Regular blogger Gavinio believes fans should stick around, not miss a kick and applaud the players off the pitch...
Picture the scene. I am standing near the front of the stage at Birmingham’s NIA (National Indoor Arena) watching my favourite band Queen + Paul Rodgers live in concert in October 2008.
From past experience, I know they only have two songs left to play in their set before they make their farewells to God Save the Queen. I take a glance around the arena and see blocks of empty seats that only minutes before had people rocking away in them. Some of my fellow punters seem to have left to beat the traffic. I stand there, horrified that anyone could leave before the end and shake my head in disbelief.
OK, so this didn't actually happen. Yes, I went to see Queen live in concert but as far as I could tell, nobody left the arena early. Every fan who'd paid to see the band perform heard every note of every rousing song.
So why is it that fans of my favourite other English institution, Manchester United, feel the need to leave Old Trafford early? At every home game, there are people who begin to leave 15 minutes from the end of the match. This is not a new phenomenon, it has been happening for many seasons, but I am still completely baffled why supporters feel the need to leave before full-time.
Already this season, the early leavers will have missed superb goals like Welbeck’s sensational strike against Stoke City, Vidic's last-minute winner against Sunderland and most recently Macheda's sublime winner in injury time against Aston Villa. Indeed, in the latter case, some fans will have also missed Ronaldo’s equaliser as well, such was their eagerness to get out of OT.I have heard excuses from fans who say they need to catch a train or get to the airport to make a flight etc. While that's a reasonable thing to say, all I can wonder is why don't they take a later one home?
The other thing they say in defence is that leaving early shaves a considerable amount of time off their drive home. I'm sure it does but the concept still sits uneasily with me. It can take me nearly two hours to travel not a huge distance to my home in Huddersfield but I wouldn't trade those nail-biting, exciting minutes of injury time at Old Trafford for more time in the house!
If you are coming to Old Trafford to watch the team that you purport to support, then surely the most important thing is to give the players your full backing right until the end of the game? Aside from never knowing what you might miss, as the examples above illustrate, it is also only right and proper to applaud the players off the pitch - regardless of the result. I was ashamed to see so many seats vacated during the recent defeat to Liverpool. After such a result, the players need the lift your applause can give to them.
Some of the players have spoken recently about the impact your support can have. With Liverpool breathing down United's necks in the league and Arsenal providing a huge obstacle to a second consecutive Champions League final, your full and committed support could make all the difference.
If you can do it for your favourite band or singer, then surely you can do it for your football club. Please stay until the end, bitter or sweet.
21/04/2009 12:00, Report by Gavinio
0 comments:
Post a Comment