Ex Union sports Mag:
http://www.unionsportsmag.co.za/interesting-view-on-the-newlands-stadium-debate/
Interesting view on the Newlands stadium debate! July 4th, 2012 | by @bobbynic23 | Posted in Articles |
Every now and then I come across a blog I haven’t seen before, and today I stumbled upon The Pundits. One of their articles regarding the debate between Newlands & Cape Town Stadium caught my eye, and I felt the authors views were worth a share. He makes a fair point. I’m keen to hear your thoughts.
“Oh, but our beloved Newlands…” I can actually hear some of you screaming at me! But wait, first let me quote some of Ryan Wallace’s views, and the screaming shall stop… Or will it? Whether you like his views or not, he certainly has a point!
His opening gambit relates to him apologising for being “the worst Afrikaans person in the world” having not inherited his ancestors’ passion for rugby. He goes on: “Rugby is not something that I despise; I just don’t really get it. I do watch it from time to time with my mates but it is not something I would go out of my way to watch. I’ve only been to Newlands Rugby stadium 2 times before and this weekend was my 3rd time..”
Now at this point I’m thinking, “Ryan, what gives you an opinion if you’re not even a rugby fan?”
No stress, he soon answered that question by saying in his following paragraph that although he is not a huge fan of rugby – he is a huge fan of watching live sport. Fair enough! Being a huge fan of live sports events can only help generate an unbiased comparison… And that my friends, is where he really got my attention – because what he says next is dead true. Those who have been to Newlands (passionate or not), cannot disagree with his following sentiment.
He was given tickets for the game in question, and as he says “Obviously I will never say no to free shit; besides, I always love watching live sport! Regardless of what sport it is. There’s that feeling of something great that’s about to happen when you watch live sport. When we walked into Newlands on Saturday afternoon, @ThembaSweet summed it up perfectly: “I love the buzz and energy you get when walking into a stadium filled with fans” (That might not be his exact words, we had been drinking before the match, but it was something along those lines.) So there we were… myself, @keeganKruger, @kimGreyling, @ReesieBabyGirl, @ThembaSweet and @Nixie_Nix mostly kitted in some form of blue and white and ready to watch the Stormers kick some ass.”
At this point, I’m just interested to read on and understand his full argument.
Ryan Wallace continues: “Like I’ve said, my Rugby knowledge is close to non-existent but I did feel that the rugby was a tad bit boring. The Stormers weren’t at their best, due to injuries ofcourse, and apart from the odd big tackle and knock-ons the game seemed fairly average. But this was not my biggest problem with my Newlands experience, my main concern was passion.”
“Recently there have been some rumours saying WP Rugby will soon have to move to Cape Town Stadium due to some health and safety issues at Newlands. This has obviously been greeted with some hostility from the Newlands faithful; something I can absolutely understand and respect. The fans claim that this is their home and this is where their passion is. Moving to a new stadium would break the tradition and passion that’s been built up through the years. What struck me as odd when I went to Newlands on Saturday was that there didn’t seem to be so much passion. For most parts of the match, the crowd was dead quiet with cheers coming only when The Stormers got some points. At one stage, I was talking to my brother on the phone and despite both of us being in Newlands, we could carry a normal conversation without having any problems hearing each other. To me, this should never be possible at a sporting event. The crowds should be singing, clapping and cheering for the full duration of the match. Not too long ago, I attended a Telkom Knockout match at Cape Town Stadium where the noise generated by the Ajax and Kaizer Chiefs fans was deafening. And yes, they did have the extra noise of the Vuvuzelas but I found them much more passionate than The Stormers faithful this weekend. Besides, football fans overseas don’t have Vuvuzelas and they sing so loud that sometimes players can’t even hear the whistle.”
As I read the above paragraph, I couldn’t help but agree with Ryan because what he says is so true. When points are not being scored, there is silence in the stands #Fact
In closing, Ryan leaves us with an interesting thought.
“I am in no way saying that it is like this every weekend at Newlands. This might have been an isolated incident; maybe some fans were just getting too cold (The weather was worse at the Ajax vs Chiefs match) or were still getting into the swing of things after the international break. All I know is that if you are fighting against a move to a bigger and better venue for your team, saying that Newlands is where the passion is, then you better start showing that passion. You better make sure that your support is there every weekend, in full force! Get some songs and anthems to sing during the boring parts of the game and let the opposition know that they have entered Newlands…home of THE STORMERS. Home of South Africa’s most passionate fans. And I think that type of support will go a long way in showing WP Rugby that a move away from Newlands would be a bad idea.”
So what do you think? This has nothing to do with the way the teams play, because football fans are able to scream their way through an entire game, even when no goals are scored… Can the Newlands faithful show their passion for their team and keep the Stormers at Newlands?
Your call. How do we get the faithful at Newlands singing the same songs?
@bobbynic23
ouch that hurt!
