What Have Casual Fans Said To You About Our Chants And Support Culture?

[jaycrewz]

I went to Sunday's game with a few friends who are casual soccer fans. One of them works for an international company and he frequently visits Europe on business. Thus he has been to soccer games abroad and is familiar with soccer culture.

When the game started, my friends were impressed by the "Jerseys Boys" playbill banner used to mock RBNY. Then they remarked on the "hey baby....hooo hah...I wanna know if youre NYC" chant. I even sang it myself when they did it the first time. My friends thought it was pretty cool to see NYC embrace soccer so well. No one else in my section chanted...which was ok and expected (we were up in the 300s)

However...the chant was then used at least 10 times during the game, and thats a conservative estimate. It had to be more. And actually, it seemed like the supporters cycled through the same few chants...but it wasnt that noticeable until they got to the "hey baby" chants.

It got to the point that by friend said "What the fuck is up with that chant? Ive heard it on cruises and it has nothing to do with football." I agree and told him that Im not sure how they came up with the chant. He said chants never felt that repetitive in Europe...and tbh, I cant remember chanting sounding as cheesy and repetitive on tv. He continued "Yeah...also when you go to games in Europe...the chants say something about the team or the sport. Its not just biting off of a cheesy party song".

And tbh I agree, and was actually a bit embarassed for the supporters section. As I heard a few other NYCFC fans remark on the silliness and overuse of the chant.

It is what it is though. Im kinda hoping the chant doesnt stick over the years and falls to the wayside. We can do better as a fanbase to sing about our club and our city without ripping off cheesy cruise songs. I thought the chant was cool when I first saw the video of people in the streets following a victory a month ago. But hearing it so many times during the game, and hearing other complain about it, made me realize how lame it was.

PS - The Yankee Stadium led NYC chants, with the booming bass, and the NYCFC logo on the jumbo screen, really makes me want to say LETS GO METS instead. As a NYer...whenever I hear 3 successive percussive sounds when it comes to a sporting event...I immediately think of the Mets chant.

 

[LionNYC]

We've only had games for a couple of months now, our supporter groups are going through limbo, but yeah the hey baby chants are getting boring. Not everyone in the bleachers knows ALL of the chants. And nobody else in the stadium knows any of the chants to get the house rocking.

 

[afoulkesuk]

Im from the UK and mainly watch Brighton hove albion and Chelsea at home throughout the season but have been up and down the country and most clubs have 2 or 3 songs that become repetitive. Away supporters always sing more and come up with new songs because they are mainly the die hard fans that like to make a lot of noise.

NYCFC sound great on the TV when i watch them but to get everyone singing songs throughout a stadium takes time and even then the 'prawn sandwich' or plastic supporters still wont get it.

Also the 'hey baby' seems to be used by every club, remixing a famous song to match your club is very common in UK football.

 

[413Blue]

The Hey Baby song is not bad if they did it every once in a while, but they do it WAY too much. At this point it needs to just be retired. However, I'd rather that over "Fuck the (opponent)" chant, which is more embarrassing than anything.

 

[Manolo]

[QUOTE="jaycrewz, post: 85426, member: 1338]
PS - The Yankee Stadium led NYC chants, with the booming bass, and the NYCFC logo on the jumbo screen, really makes me want to say LETS GO METS instead. As a NYer...whenever I hear 3 successive percussive sounds when it comes to a sporting event...I immediately think of the Mets chant.[/QUOTE]

I do the lets go mets chant eveytime and I'm a Yankees fan.

 

[Lasker]

I've been to nearly every game this year and I was a bit underwhelmed by the atmosphere Sunday, but the Yankees fan I brought was impressed, especially at the reaction to Mcnamera's goal. He also loved the drum, which surprised me.

 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

The Hey Baby song is not bad if they did it every once in a while, but they do it WAY too much. At this point it needs to just be retired. However, I'd rather that over "Fuck the (opponent)" chant, which is more embarrassing than anything.

The "fuck the Red Bulls" chant had the cadence of "let's go Red Bulls". Indeed, that's what Adrian Healey must have thought it was, as he, upon hearing the chant, congratulated the Red Bull fans for making themselves heard.

 

[Keith Putnam]

As much as I cringe at Hey, Baby and wish it would die, it's just a fact of life that a club's supporter culture isn't going to spring up fully formed in the very first season. I think we need to give ourselves a bit of a break and realize it will all come together with time.

 

[SoupInNYC]

The "fuck the Red Bulls" chant had the cadence of "let's go Red Bulls". Indeed, that's what Adrian Healey must have thought it was, as he, upon hearing the chant, congratulated the Red Bull fans for making themselves heard.

Yeah, I noticed that as well. Maybe he was trying to convince the viewers that they weren't hearing profanity on live television.

Which brings me to my next point...can we get rid of "Fuck [insert team name here]"? That chant is so damn childish and uncreative. Additionally, it often leads to ESPN/FS1/YES turning off the microphone for the supporter's section.

I have no problem doing chants/songs that make fun of the other team, but "Fuck the Red Bulls" is something my 12 year old brother would get excited about chanting.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Also, on the "Hey Baby" note, it is way over done and is kind of cheesy. But out of all the chants, it is the one that gets the loudest and carries throughout the stadium. Go back and watch the first couple of minutes of the game on watchESPN. That chant is booming.

I wish we would do it less, but I don't think we necessarily need to get completely rid of it.

 

[Yoni]

We have a few issues with our songs / chants.

1) We let them (especially songs) die way too quickly, usually after 3 or 4 rounds. Because we end so quickly we have to go to the next thing on the list and before you know it, we've sung 12 songs in the first 2o minutes of the match. We don't have a deep repertoire, so everyone ends up hearing the same chants at least 5 times a game.

2) We have way more chants than songs. There were actually pretty good suggestions for player specific songs at the beginning of the season (regardless of if they're borrowed from European clubs or not) but they're never used; and some that were made up by fans were pretty solid as well, but again, no dice.

3) We're still not organized. Capos help, especially since we're new and trying to form a supporters culture where people can learn the songs, but the sections are never in time and the drummers can't keep a consistent beat to save their lives.

4) City Beats. Enough said.

 

[SFphoto]

NYCFC supporters need to take a page out of the TA book and do something like their Tetris song.

 

[Gotham Gator]

That's pretty impressive. We will get there. Need a song that's that good and memorable. Hey Baby won't do it (not that I think it needs to go completely).

Another point about Hey Baby. There's a version on the album Football Anthems, so we are not alone.

 

[Ahab_Flanders]

NYCFC supporters need to take a page out of the TA book and do something like their Tetris song.

We could probably do with taking a chapter or two from the TA book

 

[bigapplepie]

I heard a Dad say to his sons "hey they don't just do the "let's go" chant which is the lamest chant in the world other than "we believe that we will win". They said they'll definitely back.

I've heard a lot of people say they'll be back because if the atmosphere rather than the standard of play.

I think there's a lot of casual fans at Yankee Stadium, unlike Seattle or Portland where 90% of the fans are hard core.

afoulkesuck, the atmosphere at a lot of MLS grounds is a lot better than most Premier League grounds and I've been most of the old grounds before the new stadiums were built.

Portland Timbers fans are something else. There's nothing like it in England. Better than he Kop or The Kippax at their best in the 70s and 80s.

The atmosphere at NYCFC will improve once there's a stadium.

 

[Fantazma]

NYCFC supporters need to take a page out of the TA book and do something like their Tetris song.

not until when/if we get our stadium.

no way in hell yankee security lets us move around like that

 

[JayH]

To me it's pretty painful to listen to on repeat, but the popularity of Hey Baby proves one point, that fans instinctively are more enthusiastic singing rather than chanting, even if the melody is cheesy. It's just more natural and fun to sing along. That's why so many Beatles songs, and catchy 80's and 70's songs (even if cheesy) are converted into classic soccer club tunes. Everyone loves swaying arm in arm singing the "nah, nah, nah" parts of Hey Jude for many clubs. I'm a SG neutral but thought that HofO's song to the tune of Horse with No Name captures this as I can imagine a large group having fun jumping around singing the la la, etc. part. Exhibit A - at half time at Ryan's Daughter for the Toronto game when they put the music back on the system, that 80's song "Take on Me" came on, and I thought it was hysterical when you had a full bar of drunken super fans, all singing along in full voice to the chorus (the take on me, take on me, take me on, take me on, I will be gone and then something in some uber high voice). Apparently people like to sing!

 

[Ahab_Flanders]

To me it's pretty painful to listen to on repeat, but the popularity of Hey Baby proves one point, that fans instinctively are more enthusiastic singing rather than chanting, even if the melody is cheesy. It's just more natural and fun to sing along. That's why so many Beatles songs, and catchy 80's and 70's songs (even if cheesy) are converted into classic soccer club tunes. Everyone loves swaying arm in arm singing the "nah, nah, nah" parts of Hey Jude for many clubs. I'm a SG neutral but thought that HofO's song to the tune of Horse with No Name captures this as I can imagine a large group having fun jumping around singing the la la, etc. part. Exhibit A - at half time at Ryan's Daughter for the Toronto game when they put the music back on the system, that 80's song "Take on Me" came on, and I thought it was hysterical when you had a full bar of drunken super fans, all singing along in full voice to the chorus (the take on me, take on me, take me on, take me on, I will be gone and then something in some uber high voice). Apparently people like to sing!

That Horse With No Name song will be so good with the whole supporters section and beyond singing and doing the bouncy.

Well we'll all follow New York wherever they play
We don't care if it's home or away
Cause we're New York City and we're proud of our name
So we'll all bounce around and we'll sing it again
La la la lalalala lalala la la...

 

[SFphoto]

That Horse With No Name song will be so good with the whole supporters section and beyond singing and doing the bouncy.

Well we'll all follow New York wherever they play
We don't care if it's home or away
Cause we're New York City and we're proud of our name
So we'll all bounce around and we'll sing it again
La la la lalalala lalala la la...

This is by far the best NYCFC chant.

 

[SoupInNYC]

That Horse With No Name song will be so good with the whole supporters section and beyond singing and doing the bouncy.

Well we'll all follow New York wherever they play
We don't care if it's home or away
Cause we're New York City and we're proud of our name
So we'll all bounce around and we'll sing it again
La la la lalalala lalala la la...

Yes. I absolutely love this.