Twickenham's Atmosphere... (or lack thereof)

[ratsapprentice]

There have been a couple of articles written for the papers recently that have highlighted the lack of atmosphere at Twickenham.
And without wanting to jump on the bandwagon, or make something out of nothing I'm going to have to agree with the general sentiment.

The crowd does not seem to be made up of rugby fans - knowledgeable ones anyway.
They don't seem to react to anything other than a try or kick.
The difference between Twickenham today and the Millenium and Stade De France was huge, regardless of the quality of the games.

I'd be interested to hear what both England fans and non-England fans think?

The latest article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...-David-Beckham-things-are-not-going-well.html

 

[Rich Taff]

Not so sure about Twickers. I think it may be due in part to the poor design of the stadium, going for quantity rather than quality (which I've heard results in people in the top rows watching the white ants vs the red ants), it may be due to the 'acoustic properties'. I thought the atmosphere in the Millenium was awful today as well, but I'm comparing it to the unreal atmosphere vs England in the last game.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Twickenham seems to cater more towards the corporate types, whereas other unions want to bring in rugby fans.
HQ also has higher prices (comparing the cheapest tickets at twickers and mil stad, for kids it's twice as much at Twickenham, and adults is £10 more).

Edit: Rich Taff has a point on the actual lay out of Twickenham as well. Heard people say it's the worst designed stadium in rugby for atmosphere.

 

[Rich Taff]

Oh, also location does a lot for atmosphere. Twickenham and Stade de France are out in the concrete jungle, so can never compete for atmosphere with 70k drunken fans (yes beer is directly proportional to atmosphere at rugby ) like places like the Millenium stadium (people shout/sing/hug/vomit etc more when under the affluence of incahol)

 

[Big Ewis]

Oh, also location does a lot for atmosphere. Twickenham and Stade de France are out in the concrete jungle, so can never compete for atmosphere with 70k drunken fans (yes beer is directly proportional to atmosphere at rugby ) like places like the Millenium stadium (people shout/sing/hug/vomit etc more when under the affluence of incahol)

my God...the filthy peasants.....

 

[Rich Taff]

Proud peasants!

PS. this was in no ways an attack on French/English rugby or their fans btw.

PPS. Or the Irish before this thread gets Irished

 

[Tony Manx]

Twickers since it has been rebuilt is THE most useless stadium to get to and from, to watch a match or to get sufficient to drink...........from the front row on the ground level to the back row of the top strata feels like 100 yards back and I needed binoculars from the 10th row of the middle tier to recognise a player coming ou of the tunnel not assisted by one of the smallest screens I have ever seen!!

It is full of Londoners who do not speak even to each other on public transport, in the streeet or in a pub so how on earth are you going to get these people, who have paid a fortune, to get into the spirit of the game.............that being said there are usually a load of soccer city types who know nothing about the game and consequently cannot know when to behave properly!!

It is a s...hit...hole that I gave up attending a few years back despite having access to a ticket whenever I wanted!!

I so enjoyed all my visists to the Millenium Stadium which has to be the best in the British Isles along with the old Lansdowne Road (not been to the Aviva) for convenience, sustenance, viewing and access (except when Brit Rail do not run a train for an evening kick off)!!

 

[Aspry]

Meh, just another common european crowd to me..

 

[Jaguares]

Too many football supporters in London? Then you should play in a true Rugby stadium with true rugby supporters:

IMO...

 

[Big Ewis]

Proud peasants!

PS. this was absolutely an attack on dirty French rugby and their fans btw.

WHAT ?! And he's got a big mouth too ?! why you filthy.......

 

[McTallshort]

Its got a pretty good atmosphere at the annual Army V Navy game but otherwise its dull no matter how much overly loud bass music they bang out and its a bloody nightmare to get in, a nightmare to get a drink and as for getting out well....you get the picture.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I genuinely think it's the people that are going to England games, I have to say I know a couple of people that have season tickets there and suffice to say they aren't really Rugby "fans" per se.
Because Twickenham can have a good atmosphere - the Premiership final is usually great - it's definitely not acoustics (however bad they may be) or technical design of the place.

 

[Jaguares]

Because Twickenham can have a good atmosphere - the Premiership final is usually great - it's definitely not acoustics (however bad they may be) or technical design of the place.

You're right, the problem isn't the stadium, the problem is that people aren't true rugby supporters. If the RFU is truly interested in solving this, they should sell tickets between true rugby supporters.

For example, first send a percentage of tickets to rugby clubs and rugby clubs sell them to their followers and the excess of sales in clubs, divided among the common people, I don't know the situation of RFU, but in this business they have to meet with clients and sponsors.

They also need to better coordinate the schedules of the games, many England games are played at the same time that local rugby games. The other day I was talking to an English friend, he's supporter of Leicester Tigers and usually go to Twickenham to support their national team, he was more interested in the game: "Tigers vs Harlequins" and wouldn't go to Twickenham for that reason.

But it's true, the atmosphere in Twickenham in Premiership finals are very different:

 

[psychic duck]

You're right, the problem isn't the stadium, the problem is that people aren't true rugby supporters. If the RFU is truly interested in solving this, they should sell tickets between true rugby supporters.

For example, first send a percentage of tickets to rugby clubs and rugby clubs sell them to their followers and the excess of sales in clubs, divided among the common people, I don't know the situation of RFU, but in this business they have to meet with clients and sponsors.

They also need to better coordinate the schedules of the games, many England games are played at the same time that local rugby games. The other day I was talking to an English friend, he's supporter of Leicester Tigers and usually go to Twickenham to support their national team, he was more interested in the game: "Tigers vs Harlequins" and wouldn't go to Twickenham for that reason.

Most aren't at the Millennium Stadium either.

 

[McTallshort]

You're right, the problem isn't the stadium, the problem is that people aren't true rugby supporters. If the RFU is truly interested in solving this, they should sell tickets between true rugby supporters.

For example, first send a percentage of tickets to rugby clubs and rugby clubs sell them to their followers and the excess of sales in clubs, divided among the common people, I don't know the situation of RFU, but in this business they have to meet with clients and sponsors.

They also need to better coordinate the schedules of the games, many England games are played at the same time that local rugby games. The other day I was talking to an English friend, he's supporter of Leicester Tigers and usually go to Twickenham to support their national team, he was more interested in the game: "Tigers vs Harlequins" and wouldn't go to Twickenham for that reason.

That is what happens........

 

[Jaguares]

That is what happens........

Then RFU should coordinate better the games, the other day when England played against Wallabies, played on the same day: "Tigers v Harlequins". In that game had many true rugby supporters, while Twickenham had many football supporters...

 

[McTallshort]

Yes and no. Club rugby has always played on International weekends because otherwise the fixture congestion at the end of the season would be terrible. Plus many true rugby supporters are actually playing or helping out at smaller local clubs on a Saturday. If Twickenham was on the outskirts of Birmingham with decent rail links then perhaps they would get a different mix of people going but to be honest to anyone living north of Watford or East of Oxford a day at Twickernam is just too much like hard work.

 

[ratsapprentice]

From SCW's latest DM article.

PS The atmosphere at Twickenham was one of the worst I have experienced. There is now so much noise and razzmatazz — from pyrotechnics to drums — that by kick-off, the crowd is still deadly quiet because they haven’t had a chance to find their voice.
Everyone used to be in their seats early at Twickenham and the atmosphere would build organically.

Now they sit down late, watch the entertainment in silence, and get caught cold. You don’t win or lose because of the crowd, but it certainly gives you a lift.

 

[Tony Manx]

That is what happens........

BUT....many of the clubs "sell" their allocation to corporate hospitality companies to keep the club finances above water.

In addition, often the club sides are only playing, like this week, some dodgy competition for their seconds and returning injured players rather than Premiership fixtures?

From SCW's latest DM article.

Gosh...SCW got something right!!!

 

[TRF_heineken]

So why doesn't England have a space program??

They can use Twickenham as their test centre.