Turkish football fans don't agree with the rules....

you're on! but we'll sit in the home section for an aek/olympiakos game. i've been in the cage at karaiskaki and don't want to relive. lol.

better yet....lazio/roma!

 

dp

 

I do as I have said see some valid points you have made hopefully I have made some two, and even though you could do that and see some world class football in one of the worlds most beautiful countries you should consider scrapping it too come to sunny Scotia.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbjccPaO4K0&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbjccPaO4K0&feature=related[/ame]

we'll show you how its done right

EDIT: I think even lazio/roma would be too much for me to handle

 

Isn't that "huddle" a Polish thing? Why so sure that Celtic fans do it "right"?

The New Yorker had a long and interesting article on the Besiktas supporter group Çarşı last year. One thing that stood out when I read it was almost how divorced they are from the game itself. Their actions have a life of their own. Here is an excerpt attached.

It sounds like Ultras don't need football. So does football really need ultras?

 

thems fighting words round here pal.

the fans of the polish team lech poznan do the same thing (famously stolen by man city), the celtic fans huddle is an imitation of the famous huddle which celtic players do before big games no connection to the poznan they just look the same.



although you probably knew that already.

is there a wrong way to do mass jumping up and down ? I meant get behind there team not how to do the huddle/poznan what ever you want to call it, it was a light hearted jokey comment to end my conversation with giovanni, although again I am sure you knew that and are just trying to start something

 

No, not really. I wasn't brought up in a football culture. I follow it, but as an almost permanent neutral. So your viewpoint is interesting to me because it's so different.

 

my viewpoint on what is interesting because its unusual, I am not sure what your referring to ?

 

We used to have our own equivalent of the huddle/Poznan, but if you did it at an away ground then plod would threaten to nick you if you didn't stop.

 

I blame the Selhurst acoustics!

This best explains the "Holmesdale Fanatics" take on what it means to be an ultra group in the UK. An interesting read whatever your opinion of CPFC.

http://europeanfootballweekends.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/holmesdale-fanatics-crystal-palace-fc.html

 

To be fair, I haven't been to Selhurst park for a few years now, so I realise that things might have changed a bit. It is actually my second most visited football ground, having seen not just Palace there, but Charlton and Wimbledon, back in the day when it was London's rent-a-ground. Must have been there six or seven times, and it was always a bit of a morgue back then. Glad to hear that some of the fans have tried to do something about it, because for me football is a bit of a soulless business these days compared with the good old days of the terraces.

Not sure I like the use of the name 'ultras' though. Fairly or unfairly, it has too many associations with hooligans for my liking. Ten Italians stabbing one rival fan then boasting about how 'hard' they are - that sort of thing.

 

"Ultra" is a very divisive term and from a UK perspective does carry all the conotations of continental violence. For the groups that use the term here, or rather my interpretation of it, it means "going beyond", being involved in supporting/representing your club in a far more involved way than just match-days.

I'm not saying ultras are better fans or more passionate about their clubs than the many thousands of 'regular' fans, but that representation goes on every day, not just 3pm to 5pm on Saturdays.

The Sky cameras might love the Man City fans "doing the Poznan" and love all those pretty flags that, say, Chelsea provides for free for its fans at Stamford Bridge. But I bet 98% of City fans are doing it JUST for the cameras and don't know its real roots and that it ought to be a spontaneous show of unity and strength of the fans, just for the fans. The free Chelsea flags leave me cold. But at a no-mark, mid-table Championship match on Saturday I had goosebumps when the Palace fans unfurled a massive picture and banner and display in honour of one of our players. That was organised and paid for totally independently of the club and was a genuine fans-inspired event - or "tifo" as the group responsible called it.

Yes, Selhurst was a grim pace to visit for even home fans a few years back. But these days, home and away - led by the ultras - the atmosphere is now vibrant and brilliant. Not every single match, maybe, but far more often than not and definitely far more involving than many of the current corporate mausoleums that pass for Premier League stadia.

South London ultras aren't about the aggro, they're about 100% backing your team 100% of the time (but also holding the club to account on a range of issues).

BTW, I'm not a member of the Palace ultra group, but I often stand with them and appreciate what they've brought to the club on and off the pitch.

Forza!

 

Palace ultras honour Julian Speroni on Saturday.
This pic has everything to get a Palace fan's heart beating faster: Mutual respect between fans and player, reinforcement of the "born in South London" culture and pride in your roots (okay, Speroni is an Argie!) and faith in the future of the young local lads making their mark in the team . . .

 

This whole fan/ultra/football business leaves me cold TBH.
I just don't get it. To me supporting a football team these days is like supporting "Tesco" when they "play" against "Sainsburys".
Perhaps I'm just not wired in the same way as, seemingly, the vast majority of men in the UK?
Supporting a team made up of local people, people I know or people I live in a community with I can more understand. Their success is in some way a reflection of the community I might share with them.
But supporting a load of employees in a large business that have virtually no allegience to that business beyond what it can do for their careers? Seems an odd thing to support to me.

 

PASmith, are you a bird?

 

Fair points and unless the Premier league is reined in, the disconnect between fans and clubs is only going to grow wider and wider. The PL has now introduced a new scheme allowing its clubs to raid the academies of lower league clubs and rob them of their best talent with very little compensation.
Clubs like Palace have brilliant academies and are fighting this. And at a fan level it is the "ultras" and other newly mobilised action groups that are joining and leading the fight.
As I said above, a massive part of the attraction of seeing Palace (and this holds true for most lower league clubs) is that the team IS made up in large part of LOCAL lads. It's Premier League greed that is killing this. And it's FANS who must oppose it.

 

I can certainly feel a little fish out of water around other men.
Them - "Did you see the ball sport on the weekend?"
Me - "No"

 

Do your friends actually call it 'ball sport'?

(Please say yes.)

 

No...I was using that in a derisive manner.
I can give or take pretty much all ball-sport. If it involves a ball I'm probably not interested.

 

What went wrong?

 

Are your parents into it? I get the impression that football is one of those diseases that runs in families.