I just want to chuck my 10cents out there sorry it will probably be really long winded and awfully formatted as I'm trying to type on the sly cos I should be working :)
I thought the chanting yesterday was bloody good and some of those chants are quality. The way some people we're treated not so good.
I sit in the zone all the time. Sometimes at the front some times at the back or to the side but most often just in front of the "core" group of the fever. Yesterday I sat towards the back with a different group of mates than normal and some mates that had come along for the first time , along from us were a couple of blokes who were in on freebies and had snuck over to check out the atmos.
My regular mates and I were chanting as we always do and as the guys around us caught onto the lyrics they were slowly getting into it too which is good. BUT when someone (Smithy?) turned around and yelled out "F*cking Chant!" the two blokes beside us assumed (wrongly?) that he was yelling at them and left (pretty sure he was yelling at the dude right behind him , not us a few rows back).
After the game I was chatting with my mate and his girlfriend who were both new to the zone and they're not particularly keen to come back after what happened as they felt that the less than nice comments from the "core" group were being directed at them and I've got to admit I can see where they are coming from. I was felling a bit flat after the game too and pretty pissed of with the F*cking chant and chant or f*ck off comments being directed in my general direction especially considering id decided to take new people way from the core so as not to "leech" the life out of the zone while my non regular mates got a feel for what YF is. The abuse of people is really not on and shouldn't be what happens in the fever zone especially when the fever has always been a more laid back /family friendly /everybody is welcome/ come and join us active supporter zone compared to MV WSW etc. I'll be back in the zone next week with my regular mates as per always its just a shame some people wont be.
BTW please don't take my post the wrong way.I know how hard the core guys have worked in the off season and continue to work hard to try and get the zone to flourish and I can understand why you guys were getting shitty but some of my mates and a lot of new people who may have been in the zone for the first time might see it differently and decide "well if that's what its going to be like I wont bother coming back"