Originally Posted by
Gray77
Interesting debate. I think the nub of all of this is that atmospheres can't be artificially generated. Good atmospheres thrive off a bit of tension, a sense of importance in the outcome and at times a bit of dread (for your teams chances that day). I think that the generation that maybe grew up in the SL era has slowly started to realise that most weeks none of those factors exist. You can't really be tense for a regular season game anymore, you can't really deem them that important, and you can't really dread a loss when half the teams qualify for the play-offs and you can still win a league title losing a dozen games. The drive towards mediocrity and the rewards given to mediocrity have been detrimental to the overall game, both on and off the field.
It's true that if you're Salford or Castleford, games do have loads of meaning late in the season as you try to get into the 6, and the atmosphere is probably there. But if you're a Saints or Wigan fan you pretty much know you're going to be a game or two away from a Grand Final by the time Good Friday even rolls around. Big Cup games can still have a sense of atmosphere, if not the large crowds, but that's tied in with must-win knockout games having those three major factors quite naturally. For 90% of the season it simply isn't there, we enjoy wins, moan about defeats but apart from giving Wigan a tonking we don't get really high or really low about any regular season game anymore. I think you'd find that a really poor season where we were struggling half way through would generate some good atmospheres because we'd turn up knowing we had to go on a run and knowing that any loss would set us back if we wanted to reach the 6. When Wigan had that disastrous season and nearly got relegated they had an upturn in crowds and general atmosphere. The siege mentality works, there is tension and fear of defeat and the consequences involved.
We just don't have that. We could lose 4 or 5 home games over the season and it wouldn't stop us being in the mix in September. We could go to Wigan on Good Friday next year and stick 50 on them, but taking away the joy of beating them and seeing them in despair, the feelings only last so long as we know it doesn't mean as much as it should if the 4 points we both played for could mean the difference between a league title and finishing runners-up. American and Australian sports have that same vibe as well. The NFL has as close to the perfect regular season and play-off mix, I've been a fan for 30-odd years and I am not anti-playoffs at all when it makes sense, but the fact is that until the last couple of months you simply don't get too worked up about wins and don't get too low about defeats unless you're really messing up. Baseball is the same, I was at Yankee Stadium in April, NY won with a walk off home run, everyone going wild in that instance, but 20 minutes later the place was very mellow. It was something like the 20th game of a 162 game season, it really didn't matter. Half the crowd were walking around buying food for long stretches of the game, there was no tension in the air, no fear of defeat, no sense of importance, it was just a game, good if you win, not so good if you lose, but there'll be another one around the corner, don't get too worked up. So artificial encouragements and stuff to occupy your mind and get you a bit enthused works in that setting. Compare to the atmosphere later in the season in MLB play off games, it's night and day, tension abounds, fear of defeat gets everyone up for it.
We are now the same, games are just games, another one next week, the league table merely a guide and not the be all and end all, and nothing is settled until those 3 weeks in September and October. These are the rules the game set, and we have simply altered our attitudes as time has gone by. Only a change in structure will change that.