Don’t kill the atmosphere!

In 2006,after my first year of covering high school soccer in southern Indiana, I noted some of my observations at the end of the season.

As I was doing some autumn cleaning at the weekend (my wife hates that I hoard newspapers), my observations flew off one of the cupboard shelves and clunked me in the head, knocking me off the chair and knocking a few whiskers off one of the cats.

It was interesting to look back on my first impressions and compare them to how I feel two years on, now that the 2008 season is in the books for the area's teams.

I'm glad the column revisited me because it reminded of something that has irked me greatly a couple of times in recent weeks.

The first issue I mentioned two years ago involved atmosphere at rival games. While obviously not in the same ballpark as that of basketball or football, it was nonetheless entertaining on first witness.

Most of it was good humored: Male cheerleaders and that kind of stuff. Maybe the seniors back then were more fun, or maybe gamegoers’ attempts to add a bit of noise and fun to proceedings is being halted in its tracks.

I can’t help but feel match night atmospheres all over the state are slowly being suffocated in the name of “sportsmanship” and nobody seems to be challenging the authorities to bring it back to life.

Prohibited at post-season games are noisemakers, sirens, cheerleaders, bands, balloons, banners, posters and tailgating. It's a wonder the two participating teams and the coaching staff aren't banned from games also, considering they are not adverse to having their say in the heat of the moment.

I didn't see anything in the rules about singing or being "too loud." Yet certain sections of the crowd at largely attended games were being told to pipe it down. So some matchups that started with a good atmosphere (it was encouraging to see the large crowd at the New Albany-Providence girls’ sectional game at Jeffersonville) went eerily quiet considering the numbers.

I didn't hear anything that sounded too offensive, but then again, in my younger days in Ireland, I was well used to being heckled by “supporters” and having eggs thrown in my direction from the sidelines by mischievous kids (I’m not making that last bit up.)

If there are troublemakers, throw them out. Nobody condones unsportsmanlike behavior. Otherwise, leave the fans be and allow them add color and noise to an occasion if they so wish.

I’m sure the authorities have their good intentioned reasons for banning what they ban, be it to prevent altercations or to comply with noise ordinances. (Remind me to tell you the story someday of the couple in Philadelphia who sued a middle school this year because its soccer games and practices were too loud). But there’s got to be a happy medium surely.

By the way, I would love to hear the views of those who have been involved in the area’s high school sports scene – not just in soccer – for many more years than this “blow in” has been around. Do you sense the death of the “atmosphere” is nigh?