Demon Army Cheer Squad

[DemonSam 171]

First off, I just want to say I give a lot of respect to those who give their time willingly and support the team from state to state. For some background I'm a General Admission Member in 2022 and generally sit in a pocket, I've been on this site for a long time as different users but rarely post, for those who want to shoot me down for that reason.

I've been to all the home games this year and I bought tickets through the Demon Army Website for the Anzac Eve game which was a complete disaster. Initially my tickets didn't work and it was incredibly difficult to find people to help, when I did they were very kind people but sadly couldn't offer much help, past that my seats were double or not triple booked with other fans who were all great about the confusion, but that's not even what I'm here to complain about.

All that being said, we have the weakest cheer squad in the league.

It's been this way for years but it has been so very noticeable over the last two weeks against interstate sides where they get their chants going against us at home games, it kills momentum and you can tell the players feel it.

Opposition fans know it, they put us into our shells and we let them get a ride on us.

Everyone knows the polite Melbourne supporter, I'm not saying we should all go feral but we've got to show more spirit than what we have put up. There was a fair few neutral last night and they loved getting stuck into us.

I've blown out my throat going hard last night and had a few people tell me that my brother and I were louder than the cheer squad.
What also kills me is there seems to be a bloke with a Richmond beanie in our cheer squad I mean come on!

My Big Points to rebuild the cheers in the cheer squad:

• Volume, we need the biggest decibel blokes we can find, we can't be drowned out against the opposite from out of state, unacceptable.
• Timing, our timing is terrible we go for chants at the point when the team is flying, not when they need us to rally them.
• Chants, Get some creative people to workshop something... for years we've rocked the standard "Melbourne! clap, clap, clap" its boring, our crowd doesn't get the timing and it doesn't inspire a mouse. 

If anyone is part of the Demon Army and doesn't like what I've written please reach out to me in the Private Messages I'm more than happy to do my part.

Surely I'm not the only one with this feeling?
Come up with some ideas and don't shoot people down, keyboard warriors.

Edited June 5, 2022 by DemonSam
cleaning up

[Kick_It_To_Pickett 3,291]

I miss the old rebel cheer squad who sat in the ‘red seats’, led by Angelo, the man with Mohawk. Anyone know what happened to that group?

[praha 11,131]

The problem isn't the cheersquad. They're no different to any other clubs. The problem is that a large chunk of our support base sit in the MCC and Olympic stands. Other clubs fill the Olympic and spill out into the Southern Stand. So for Melbourne games you basically have a free for all of GA and reserved club members of other clubs. 

We just don't have the numbers sitting around and with the cheer squad to really make much of a difference. They were heavily outnumbers by Swans supporters last night. Which raises the question about ticketing. I felt sorry for the cheer squad last night because Sydney basically had a second cheer squad sitting right behind them. So is it the AFL or MFC allowing ticket sales of away teams in areas otherwise dedicated to home team members? It didn't feel like a home game yesterday and I think it has a lot to do with ticketing. Force them into the Ponsford stand. Unless they're AFL or MCC members, they can sit with their own cheer squad.

Edited June 5, 2022 by praha

[Fork 'em 6,940]

Sorry Sam.
Doomed to failure.
Our supporter base is far too reserved.
It's one thing to be quiet.
Another to not even show up.
But that's how we roll.

[WalkingCivilWar 39,264]

1 minute ago, The heart beats true said:

Counting down the seconds until @WalkingCivilWarsees this and explodes.

3,2,1…

Nah THBT, not gonna explode over a crock of  ill-informed rubbish spewed forth by an armchair expert. 

The OP says if someone from the DA doesn’t agree they can PM him/her. I SO cbf responding publicly, let alone humouring this clown in private. 

I can counter each and every point made in this nonsense post. From the vs. Richmond match where 22 DA members where struck down with covid at the same time and had to isolate, right through to the little Sudanese boy who idolises Majak (at least he bothers to show up to Casey/Dees games) and who wears NOT a Richmond beanie, rather a beanie of some local club for whom he’d like to play. 
So yeah, no explosion at this point. 
TBH, kinda sick of wasting my time defending the DA to a bunch of insensitive ingrates. 

[TeamPlayedFine39 8,380]

I’m not sure I understand the issue.

If you want the cheer squad to be bigger and louder, then join the cheer squad.  
 

They’re not there to provide us with a service, they’re there to enjoy the football and support the team in their own way.  Not sure where anyone gets off telling them how to cheer.

 

 

[He de mon 875]

Pretty sure it costs nothing to jon the Demon Army. I am certain all the posters who have been critical will be welcomed with open arms when they bolster the numbers by joining.

[The heart beats true 17,824]

7 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

…right through to the little Sudanese boy who idolises Majak (at least he bothers to show up to Casey/Dees games) and who wears NOT a Richmond beanie, rather a beanie of some local club for whom he’d like to play. 

Oh that’s a ripping story. What a little legend! 

[Longsufferingnomore 1,621]

I was thinking last night how much noise the Swans cheer squad were making and same last week against Fremantle.

It seems there is little noise from around the ground. Where are the chants usually initiated by the Demon Army and the reserve areas and then taken up by the MCC supporters. Even in the MCC where there was some enthusiasm pre Premiership there was silence. My family and a friend tried to get something going but no there was zip. I know that the players love the noise that we used to make. What has happened. Have we become so complacent. 

In no way would I blame the Demon Army. They are just as enthusiastic as in previous years but come on everyone it really is incumbent on all of us to make a noise not just wait for the Demon Army to start something.

[WalkingCivilWar 39,264]

6 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

Oh that’s a ripping story. What a little legend! 

Majak actually acknowledged the little boy and his brother from the boundary yesterday during the Casey match. It absolutely made their day. They didn’t even try to conceal their elation. It was so heartwarming. 
And then to have to read such rot as this thread is, makes me beyond sad. 

[WalkingCivilWar 39,264]

11 minutes ago, He de mon said:

Pretty sure it costs nothing to jon the Demon Army. I am certain all the posters who have been critical will be welcomed with open arms when they bolster the numbers by joining.

There is a cost. But that’s neither here nor there. And we pay for our own DA gear. But the real cost is one’s time and effort. It’s a case of 100% commitment, or why bother joining in the first place.

We get to matches an hour and a half before start time. It’d be even earlier only the gates aren’t open before that. And we’re there for the same length of time post-match to pack/ clean up. 

We spend 3 - 4 hours making the banner every week. I personally catch a bus and two trains to get there. Same to get home (in the dark).

We don’t profess to be any more dedicated than any other fan, but I’ll be [censored] if I have to entertain the ridiculous comments such as the OP in this waste-of-space thread. 

[joeboy 3,160]

Who pays for the banner?

[Demon Dynasty 17,094]

1 minute ago, joeboy said:

Who pays for the banner?

No idea but pretty sure this week it'll be DemonSam

[ElDiablo14 4,933]

55 minutes ago, praha said:

The problem isn't the cheersquad. They're no different to any other clubs. The problem is that a large chunk of our support base sit in the MCC and Olympic stands. Other clubs fill the Olympic and spill out into the Southern Stand. So for Melbourne games you basically have a free for all of GA and reserved club members of other clubs. 

We just don't have the numbers sitting around and with the cheer squad to really make much of a difference. They were heavily outnumbers by Swans supporters last night. Which raises the question about ticketing. I felt sorry for the cheer squad last night because Sydney basically had a second cheer squad sitting right behind them. So is it the AFL or MFC allowing ticket sales of away teams in areas otherwise dedicated to home team members? It didn't feel like a home game yesterday and I think it has a lot to do with ticketing. Force them into the Ponsford stand. Unless they're AFL or MCC members, they can sit with their own cheer squad.

I have noticed this too. Even against Freo there was a pocket of their supporters right next to the cheer squad.

And if I recall there was also a good number of Essendon ferals right behind the cheer squad.

Surely the club doesn't want us loyal supporters to feel like the away team?

However the turn out of our members has been dismal to say the least. I am sure if we had 40k passionate supporters there on every home game all the above wouldn't matter.

[WalkingCivilWar 39,264]

1 minute ago, joeboy said:

Who pays for the banner?

The Army are allocated a small amount from the Club. We fundraise to make up the shortfall. Cardboard, crepe paper and sticky tape don’t cost a lot individually but the amount needed each week makes for big costs. 
On a milestone banner, a printed montage of the player in question is printed and that’s super expensive, even though the printer is a Dees man and gives a generous discount. 

[WalkingCivilWar 39,264]

1 minute ago, ElDiablo14 said:

And if I recall there was also a good number of Essendon ferals right behind the cheer squad.

We’ve actually just recently noticed there’s a group of regular trouble makers who sit close to us and are extremely loud and rowdy. They were there vs. Essendon and then again vs. Freo. Same guys each time. And unfortunately they succeeded in drowning us out. 

[ElDiablo14 4,933]

2 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

We’ve actually just recently noticed there’s a group of regular trouble makers who sit close to us and are extremely loud and rowdy. They were there vs. Essendon and then again vs. Freo. Same guys each time. And unfortunately they succeeded in drowning us out. 

You guys think it's a group of 'neutrals' that just come to our games to hate on the Dees?

Is there something the club can do to ensure that the area around the cheer squad is 100% occupied by only members?

[DubDee 24,455]

1 hour ago, DemonSam said:

First off, I just want to say I give a lot of respect to those who give their time willingly and support the team from state to state. For some background I'm a General Admission Member in 2022 and generally sit in a pocket, I've been on this site for a long time as different users but rarely post, for those who want to shoot me down for that reason.

I've been to all the home games this year and I bought tickets through the Demon Army Website for the Anzac Eve game which was a complete disaster. Initially my tickets didn't work and it was incredibly difficult to find people to help, when I did they were very kind people but sadly couldn't offer much help, past that my seats were double or not triple booked with other fans who were all great about the confusion, but that's not even what I'm here to complain about.

All that being said, we have the weakest cheer squad in the league.

It's been this way for years but it has been so very noticeable over the last two weeks against interstate sides where they get their chants going against us at home games, it kills momentum and you can tell the players feel it.

Opposition fans know it, they put us into our shells and we let them get a ride on us.

Everyone knows the polite Melbourne supporter, I'm not saying we should all go feral but we've got to show more spirit than what we have put up. There was a fair few neutral last night and they loved getting stuck into us.

I've blown out my throat going hard last night and had a few people tell me that my brother and I were louder than the cheer squad.
What also kills me is there seems to be a bloke with a Richmond beanie in our cheer squad I mean come on!

My Big Points to rebuild the cheers in the cheer squad:

• Volume, we need the biggest decibel blokes we can find, we can't be drowned out against the opposite from out of state, unacceptable.
• Timing, our timing is terrible we go for chants at the point when the team is flying, not when they need us to rally them.
• Chants, Get some creative people to workshop something... for years we've rocked the standard "Melbourne! clap, clap, clap" its boring, our crowd doesn't get the timing and it doesn't inspire a mouse. 

If anyone is part of the Demon Army and doesn't like what I've written please reach out to me in the Private Messages I'm more than happy to do my part.

Surely I'm not the only one with this feeling?
Come up with some ideas and don't shoot people down, keyboard warriors.

I agree and I think the club should try some new initiatives in getting more people involved and trying to create a better atmosphere at games. Obviously every fan could/should cheer the team but the cheer squad can set an example - as they do - but I think it could be improved. The one chant we have is not great for a club with 150 years of history.

Not having a go at the cheer squad, they do a great job, just think we should look into ways to improve across the board.

[WalkingCivilWar 39,264]

Just now, ElDiablo14 said:

You guys think it's a group of 'neutrals' that just come to our games to hate on the Dees?

Is there something the club can do to ensure that the area around the cheer squad is 100% occupied by only members?

Not possible, unfortunately. We have our bay and then the surrounding areas are open for anyone who has GA. 
To add to the problem, unlike in our bay, where drinking is strictly prohibited, drinking in the surrounding areas is allowed. 
These young blokes do seem to get more inebriated as the match goes on. 
Vs. Freo a couple of them were ejected after spraying alcohol everywhere. They’re a bunch of pathetic cowards who probs wouldn’t dare do the same with the Essendon or Collingwood or Richmond etc. cheer squads. 

[ElDiablo14 4,933]

4 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Not possible, unfortunately. We have our bay and then the surrounding areas are open for anyone who has GA. 
To add to the problem, unlike in our bay, where drinking is strictly prohibited, drinking in the surrounding areas is allowed. 
These young blokes do seem to get more inebriated as the match goes on. 
Vs. Freo a couple of them were ejected after spraying alcohol everywhere. They’re a bunch of pathetic cowards who probs wouldn’t dare do the same with the Essendon or Collingwood or Richmond etc. cheer squads. 

That's terrible, it doesn't get better upstairs either. I am on level 2A (Redlegs) and a lot of the people in the corporate suites behind us are also troublemakers.

Against Freo it almost became ugly with a couple of our members. Those [censored] get brave when drunk and if their team is winning, otherwise they are nowhere to be heard of or seen.

[WalkingCivilWar 39,264]

7 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Not having a go at the cheer squad, they do a great job

“Not having a go at the cheer squad, they do a great job

But (insert reasons they’re NOT doing a great job)”

Please don’t preface your comments with this patronising trope. 

And we don’t have only one chant. Maybe you and others should listen properly and THEN comment. Not the other way around. 

[WalkingCivilWar 39,264]

Anyways my patience is well and truly exhausted. I shouldn’t be made to feel like crap by other Dees “fans”especially not after the day we had yesterday. 
WCW out ✌️ 

[DubDee 24,455]

2 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

“Not having a go at the cheer squad, they do a great job

But (insert reasons they’re NOT doing a great job)”

Please don’t preface your comments with this patronising trope. 

And we don’t have only one chant. Maybe you and others should listen properly and THEN comment. Not the other way around. 

Alright, I thought what I said was reasonable, but I'll keep my opinions and ideas for the future to myself from now

I have sat behind the cheer squad probably 100+ times so I feel I would have listened over the years

[Wodjathefirst 2,629]

The problem is not with our cheer squad.  

The problem is our supporter base culture. A positive summation is that we are polite and quiet. A less positive assessment would be that we are quite  boring and lack passion. Frankly, I’m jealous of sides that have loud passionate supporters, which is pretty much most other sides in the comp.

I was at the GF in WA and it was obviously a ring in crowd but it was loud, real loud and it was exciting.  I loved it. Simple as that.

I so much looked forward to seeing and hearing our real supporters in the rematch at the start of the year and to honest it was almost disappointing in comparison. Similar crowd numbers ( and even allowing for stadium acoustics) it really lacked atmosphere.  Bottom line was that people that didn’t even barrack for Melbourne showed more passion last year (that was in both the Footscray game and the Geelong game prior).  I guess that as a collective that is who we are.  Very, very quiet.  I really feel for our players at times.

We have so much  of a middle class conservative boredom embedded in us that it is embarrassing at times.  We lack passion. (apologies to the middle class out there who are loud snd proud and the exceptions to the rule Melbourne supporters that show passion). 

I dreamed for over 50 years that we would win a flag. Tick. I also dreamed that with success the long suffering supporters would come out of their shells. Fail.

I can almost feel that given a choice the polite clapping brigade would like things to stay as they always have been, for people like me to disappear.  Well it would be impolite of me to say you should consider changing your ways so I won’t.  You have got it pretty good at the moment.

I keep dreaming of course.  I hope we have further success on the ground and that attracts a new breed of supporters to the MFC. 

To me success in the stands will be defined as when the polite brigade would rather watch footy on Kayo because they find our new breed  supporters over the top loud and proud.  Chances of this happening? Pretty low but I keep on dreaming.

 

[DemonSam 171]

1 hour ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Nah THBT, not gonna explode over a crock of  ill-informed rubbish spewed forth by an armchair expert. 

The OP says if someone from the DA doesn’t agree they can PM him/her. I SO cbf responding publicly, let alone humouring this clown in private. 

I can counter each and every point made in this nonsense post. From the vs. Richmond match where 22 DA members where struck down with covid at the same time and had to isolate, right through to the little Sudanese boy who idolises Majak (at least he bothers to show up to Casey/Dees games) and who wears NOT a Richmond beanie, rather a beanie of some local club for whom he’d like to play. 
So yeah, no explosion at this point. 
TBH, kinda sick of wasting my time defending the DA to a bunch of insensitive ingrates. 

Hey WalkingCivilWar, You're obviously a passionate fan and I'm not here to upset anyone or denigrate your efforts I just think we can be better. I think I've given some constructive criticism. 

I like how you cbf responding in public except for the last 4 posts and that I'm a clown for giving a toss... come on.

I don't think I'm being unreasonable, the hours would be tough no doubt, hence why I haven't been involved in such activities before. Maybe there are some ways to make it easier?

But I've been to all our home games this year,  please read my post rather than getting stirred up by some posters. 

Let's say we wanted to get a ground swell of Demonlanders into the Demon Army surely that kind of response is not going to help.
 

Edited June 5, 2022 by DemonSam