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Since the switch from Olympic park to AAMI park, there has been a significant drop in active support. I completely understand why though in the wake of the salary cap scandal and also the supporter groups from Olympic park being split into different areas making it hard to get an active supporter group working. The thundersqaud hasn't really worked as yet, with a few people complaining about the noise. For the first 3 games it has really been a struggle to get people into it and we are currently trying to work on a long term solution. In the short term though we need as many people 'participating' as possibly, not only does it make games more exciting for fans, but it pumps the boys up. If anyone is interested in helping us out, make your way over to Aisle 36 (Behind the goals, Northern end) and join in the fun
Also before anyone lashes out, I'm not having a go at anyone who doesn't chant, sing etc. I'ts just hard to see what use to be our extremely loud support diminishing.

Anyone have any suggestions for short term and long term solutions?

Think you answered most of your own questions. Everyone split up.
I'm right behind the goal posts,but we are surrounded by groups of empty seats.Add to that the fact that the front rows seem to have been allocated to family groups with young kids ?

Not a fan of chants or organised singing.
I hear the people in front of the cow bell singing & chanting but can't understand most of it,(so maybe those on field don't either    )
I just like to yell at opposing players & yell support for our guys.

Well No, I posed the questions but the one main one being how can it be fixed...The people in front of you would be our supporter group... (JF_Storm Swans with the big flag, me and two others with the cowbell etc). Right now were pulling chants and songs out of our arse so maybe thats why it doesnt make sense. However this, like I mentioned would be pleasant to change. We were thinking try get the storm to allocate us 300 or so seats for next season, and in between now and then we will try our best to get all the active supporters back in the one area because the thundersquad, is more of a family squad.

There was duelling cowbells on Monday. One would cancel out the other and become a mess of noise.

We sit in a similar area and got a bit of support going at the Dogs game when we booed Kimmorley every time he touched the ball in the second half.

Still not as bad as the vuvuzela.

40-20 wrote: There was duelling cowbells on Monday. One would cancel out the other and become a mess of noise.

We sit in a similar area and got a bit of support going at the Dogs game when we booed Kimmorley every time he touched the ball in the second half.

Still not as bad as the vuvuzela.

Usually the three we have are quite consistant but there is one bloke at the back who seems a bit loopy with it haha

That guy with the other cowbell sits up behind us near the Bai Stand. He has no bloody idea how it works, he seems to just like to hit it randomly.... 
Farkin annoying that he can't even keep it in time with you guys    I'm about ready to snatch the bloody thing off him & shove it somewhere painful 
We in the Bai Stand have our own chants & try songs but the past few games it's been hard to sing when we don't score too much....plus a few of the 'regulars' have moved to reserved seating 

One question about the Thundersquad - thought you couldn't sit there if you didn't have the right membership??  Not that I'd move from the Bai Stand 

I don't think the cowbell guy near the Bai Stand quite understands the cowbell thing.  He only does it once and rings it for the "Melbourne" part, too.  You can't get a chant going when it's only done once.  You should invite him over - if he only hangs out for a little while, at least he'll learn how to do it properly.  I'm in the lower eastern stand between the 40 and 30 - near the Thundersquad end.  It's hard to make out what you're singing or chanting - unless it's the obvious Melbourne chant.  I think, with time, things will improve.

I had an idea when I was looking over at the Thundersquad on Monday - you know those giant pom pom things AFL cheer squads have behind the goals?  I think you should get some of those going.  You don't see that kind of thing in the NRL.  Also - how many people are actually in the Thundersquad.  You don't see a lot of flags - and when you do, they're scattered about.

absentee wrote: I don't think the cowbell guy near the Bai Stand quite understands the cowbell thing.  He only does it once and rings it for the "Melbourne" part, too.  You can't get a chant going when it's only done once.  You should invite him over - if he only hangs out for a little while, at least he'll learn how to do it properly.  I'm in the lower eastern stand between the 40 and 30 - near the Thundersquad end.  It's hard to make out what you're singing or chanting - unless it's the obvious Melbourne chant.  I think, with time, things will improve.

I had an idea when I was looking over at the Thundersquad on Monday - you know those giant pom pom things AFL cheer squads have behind the goals?  I think you should get some of those going.  You don't see that kind of thing in the NRL.  Also - how many people are actually in the Thundersquad.  You don't see a lot of flags - and when you do, they're scattered about.

Thanks for the insight. Yeah I will try find him on Saturday and get him to join in, because to be honest it does get annoying even though he is trying.
Hmmm, that could work, the pom pom idea. I think that could be a plan but we were also kind of leaning towards a couple of more large flags. But that will only happen once we get more active people. But I'll run the pom pom idea over with the boys on Saturday.
In response to the amounts of people in the thundersquad, i think there is only about 300 taking up about 500 seats I think (?). And a lot of those really should not have joined the thundersquad as they complain about the noise.

Tigger wrote: That guy with the other cowbell sits up behind us near the Bai Stand. He has no bloody idea how it works, he seems to just like to hit it randomly.... 
Farkin annoying that he can't even keep it in time with you guys    I'm about ready to snatch the bloody thing off him & shove it somewhere painful 
We in the Bai Stand have our own chants & try songs but the past few games it's been hard to sing when we don't score too much....plus a few of the 'regulars' have moved to reserved seating 

One question about the Thundersquad - thought you couldn't sit there if you didn't have the right membership??  Not that I'd move from the Bai Stand 

Yeah like I just mentioned he gets annoyed but we just laugh it off....might have to teach him how to work the bloody thing though!! Well we are always trying to get more people up and chanting, so maybe we could come join you fellas to see how t goes  or you can move the bai stand down near us?? I joke...but I'm now on a mission to get every active supporter I can find into one area to bring the atmosphere back into storm games 

Cowbell-Mark wrote: Since the switch from Olympic park to AAMI park, there has been a significant drop in active support. I completely understand why though in the wake of the salary cap scandal and also the supporter groups from Olympic park being split into different areas making it hard to get an active supporter group working. The thundersqaud hasn't really worked as yet, with a few people complaining about the noise. For the first 3 games it has really been a struggle to get people into it and we are currently trying to work on a long term solution. In the short term though we need as many people 'participating' as possibly, not only does it make games more exciting for fans, but it pumps the boys up. If anyone is interested in helping us out, make your way over to Aisle 36 (Behind the goals, Northern end) and join in the fun
Also before anyone lashes out, I'm not having a go at anyone who doesn't chant, sing etc. I'ts just hard to see what use to be our extremely loud support diminishing.

Anyone have any suggestions for short term and long term solutions?

Good on you for trying to get things  happening in terms of chanting and support for the club.  As you said, many people are now split up, even from their friends as in my case, where our group now sits in 3 different areas of the ground.

I upgraded my membership to Premiers Package to get a better view this year and in our area, they do join in the chants, but wait until someone at the ground starts it....all except the guy next to me who seems to be asleep all game day and doesn't say boo.

I like the idea about the pom poms....which should be purple of course.
How about some larger banners/flags  added to the pom poms wavers?.  That would look awesome.

Have you spoken to the club to help out in some way, if not for this year, maybe next year?

Cowbell-Mark wrote: Well No, I posed the questions but the one main one being how can it be fixed...The people in front of you would be our supporter group... (JF_Storm Swans with the big flag, me and two others with the cowbell etc). Right now were pulling chants and songs out of our arse so maybe thats why it doesnt make sense. However this, like I mentioned would be pleasant to change. We were thinking try get the storm to allocate us 300 or so seats for next season, and in between now and then we will try our best to get all the active supporters back in the one area because the thundersquad, is more of a family squad.

Full marks to the club to try and chance things by introducing the Thunder Squad. But it just doesn't work properly. If we want to use the way an AFL Cheer Squad works (I know, a different sport, but when you have nothing to start with you have to look at how others do it), they have 300 seats in the Cheer Squad area which are unreserved. Then flags floggers and signs are handed out to whoever wants them. With us we have 3 full bays of people who have been handed flags caps & t-shirts and left to deal with everything ourselves. Last Monday night was the first time the loud group could even attempt to sit together due to several of us having missed recent games due to AFL or own sport commitments. Security were very uneasy about this which led to a couple of people going off at them.

Every game I have to hand in my big flag to security or the club. Can anyone explain why.  If we get several made, will this happen every time people turn up to a game? Will we need to get bannered accredited every time we want to take them in?

I appreciate that thing will take time to settle with the new stadium. But if we want any of the atmosphere we had at the Graveyard, we need to act. Or the people interested in active support need to. Because despite the new surroundings the atmosphere is nowhere what it was in the Eastern Stand at our old home.

In terms of commitment and loyalty Storm fans are up there with the best in the game. Even the Parra fans said they respected us for travelling up to support our team the other night. However we haven't got a supporters group like the Dragon Army or Chook Pen. Let's look at changing this. And getting organised about having some more flags & banners in one central area.

JF

Tigger wrote: That guy with the other cowbell sits up behind us near the Bai Stand. He has no bloody idea how it works, he seems to just like to hit it randomly.... 
Farkin annoying that he can't even keep it in time with you guys    I'm about ready to snatch the bloody thing off him & shove it somewhere painful 
We in the Bai Stand have our own chants & try songs but the past few games it's been hard to sing when we don't score too much....plus a few of the 'regulars' have moved to reserved seating 

What are your songs guys? We are more than happy to join in with them. All we have to do is know them.

I think people need to talk to the cowbell user up the back to either come down and sit with us so he gets in time. Or to listen to when we get chants going so he can join in and get the people up the back going.

JF

CooperCronk wrote:

Cowbell-Mark wrote: Since the switch from Olympic park to AAMI park, there has been a significant drop in active support. I completely understand why though in the wake of the salary cap scandal and also the supporter groups from Olympic park being split into different areas making it hard to get an active supporter group working. The thundersqaud hasn't really worked as yet, with a few people complaining about the noise. For the first 3 games it has really been a struggle to get people into it and we are currently trying to work on a long term solution. In the short term though we need as many people 'participating' as possibly, not only does it make games more exciting for fans, but it pumps the boys up. If anyone is interested in helping us out, make your way over to Aisle 36 (Behind the goals, Northern end) and join in the fun
Also before anyone lashes out, I'm not having a go at anyone who doesn't chant, sing etc. I'ts just hard to see what use to be our extremely loud support diminishing.

Anyone have any suggestions for short term and long term solutions?

Good on you for trying to get things  happening in terms of chanting and support for the club.  As you said, many people are now split up, even from their friends as in my case, where our group now sits in 3 different areas of the ground.

I upgraded my membership to Premiers Package to get a better view this year and in our area, they do join in the chants, but wait until someone at the ground starts it....all except the guy next to me who seems to be asleep all game day and doesn't say boo.

I like the idea about the pom poms....which should be purple of course.
How about some larger banners/flags  added to the pom poms wavers?.  That would look awesome.

Have you spoken to the club to help out in some way, if not for this year, maybe next year?

I think we need to. A Thunder Squad store room at AAMI would be good as well so that we can leave poles flags etc etc at the ground each week without having to lug them to the ground each week.

Interesting several people have mentioned using AFL style floggers (and smaller patty dukes) at games.

At the moment with the set seat structure we have in place, this would simply not be possible. As an expat Sydneysider I am aware that floggers and indeed Cheer Squads died out in the 1980s. Manly brought in last flags in the late 1970s and a culture was born. I'd love more of this big flag culture here in Melbourne at Storm games.

JF

Yeah, I like the big flag idea.  The Broncos ones always look good - and there was a big Roosters flag down the other end on Monday night too, so they must be allowed in...

am spewing that parra aren't coming this year as i have a good chant just for hayne in honour of his two left boots debacle at last year's grand final.

(to the tune of the hokey pokey)

he put his left boot in,
he left his right boot out,
he stuck another left in
and he went to the big game,
he opened up his kit bag
and he re-a-lised
something was not quite right,
what could be the matter
hayne from parramatta
i'll tell you what's the matter,
you can't tell left from right!