Am I right in saying Arsenal Al's flags have been banned?
Am I right in saying that the drummers have to stand on the 20mtr line (rather than half way line)?
It certainly looked that way the other week as stewards harassed the drummers into standing further towards the south east corner from their original 40m line spot.

I Know in the Challenge Cup semi, the Wigan drummer in the South stand at the HJ was made to move to the 20m line near the West stand, something to do with the microphones in the stand being in the middle.

the atmosphere is crap because the two drums are out of sync, no one bothers anymore to join unless they are next to the drum and no one will sing as it cringeworthy when everyone stops half way through the god damn chant!

How about The Lair ?

But atmosphere isn't just about singing or drumming. Great atmospheres can also come with the fans just encouraging the team at every opportunity. The roar of the crowd from tackles, runs or breaks; or booing and whistling the opposition every time they are in possession. This noise usually means songs break out as well.

Probably the best atmosphere I've ever been in was Man United v Barcelona in 1984. I was only 9 but can remember it like it was yesterday. We were two nil down from the first leg and Barcelona had Maradona and Schuster bossing their midfield so it was an uphill task before the game had even started. There were songs sung that night but probably not as much variety has you'll hear nowadays. But the noise and buzz was unbelievable. 57,000 fans willing the team on at every opportunity and it never seem to die down for a second. If you don't know the game, United got two goals and soon after Stapleton got the third and it was the loudest roar I've ever heard and seemed to go on for ages.

I don't think we are as passionate about our teams as we'd like to make out. Not just Warrington but Rugby League (and to a certain extent football). Standing in the South Stand, I can't even remember the last time I was moved from my place after a try. Compare that with the Widnes game in 89 when you ended up on a different part of the Fletcher Street every time we scored.

Brilliant post. 100% Spot on.

Has anyone contacted the club about this sort of thing before? If so what have they said?

All this music blaring out is a very bad habit that sport has got into. It is the epitome of cheese! Drums are crap, they drown out and stop spontaneous atmospheres; but this blaring music at every opportunity is just as bad.

It has to stop for me. Let the fans create the atmosphere on our own!

People on this site have been wire fans longer than me and would
D surely have more sway in terms of contacting the club regarding the volume of the PA.
Are the club aware of this forum or do they even care?

On a side note, Latchford Bob, I was at that game and my dad drove the Barca team coach. Got me a signed ball with Maradona, Boniek etc all signed on it.
Great night.

I (along with a few others I believe) contacted the club before the Leeds play off game last year after Simon Moran was quoted as saying, “We need to make the place a cauldron for this match”, “A place where the atmosphere is intimidating for the opposition and a boost for our own players” and “It is time for people to vote with their feet and really get behind the team.

The reply was a we take onboard your suggestions but it was unlikely they would get rid of pre match/try music. To their credit though and to my surprise the music was turned down around half an hour before the match and the atmosphere was allowed to build accordingly.

The levels before the match are ridiculous, made worse by the fact that you have no choice to walk past some speakers when you enter the South Stand.

Unless people contact the club in big numbers, I can't see anything changing. I think there a lot of fans who don't even know what a good atmosphere is and are quite happy to dance along to The Black Eyed Peas/Take That/Duran Duran before the match and Tom Hark when we score.



That is superb. Boniek was at Juve who we played in the Semi Final. He was some player along with Platini, Rossi, Gentile, Cabrini and Tardelli. European Champions a year later.

Great post. It's like a morgue compared to the Fletch nowadays.

Was a few years back, I was only 14. Dont even know what happened to the ball.
I was in the stretty. At that time I used to go on the railings at the front. My dad was called in at short notice but I never knew. He was trying to contact me as he got 2 tickets for the main stand and access to the players lounge. I had already left to go to the game so didnt find out till I got home.
Absolutely gutted. I could have met them all.
Damn pre mobile phone days.

I have just emailed the club to complain about the volume and how it is killing any pre match atmosphere.

Great I'll just e-mail Tony Smith and tell him his teams awful Rugby is killing atmosphere during the match

Whats the point. He won't listen to a kn0b like you

I remember a Maine Road derby (2001, Beckham free kick, 0-1 United win) where the tannoy/speaker system broke down about 45mins before kick off and Maine Road was bouncing pre-game (helped by the fact we hadn't played United for four and a bit years due to being in the darkness of our late 90's days!). Since then we've not replicated that pre-match atmosphere, and thus what carried on into the game, because we play music over any chanting that starts up.

I think, just once for a big game, Wire should cut the music pre-game and just see what we can create in the stands.

The pre-match music is played loud so that it drowns out any expletive ridden chanting. Its the only way the clubs have of controlling this behaviour.

Rubbish. Where do you get that from? There's more chance of expletives during the game where they can't drown out it out with music.

Liar for the South Stand. The West would have to be the Chicken Coup!

Drums are e, a lot of people beleive this (myself included) and we never needed them at Wilderspool. However, we aren't there anymore. We are at HJ that has recently had a poor atmosphere and is really reliant on the drum. People will have to accept that without a drum there is no atmospere.

I say we get more drummers. An entire back row of drummers. Blast the place out and have a caldron of noise for the Wire (I am only half joking)

Both the railway end and the fletch at wilderspool generated great atmospheres. Even large numbers of visitting fans generate an atmosphere in the West. What do they all have in common..................behind the sticks. I never remember there being a "big atmosphere" along the terracing infront of the BB stand at Wilderspool.

The thing about wilderspool is the atmosphere was generated due to the corrigated iron

1) people banged, kicked it and makes one hell of a racket

2) due to the texture it reverberated the sound better

Now unfortunately we do not have that help and the drummer boys arr needed.

How about vuvuzelas

It has made me laugh reading this thread today....

Some people on here are sounding as desperate as Chelsea FC in their attempts to create atmosphere in the ground.
You can't create an atmosphere by having flags, less music, drums etc.
Certainly not the sporting atmosphere you are talking about.

Unfortunately modern day sport will never have the same atmosphere as it did back in the 80's and 90's purely because of the design of the new grounds.
The seated stadiums and the push for a more family orientated experience at the matches also has an effect.

But the most important aspect and the atmosphere I think we are referring to in this thread can only come from game itself.
In this respect, Warrington have become a victim of of their own success.
Last season at Wire, the majority of games we played were complete walk overs. We were expecting to win, we did win and it wasn't even close.
Some times when a big win isn't expected (i.e. Huddersfield in the cup) it can be a great atmosphere, but when you expect to win and the opposition are unable to mount any kind of challenge, what is there to get excited about???

And that is the key phrase here, getting excited. That is what creates atmosphere in a tight game when a player makes a good break or you have 5 minuutes of pressure on the oppositions line and look like a try is coming. It is in these situations that the crowd get excited and start shouting and getting nervous etc, and that is what creates the atmosphere.

And it is in these tight games when you come through and get a victory against the odds that suddenly the man in the crowd who never joins in with the songs suddenly starts singing along because his heart is racing and he has got caught up in the atmosphere.

Unfortunately that is only likely to happen in the big games against Saints, Wigan, Leeds, Bradford.
Against the "lesser" teams we are expected to win, so if we are winning no one gets excited and if we are losing we get a negative atmosphere.

Atmosphere is not about singing or music or drums. The best atmosphere I have ever experienced at this new stadium was against Leeds when Andrew Johns was kicking a conversion from the sidelines and the entire stadium went silent. There was no noise at all but you could feel the atmosphere it was that good!

How about a trumpeter leading the singing, ala English cricket. Paid for by the club ?

I agree that the music is played too loud and for too long on a matchday. For the last 10-15 minutes before a big game such as v Wigan and Saints they should just stop playing music and allow the fans to generate an atmosphere. It would really get the place going. Instead the first chance for the crowd to generate an atmosphere is after kick-off. Against Sts they scored after 2 minutes which meant that the ground was quiet before it had even had chance to get going.

Agree with most of that and you're right in saying less music won't create an atmosphere but more music will definitely stop it from taking off.

I said the same last season about watching walkovers every week. The best atmospheres, celebrations and victories are always the ones in the face of adversity. When you're the underdog, come from behind to win or last minute trys/goals.