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Spectator Do’s and Don’t’s in 1907!
It's quite probable that if you could travel back in time you would find that football supporters
of today would have a lot in common with the fans of a century or more ago.
Judging by a list of 'Don'ts for Spectators' printed in a 1907 Sheffield United programme
fans on the terraces then had the same things on their minds as we have now. But I just
can't imagine anyone wasting space in a modern programme trying to stop us having our
say!
What they had to say in 1907.....
“Don’t think because you are on the stand you have a right to shout instructions to players. They
know what to do without any assistance from you.
Don’t boo at the referee because he gives a decision which you think is wrong. He has his opinion
as to what happened, and his opinion is surely worth as much as yours.
Don’t make yourself a nuisance to those around you by continually bellowing at the top of your
voice, it gets on peoples nerves and takes away a lot of the enjoyment of the game, besides
making yourself look ridiculous.
Don’t commence shouting ‘Send him off’ if one of the opposing team happens to commit a foul
on one of your pet players. Would you shout the same thing if the positions were reversed, and
one of your own side had committed the offence?
Don’t snap your neighbours nose off because he thinks differently to you. You have come to see
your side win, and he has perhaps come to see the others.
Don’t get excited and bad tempered when you argue about this player and that. It does no good
in the end, and only breeds bad feeling, and spoils your enjoyment of the game”
Where did Programmes come from?
Programmes originally came into being from cards listing the players and today knowing the
team is still an essential part of watching a football match. The programme seems to play a lesser
part in that nowadays, just listing squads and then relying on the PA system or TV screen to
give the details or leaving it to us with the shirt numbers. The match I went to the other day - Fulham
v Odense - is typical with a total of over 50 players listed in the respective squads, including
a number 99 in the Odense squad! However probably the most iconic image in any programme
is the team page when no players were listed for one of the teams. That was in for the first
match played by Manchester United after the Munich air crash - a poignant reminder, if there
needed to be one, of the loses suffered by Manchester United in the tragedy.
Articles on this page from:
www.footballsite.co.uk/