The Sunderland Wave Of Noise On Saturday

I couldn’t get over how passionate the Sunderland fans were on Saturday. Last season in particular we come under a lot of criticism (even from our own fans). After being crowned the loudest fans in the country in our season back in the top flight under Roy keane, we were in for quite a come down when we found ourselves near the bottom of the updated league last season. Stoke took top spot and we were constantly reminded how passionate their fans were.

“The Stadium of Light is like a library”, “There’s no atmosphere”, “Bring back standing!” were common thoughts as we battled against relegation. But let’s face it, it’s a lot more difficult to get behind a team who are playing poor football (which was certainly the case for the most of last season) than it is to get behind a team giving their all…but it works both ways, it’s give and take. If the players on the pitch don’t look as though they are putting in the effort, the fans seem to adopt a similar mentality; energy levels subside and moaning at every misplaced pass becomes as satisfying as encouraging the players to make a game of it. It’s sad but from past experiences and having sat next to some right negative characters…it’s true.

But at Sunderland Football we are trying to create something more than that. We want to take our level of support to the next step and that is why each and every home game we try as best as we can to sing until we can sing no more (no matter the score or how the lads are doing on the field). There have been a few chants that have been introduced on this forum, thanks to one of our authors (Dave) and we have managed to get them going at the games (slowly but surely). The Darren Bent and Lorik Cana chants are common place now, which we’re quite proud of.

It hasn’t been easy, we clapped until our hands were red raw, risked ridicule from the people around us and went home feeling absolutely drained some games! But it was worth it, it makes the matchday a completely different experience and we truly believe that the players respond to the noise levels.

I just hope in future when you hear a new chant introduced, you get up off your seats and try your best to join in. The words soon catch on and it urges the players to up their game.

I think the West Ham support will have left the Stadium of Light on Saturday with a lot of respect for our fans (if that respect wasn’t there already). We were top class on Saturday, as we have been all season and long may it continue.