What is the role of the football fan? The view of a superstar…

What is the role of the football fan? There’s only one Baron Davis!

By Ian Jenkinson.

@Gooneriano

As you may have read in Walter’s article on the Dortmund match, I too was very lucky to be in attendance at the game with two friends.

I was looked after by some very good people with the tickets and after the game we travelled from Dortmund to Dusseldorf where we were staying the night and bumped into a sports star all the way from the US of A. Randomness is a funny thing but something that this sports star said to us pushed me to write this article.

Attending games is something that I appreciate so much. I only get to games twice, maybe three times a season if I am lucky. I do not live in England let alone London and I cannot afford to go over more often (until I win the lottery!).

I know there are vast numbers of Arsenal fans out there with so much passion for the club that have never been to a match and sadly may never get to one and I never forget that when I am travelling to a game. I remind myself how privileged I am to be going to see The Arsenal. These trips are huge highlights in my year and I look forward to them for months. So when I travel to a match I feel, as a fan, that I have to give as best a positive vocal performance for the team as possible.

When we attend games as Arsenal fans we expect a certain level of performance from the team and the manager but I also think that the team and manager should expect a certain level of support from us. Now I know that the team and manager get paid a huge amount of money to do what they do and the average Joe Soaps like us are the ones funding this but I still think a certain level of support should always be maintained. After all, we do go there by choice, nobody forces us to go.

So, what is the role of the fan that goes to see their team? Surely it is as basic and as simple as this: You support the team. You have taken time away from family (or maybe have gone to great expense and brought them along), you have willingly spent money on the ticket and you are very excited to be going there (well you should be). So why would you do anything but support the team?

Imagine a scenario where your support was the difference between a win and a loss. Imagine if you and those around you lifted the team just enough to edge them forward and score a goal that won a game. Imagine if your support made our defenders feel 2 inches taller when we are defending a lead. Imagine if we made a wall of noise that it made them feel like a brick wall themselves, like nobody will pass them. How priceless would that be to a team’s points tally come the end of the season?

Watch Arsenal Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv

I feel that the fans can and do make that difference, we can drag a team over the line or push them forward when it is needed. We can quite literally be a twelfth man.

So why are there still Arsenal fans, mainly at the Emirates who don’t support the team on match days? These people stand and shout random abuse at the players and manager. Why? To what purpose?

Have you noticed how after every away game the players who are interviewed mentioned the fans? Not so much at home. Ramsey, Wilshere, Giroud and Arteta have all mentioned the fans after away games. Wenger even touched on the home support not getting completely behind the team. Bendtner spoke about how great it was to hear his chant again during the West Brom League Cup game. Giroud has spoken of how he feels when his chant goes up.

What we sing and how we sound matters.

So, back to Dusseldorf and our sports star. Myself, Michael and Aidan are in high spirits after the match and we decide to go for post-match beverages in Dusseldorf. We find a strip of bars and head into the first one. In there we happen to meet a group of Gooners from New York and a lad from London. After singing a few Arsenal songs and getting to know the group we find out that one of them is a man called Baron Davis who happens to be an NBA basketball player with the New York Knicks. We were very excited!

Now, I must confess, my knowledge of the NBA is pretty much at zero but I was intrigued that here in front of us in a bar in Dusseldorf was an NBA sports star decked out in Arsenal colours and very much enjoying the singing of Arsenal songs and general Arsenal banter. Our regular American Untold readers may be able to tell me more about Baron but having researched him a bit since returning home it seems that he is a well thought of, successful basketball player. He was a two time NBA All Star. So this guy knows his stuff.

The one thing that stood out was how much Baron and the rest of the New York crew absolutely loved the individual chants for the Arsenal players and the chants in general. They were really pumped up when we were singing them and we even managed to teach them one or two more!

The reason I mention all this is because Baron said something which gave me a great insight into the effect of what positive chanting can do to an individual’s performance. We asked him if there were songs for individual players in the NBA and he said that there weren’t but he really wished there was as that would add so much to the atmosphere. We then asked him if a loud positive crowd has any effect on him personally when he is playing. He replied something along the lines of “Man, when I hear the crowd roar or if things get especially loud at an important part of the game I get goose bumps, I get a big adrenalin rush and I feel like I can give 10-20% more.”

And that really struck a chord with me, although it isn’t a profound statement, it is quite natural that players will react to a positive chant or roar (well they should do) but here was a man who was at the top of his profession who completely confirmed the thought. It wasn’t even what he said, it was the way he said it. As he said it, it was as though he transported himself onto a basketball court and surrounded himself with a cacophony of positive sound. He had a glint in his eye.

When he told us that there were no individual chants for players in the NBA we almost instinctively started chanting Arsenal songs but instead of using Arsenal players names we swopped them with “Baron Davis” and he absolutely loved it!! We had such a good laugh and I must say Baron was a complete gentleman as were the rest of the group – Richard Anthony (who I think is Baron’s agent? I would be happy to stand corrected there), Luke and the girls.

Gooners on Tour: Aidan, Richard Anthony, Baron Davis, Mick and Ian celebrating a wonderful 0-1 win.

I’m ashamed to say that I can’t remember the two girl’s names! Luke, from London is taking the picture.

So why would any fan go to a game and hurl abuse at players, the manager and anybody else? Why would somebody pay for a ticket, buy beer etc. and then spend 90 minutes being a bit of an idiot? Surely this can only have a bad effect on the team. And the more people that do it the worse it will be. The team needs our support every week. It is completely pointless abusing the players as they will never react in a positive way so therefore renders the abuse counter intuitive.

Look at Gervinho, his career has taken off again at Roma where he is cheered rather than jeered as he was at Arsenal. The likes of Chamakh, Eboue and Bendtner etc. were never going to flourish at Arsenal with the boo boys on their back (Bendtner has one last chance, why not support him and give him the best opportunity?).

That said, the atmosphere has come back to the Emirates a bit this season and it is great to hear. You have no idea how my heart warms when I hear the songs, especially the “We’re the North Bank…..” chant. I really love it and every Arsenal fan that is lucky to be able to go to the games week in, week out must do their bit to enhance that atmosphere further and therefore the performance of the players. Let us get rid of any negativity from the stadium. Let the players and management feed from us.

The proof is there, it has come from the mouth of a two time NBA All Star. We matter. How vocal we are matters. So get behind the team home or away, whether we are winning, drawing or losing. Your voice could make all the difference.

Be loud, be heard and most importantly – be positive.

It matters.

@Gooneriano

The books…