Cat got your tongue? Is there anything beyond "Geelong clap clap clap"?

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Boxhead_31

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#30
At first thought, this seems plausible, but I think this is actually a myth.

In theory, there are plenty of breaks in play in an AFL match.
After a goal is kicked. Before the bounce down. At quarter/half/three quarter time. While a player is "in the hands of the trainers", and of course, during the endless rolling scrums. Chants can work really well in a 20 second gap - we are not talking about singing Stairway to Heaven here ;)

In practice, Collingwood have shown that there are opportunities to make it work. Their slow chant certainly hasn't gone unnoticed.
FWIW, I have a pet theory that a lot of non-Collingwood supporters hate that chant because they deep-down envy it. I do!



Well, it is melodically very basic, but that is a strength, IMO.
  • It is very simple to join in with.
  • It creates a hypnotic, eerie atmosphere which, according to D.Jolly, inspires the players.
  • It drowns out the opposition fans' cheers.
What's not to like... other than the club that imported* it?


BTW, I am not advocating just copying this, and it is never going to be a hit single - but I do think it is a success.

* I say imported, as I believe it is a straight copy of a British soccer club chant. Probably Arsenal, but I am still looking for confirmation of this.
Think you will find Sydney and Fremantle were doing the chant well before Collingwood decided to start doing it
 

Moggy

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Thread starter #35
To the OP, I have been to plenty of English, Italian, Spanish and South American football grounds and I will say that chanting is vastly overrated as a means of creating atmosphere. Particularly in England, where nearly all the songs are repetitive and generic.

The best atmosphere is created through raw, unscripted emotion. Games where the crowd noise almost sucks the ball into the net, there does not tend to be some show tune ringing around the ground at these times. Just people yelling guttural primal nonsense.
I completely agree that the best atmosphere is "raw, unscripted emotion".

However, I have always felt that there must be a better way to gee-up the team than "Gee-long clap clap clap".
 

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Moggy

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Thread starter #37
Watch the game.
Go on.
have I twisted your arm enough yet?
Watch it with MMM commentary (I like to watch theirs when I know the game back to front, I find it more entertaining).
Right. Just emailed the boss that something urgent has come up and I need a few hours :)
 

CatAttack84

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#38
Geelong has an "unofficial Cheersquad" who are actually pretty good and funny, I've sat near them a few times. :thumbsu:

The official CS are a bunch of bores, who are completely annoying- always try and avoid sitting near them, they will never try anything new.

And I dont think we have the best song by a long shot in the AFL. I love it in the way cause "its our song", but I acutally think other teams have better songs than us.
I have to agree with most of this. I don't agree that other teams have a better song than us, I just think ours is equally one of the better ones along with a few others.

The unofficial one you speak of, are these the bloke that, especially at the MCG games, are on the bottom level in the standing area with very soccer-like chants?
 

CatAttack84

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#40
As it happens, I was reliving past glories recently by listening to the K-Rock commentary of that match. That is sort of what got me thinking about the whole thing.

It was a massive moment and I loved it, but it felt very much like a response to Collingwood - rather than our own chant.
^ Correct 100%

We at the game did it as a direct stab back to them alright. For me personally it was retribution for a year earlier in the finals. I'll never forget that night in 2010 when they smashed us.
Nothing felt better than to pay it back to the, but in this case they were suffering a Grand Final loss, not a finals elimination. :)
 

SJ

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^ Correct 100%

We at the game did it as a direct stab back to them alright. For me personally it was retribution for a year earlier in the finals. I'll never forget that night in 2010 when they smashed us.
Nothing felt better than to pay it back to the, but in this case they were suffering a Grand Final loss, not a finals elimination. :)
It does happen in Grand Finals though, a huge GEE-LONG chant went up late in the 2007 win.

There wasn't enough time to think about it in 2009.
 

Moggy

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Thread starter #44
he's in this video of the chant (the guy conducting the crowd at around 0:20)
Thanks.

I see also that "Catman" was conducting the cheers squad at about double the tempo of the chant.
While we are talking about culture, I am not sure I am happy with "Catman" being such an obvious symbol of the GFC.
His getup strikes me as more about "look at me" than anything else.

For all I know, one of you guys is Catman!
 
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#45
Thanks.

I see also that "Catman" was conducting the cheers squad at about double the tempo of the chant.
While we are talking about culture, I am not sure I am happy with "Catman" being such an obvious symbol of the GFC.
His getup strikes me as more about "look at me" than anything else.

For all I know, one of you guys is Catman!
I don't think he was that bad and he only wears his get up half the time these days. I probably was not that much better when I wore a cape/flag and face paint to all the games when I was younger
 

FredLeDeux

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#50
Thanks.

I see also that "Catman" was conducting the cheers squad at about double the tempo of the chant.
While we are talking about culture, I am not sure I am happy with "Catman" being such an obvious symbol of the GFC.
His getup strikes me as more about "look at me" than anything else.

For all I know, one of you guys is Catman!
Didn't I hear Harley say one day that he's Roy West's son?
 
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