End of the day, chant, sit, stand, whatever, the yellow fever executives have absolutely no right to tell someone where they should be seated, nor tell them how to support the boys. We are all there to back the Wellington Phoenix Football Club. If someone doesn't chant, big deal, they've paid there money and they've taken the time to back the lads. That's what it is ALL about.
This is my reply.
It's not that of the "Yellow Fever executive", whoever the hell that is, and I am not speaking on behalf of "the core" or anyone else. It's just what I think.
One one level I get and agree with the "people should be allowed to support the team the way they want to" line of thinking. I agree, not everyone wants to stand, and not everyone wants to sing or chant, and not everyone wants to have a beer.
That's okay.
By the same token, part of "people should be allowed to support the team the way they want to" means that if some people DO want to stand, and sing, and chant, and wave flags and banners and carry on, then they should be entitled to do that, too.
The current Fever Zone was created and designated for precisely that purpose as noted by Feverish, 2nd Best, Smithy and others already in this thread.
So anyone who comes and stands or sits in the Fever Zone and doesn't participate in what it was created for, I think have to be ready to cop a bit of "Come on, why aren't you standing/clapping/chanting/singing?" I agree that swearing and getting abusive is not what we need to be seeing, but to respond to the people who are trying to get people in the Fever Zone to do what the Fever Zone was set up and designated as being for with: "I should be allowed to support the team how I want" is, to me, I'm sorry - bullshit. If you don't want to do what the Fever Zone is for, then expect to be pushed/encouraged/bantered with/and even expect someone to have a go at you...
As Smithy said:
We have tried (for 6 years or so) the nicely nicely let's make it easy and everyone will join in. It hasn't worked.
The alternative is that the Fever Zone is filled with a considerable number of people who don't want to join in, and eventually those of us who do might get sufficiently annoyed eventually and say, "You know what? This is not what I want out of the Fever Zone. Let's reloacte the designated hard core standing, singing and chanting zone to the Northern End, say Aisle 32 where hardly any one sits at the moment."
NOTE, I am not suggesting that we actually do that... but just imagine if some people did respond in that way and did do that... maybe not all the singers and chanters even... maybe just some of them.
That's not good, because as previously noted, we are stronger together. Splintering the limited number of dedicated singers and chanters weakens the effect.
But let's say that happened, and there were 40 or 50 hard core singers and chanters down in Aisle 32.
Let's say what they were doing attracted a bit of interest, and others went and joined them... And they got theur numbers up to, say 150. And they made a hell of a racket, and sung and jumped up and down and waved flags and maybe even beat drums etc.
Let's just say that happened...
And then let's say that the atmosphere they were creating in Aisle 32 attracted some spectators. People who didn't want to sing and chant and clap but wanted to stand near them and soak up the atmosphere they had created.
And let's say that trend continued and after a while there were 150 or so Aisle 32 Brigaders singing and chanting etc. and 150 odd spectators who liked sitting near them, supporting the team in their own way...
If I was an Aisle 32 Brigader, I MIGHT feel that the spectators who clustered around the Aisle 32 Brigade were actually hampering other singers and chanters joining and swelling the Aisle 32 brigade numbers even further.
Can you see how I might resent the way the supporters clustering around them to soak up the atmosphere we were creating might be impinging on our right to support the team the way they wanted to?
That's a hypotheitcal example. But I think that shows the sort of frustration that those who are frustrated are feeling.
It's not about "you are not worthy, we are better than you" and it is not about "you don't deserve to be here" or "You're doing it wrong"... it is more like "this space is designated for a particular purpose. If you are not going to join in that purpose... perhaps you might like to thoughfully reconsider your seating choice?"