which doesn’t help either.
 

Gough60

Active Member
#16
Crowd got behind them when flames had 5 on 3 and toward the end. Up to those points, like me I think we were all gobsmacked as to how different a performance we were watching. Lots of individual cries of "come on you Devils", out of disbelief as to what we were seeing. Had head in hands numerous times as we missed chance after chance and coughed up the puck or failed to get a pass away.
Have to remember Flames needed it more than we did.
 

Pope#42

Active Member
#17
I would agree with others that sometimes the games can be a little flat but last night as soon as the Devils started attacking the crowd responded. Unfortunately it’s a catch 22 - fans will respond when they see something but I appreciate that the fans can help motivate the team.

On the subject of atmosphere (and I recall it being mentioned elsewhere) the outcry of some fans to some clean plays / hits is really starting to grate on me. I know we all see something different but it seems there are a group of fans that shout and complain about everything. There were some good, clean hits last night from Guildford but you’d swear they had just carried out murder. The hit on Pope in the first period looked clean to me (others may disagree) but it looked more like pope lost a footing and fell. Referee originally didn’t call it - it was only after the outcry from behind the goal that he raised his hand. Obviously I appreciate that a pp is great to have - but not as a result of fans overreacting. This is just my take on it and I appreciate not all would agree.
 

Diafol

Well-Known Member
#18
It depends on the circumstances.
There weren't many people complaining about a lack of atmosphere in this game.


The players bought into it from the first puck drop and the crowd responded accordingly.

That didn't happen last night for whatever reason.
Congratulations to the Flames on their deserved win.

We go again this evening, hopefully with a better performance.
 

DevilDom

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #19
It depends on the circumstances.
There weren't many people complaining about a lack of atmosphere in this game.


The players bought into it from the first puck drop and the crowd responded accordingly.

That didn't happen last night for whatever reason.
Congratulations to the Flames on their deserved win.

We go again this evening, hopefully with a better performance.
Yeah that was a good night and a great atmosphere. I guesss my point is that whilst we do seem to get up for the occasional game, those games are the exception rather than the norm and the majority of games are now flat atmosphere wise, especially compared to the BBT where it seemed the opposite with the poor atmosphere games being the exception. Now before anyone jumps on me, I’m in no way saying I don’t like IAW, I just want the atmosphere to be better consistently and wondered what we as fans could do to help it. I know not everyone enjoys chanting and singing but I tend to enjoy away games more than home games at the moment.
 

Diafol

Well-Known Member
#20
The difference with away games is you will get a smaller group of "hardcore" fans attending together who tend to make more noise than a rink full of "casuals", as evidenced by the small group of Flames fans last night.

I used to sit in Block 4 at the BBT where there used to be a fair old racket made. Now those people are scattered all over IAW.
Add to that a considerable number of newbies at every game who are there for a night out and might not actually be that bothered about the result, and there (possibly) lies the root cause of the problem.

(This might also explain the "hysterical" reaction to some clean hits - newbies not quite getting the rules ?)

This conundrum stretches back to WNIR days mind.
Anyone else remember the songsheet included in the programme one night to try and encourage people to make more noise ?
 
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