The WRONG FANS were at the GAME- true diehards were denied....

[skins]

there was a man reading a book in front of me while people were trying to get the crowd hyped. no lie.

You can't be serious.

[FATZ]

Amazonian, I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT MANY CORPORATE COMPANIES BOUGHT BLOCS OF TKTS SO THAT BY THE TIME THE TKTS WENT ON SALE THERE WERE A GOOD 5000-7000 THAT HAD ALREADY BEEN ALLOCATED. SO NO U CANNOT SAY THAT ALL THOSE PPL WHO WERE IN THE STANDS HAD A GENUINE INTEREST IN THE GAME!!!!!

When I ever that the people in the stand had a genuine interest??
Even if they weren't genuinely interested and didn't know all the maths and physics of football doh mean that they didn't want to support their team.
The key thing is the support. You think the players want to look in the stand and see only 100 die hards in the stadium? Or 10000 supporters there cheering them on?
What I saying is that the people in the stand wanted to be there and make sure and line up or ask their uncle or neighbour for tickets so they could be there.
And of course corporate companies bought blocks of tickets! I know that, you know that, who doh know that?

REAL FANS cheer for 120 minutes not when a man get a shit beat and swing a bad cross, people were telling me to sit down, i blocking them, others just chatting, some more concerned about killing themselves with cancer sticks and alco than watching the game, others walking up and down and posing to see who watching them, one woman next to me was powdering her face and fixing her hair and make-up. total BULLSHIT

[FATZ]

there was a man reading a book in front of me while people were trying to get the crowd hyped. no lie.

i was reading the free newsday sports thing but that was before the game while the waggonist them was jumping and wining to the soca.

You can't be serious.

[Amazonian]

REAL FANS cheer for 120 minutes not when a man get a shit beat and swing a bad cross, people were telling me to sit down, i blocking them, others just chatting, some more concerned about killing themselves with cancer sticks and alco than watching the game, others walking up and down and posing to see who watching them, one woman next to me was powdering her face and fixing her hair and make-up. total BULLSHIT

Okay fatz I agree with you there somewhat... for a lot of trinis, everything is a fashion show and a popularity contest...

[Marcos]

Jumbie i real doh understand your FACT 2.
yuh need to explain dat

re: 2

if you look back at the previous games when we were getting licks..the stadium was empty..tickets were easily available.. where were the diehards then? Are the diehards such a small number that were represented in those small numbers?

iz d dieheards who were at that game partner
i real doh understand u
the die hards are ppl who were at that game.
what do u mean where were they?

[Oz]

So true.  The energy and vibe from the Guatemala and Mexico games (the two home games since I back in Trini) was not there.  The abhorrent ignorance about the game and team by the waggonists was way past disgusting.

Meh posse was lucky to negotiate tickets to the game up to only a couple of hours before the game.  It seems as though we were on cell phones from Friday at 10am, right thru de night while we liming until most of us hook up tickets by 4pm on Saturday.  I even had to give ah youth ah extra $100 to swap a grounds ticket for a covered stands ticket so we could be in de same location as for the Mexico and Guatemala game.  What was striking was the absence of faces and personalities in our immediate vicinity that was present for the previous two games.  

Now, true Soca Warrior fans do not necessarily have to be ball players (current or former). Big ups to the Chinee man that does jump up at the oddest of moments whenever ah vaps ketch him (yes...even before the game start) and shout praise to the Warriors.  De passion de brudder does display is undeniable, yuh could see it in his eyes....he believes.  Well dis time around he sit dong right next to we and was elbow and kick and ting too bad when de game was going on....da man could shadow.  Buh is one love breds, we understand.  Ah glad he get ah ticket.

Anybody ever notice a correlation between the level of waggonism in the HCS and the underperformance of the Warriors/Strike Squad?  Think about November 19 and yesterday.  Well ah had a hypothesis; did some research; built a model; analyzed, calibrated, and validated the model; and the formula is as follows:

          PT = 1/ 0.6*WL

where: PT is the relative team performance on a pre-defined scale
           WL is the waggonism level, measured by the number of waggonist in the stadium.

Doh ask fuh no more info on meh proprietary model.  Ah could tell yuh but then ah go ha to kill yuh.

Anyway, how do you solve this problem in the future.  A few suggestions:

1. Develop a database of former national players (at all age levels).  This is similar to something that Tallman told me he wants to do when we spoke in Piarco airport on Thursday.  Provide them at least the option of purchasing 2 tickets for international games.  It is the least we could do for those who made sacrifices to represent this great nation.  I am certain that at any given time there will not be more than a few hundred people on this list.

2. Schedules for WC Qual games are usually known well in advance. Sell season ticket packages for the various stages of the WC Qual tourn.  I know there are a lot of implications and potential complications here, but these can be resolved.  The bottom line is diehards will go to every possible game, regardless of team performance, and will have no problem buying tickets in advance.

3. PROVIDE SOCAWARRIORS ONLINE MEMBERS WITH THE FIRST OPTION FOR SAID SEASON TICKETS.

People ah gone.  Prep for Pres Over 40 vs Pres Over 30 at Union Hall later dis afternoon.  De old men go beat de not so old men.  Then is Naps Over 40 turn on Saturday at Ato Boldon.

[bigbazz]

there was a man reading a book in front of me while people were trying to get the crowd hyped. no lie.

You can't be serious.

i am serious. it was just before game start when maximus, iwer an destra was hyping crowd. me an de people i was with pick up coke bottle wit ten cents in dem an start to rattle it by the man head. eventually he put down the book. there was also a woman in the row behind me who just sat down an covered her ears while hype was goin on. crowd on my side stood up only when dem boys was looking like they was gonna score. when nobody scored they sat back down quietly. things was dead dead dead silent in my section.

it had people who drank and smoked and laughed amongst themselves, hardly looking at the game.

but i was grateful to the crowd to try an get something going after bahrain scored. their chants continued until trinidad scored.

and then they just sat down quietly again.

[concerned]

waggonist = glory hunters = day trippers = waste of time, with no passion