I have been to watch football matches from a very early age. My
father started taking me to watch my favourite team Birmingham
City from the age of six. In this article I write about how in
my opinion, all seater stadiums have taken the atmosphere out of
football grounds.
I remember as a young child feeling quite intimidated by the
crowd at Birmingham City's home ground, called St Andrews. The
noise and singing of the supporters was even quite frightening
at times.
The football team itself, always seemed to struggle each season
and we seemed to lose more games than we would win. I still
however could not wait for the next match to arrive and had a
dream that I myself would one day wear the blue and white strip
and play for Birmingham myself. Football you see was my passion
at the time.
The supporters had quite a number of songs which they would sing
and each season would add a couple of new songs, normally
criticising the rival team Aston Villa.
The songs and shouted comments were always full of humour and
even when the team was losing, the supporters would continue to
sing.
At certain periods in my teenage years the crowds dropped to
under ten thousand per home match, however the atmosphere was
still there and you could feel it at every match. These were the
true supporters now watching the team losing frequently.
A few years ago, all seater stadiums were introduced for a
number of reasons. I rarely go to watch the football as the
atmosphere is no longer there and the humour has all but gone. I
still love the game however am disappointed at the change that
has occured.
My team themselves have reached the premier league and every
home match is a sell out with nearly thirty thousand people
turning up to each home match. In my opinion though compared to
the past, even with this many people inside the ground, it feels
like a morgue, with very little noise and the same three or four
songs been blasted out. That is when people can be bothered to
sing.
About the author:
Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:
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dementia
information
hair loss
remedy treatment
