Sydney Cheersquad

[cruiser]

Have there part in the game, such is the history and culture of AFL. But seems out of place outside of Victoria.

A surprisingly misguided Vic-centric view. I was a member of the Glenelg cheer squad in Adelaide from 1979 to 1984. JF can tell you how huge we were back then, as were a number of the SANFL cheer squads back then.

[cruiser]

Have there part in the game, such is the history and culture of AFL. But seems out of place outside of Victoria.

A surprisingly misguided Vic-centric view. I was a member of the Glenelg cheer squad in Adelaide from 1979 to 1984. JF can tell you how huge we were, as were a number of the SANFL cheer squads back then.

[Glenn]

Out of place outside traditional AFL states may be better wording

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

I shouldn't probably give in to a deliberate attempt at a troll, but I think I should say what is really happening. The people in charge of the Sydney Cheer Squad, including myself (who whilst holding no official title do a lot of organising, especially for away games & re getting the flags & banners out to Homebush) do stuff basically on their own.That is about 4-6 of us. We are all extremely drained by doing this repeatedly week after week, year after year. This has worn us down to a point where we often do things out of little more than a sense of obligation rather than any sense of fun or thrill.

Personally I dreaded having to go to the Cricket nets of a Saturday morning to make the banners. I knew I'd have 5-8 hours of hard work ahead of me for very little reward. In Melbourne there'd be a waiting list of people waiting in the wings for their turn to be involved. Here if the same 4-6 people don't turn up to make the banner, there will simply be no banner. Last season I got to the point where I didn't care of there was a banner or not. This season I am going to try & avoid going out on the thing at all, apart from in Adelaide Brisbane & in Melbourne when I feel like it.

The president & I are very close personal friends. We talk about heaps of stuff outside of footy. We have known each other for years & years. We more or less built the Sydney Cheer Squad from nothing back in the early 90s where we had 6 paper floggers and about 10 members. The thing is both of us are very very drained. But we don't leave because if we do everything will fall over completely if we do. Maybe it should so that the club has no option but to start again with whatever they decide to do. But having started this thing when the club was on its deathbed, we are stubborn in our resistance to see it fall over as well.

Sadly the major reason why the Cheer Squad has faltered in Sydney has been due the way some people who get involved have been treated by those high up in the Cheer Squad. The Manager gets so stressed on game day when nobody wants to go out on the banner & help etc etc that she has often been guilty of saying things to people that she may well have regretted later.I have copped it on many an occasions. So have others on RWO who have had the temerity to watch a reserves game from inside the Cs area without having paid their CS membership fee. This HAS unfortunately led to a lot of people being upset & a lot of people who were involved in the Cheer Squad not only getting their noses out of joint but leaving in dispair. These people,fed up with being yelled at in what should be something you do in your spare time to get away from the stresses of the week, have simply not been replaced ever.

You only need to know how the way a group or club is run determines the mood of any group you choose to be involved with. In Melbourne we had even worse problems in the old days that what we experience in Sydney now. There was massive faction fighting, little enthusiasm, little moral & a coordinator who used to scream at them manically all the time. But under its present manager things could not be better. People can't wait to get involved. Families are there, their kids are as keen as mustard to get on the floggers & go out on the banner etc etc You want to be involved because the people you sit with are great fun & because it is as much a social thing with your friends as it is watching the footy. you just can't bottle that enthusiasm!

Do I have any answers to the the situation in Sydney; hell no I gave up trying last season. I just worry about bringing flags to away games & ensuring we have support at all our games everywhere we play. The co-ordinator & I are close friends and despite all the things that happen I would rather be loyal to my friends rather than get involved in the often rather nasty petty politics that seems to exist around AFL Cheer Squads. If that means the cheer Squad goes under because we have no energy left any more, so be it.

This seasons I'm going to do as humanly little as possible. I'm going to go to the footy to enjoy it. If others want their flags out at Homebush they are going to have to take them out there themselves, because I just don't have the energy to lug multiple flagpoles out to Homebush any more (Beaussie & Silent Lurker that means you two, OK)

Am I bitter at the club; hell no. On the contrary these days they are run by footy people who DO know what they are talking about.The club HAS tried to promote things the best they can.Honestly, they have. They even put leaflets in the membership package one year to get people to join up. They have even brough in borders from Riverview as well to come to games. That helps but it is only a one-week solution. Because week-to-week people are not coming to join.

Still, I'm over feeling too depressed about things (despite this rather morose post). I have a team that are up there with the favourites to win the flag, we will hopefully get over 50000 to our Round One Blockbuster game at Homebush. We have a club that is going from strength to strength.The club is run by the best on & off-field staff that it has ever had! Footy & the Swans have never had a stronger foothold in the Sydney market than now.

I'm looking forward to both the game tomorrow night & the season as a whole. I hope to meet some of those RWOers I am yet to meet, be it at the Brewery at Homebush, the ground at half time or after a match over a pizza somewhere. Make sure you come up & say hi if you see our lot around. And oh yeah, if you feel the need, come up and grab a flag and help us out.

cheers

JF

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Get thinking peoples.

http://sydneyswans.com.au/FanZone/Competitions/tabid/7888/Default.aspx

JF

[Demsone]

Get rid of those older ladies and the simpletons as i told you a few years ago Julian and you will get a heap more people involved and maybe change it up a bit. As it stands the current cheersquad serves no real purpose at all and are not welcoming to any new people. The first time i got involved i had one lady march me out of the area and told me never to come back.

All i did was start chanting and getting passionate.

[ROK Lobster]

Ricky Barham's influence.

[ScottH]

All i did was start chanting and getting passionate.

In a cheersquad? Disgusting!!

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Get rid of those older ladies and the simpletons as i told you a few years ago Julian and you will get a heap more people involved and maybe change it up a bit. As it stands the current cheersquad serves no real purpose at all and are not welcoming to any new people. The first time i got involved i had one lady march me out of the area and told me never to come back.

All i did was start chanting and getting passionate.

You ain't tell me something I don't know Dem.

Can I try and fix the problem? No, i can't. it just isn't worth the stress from fighting with people. especially people who you class as your friends & have known for over 15 years.

JF

[iigrover]

As it stands the current cheersquad serves no real purpose at all and are not welcoming to any new people. The first time i got involved i had one lady march me out of the area and told me never to come back.

All i did was start chanting and getting passionate.

What's with that?

Lets get real people. A cheer squad is an integral part of a footy club. If we need reminding, have a look at *any* news report, video clip etc, of an AFL crowd cheering - its the cheer squad they show. The cheer squad adds to the passion, excitement and mood of the game. Long may that remain so.

I appreciate they effort the cheer squad members put in, and believe that all members of the cheer squad should feel proud of themeselves, no matter what their level of involvment.

p.s. maybe the return of the Swantits may spice things up?

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

p.s. maybe the return of the Swantits may spice things up?

Some of that lot are even hotter than Layby, I tell you! Especially in red hotpants!

JF

[Pommie Swannie]

p.s. maybe the return of the Swantits may spice things up?

Would be good timing - the old Souths girls would be available!

[Layby]

Some of that lot are even hotter than Layby, I tell you! Especially in red hotpants!

JF

Bollocks, nobody is hotter than me in red hotpants, i repeat nobody !

[ScottH]

Bollocks, nobody is hotter than me in red hotpants, i repeat nobody !

Huh, Hmmmm.

[AnnieH]

I feel for you JF. I've seen the banner-lady go off at people trying to put up the banner. I've often said that if I were down there and she screamed at me like that, I'd just job her.

The guy I go to the footy with is(was) a former CS member for the dawks back in the 80's. His greatest thrill was making the banner on a thursday night. He has very fond memories.

I think our cheersquad (despite the politics) generally do a great job. Thanks for the banner every week. It's hard bloody work to put one together, and I cry every time it rips a bit in the wind before the team run through it.

The cheersquad's main job is to rev up the supporters and create a bit of noise. When you're up against the chady-set you really have your work cut out for you.

For example, the chardies that sit in front of our group in the upper brewongle get on my last nerve. Every time anyone from our group (about 12 people) comment, yell at the ref, yell out "ball", cheer, encourage the boys, etc. they spin around and give you a death-look from hell. It's most annoying and the only purpose it serves is to make me go harder.

In Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, that just wouldn't happen.

As for joining the cheersquad ... WTF? Give up my seats under cover??? You've got to be kidding!!