Post by Dave on Aug 6, 2010 18:57:53 GMT
Well last weeks winner was a bit of a flash in the pan I think, he bombarded us for a whole week with his holiday snaps and then not a peep out of him all this week, its good job he is taking Carol and I out for a meal very soon with his lovely family or else I might have had to give him a public warning. 
Here we are on the eve off a brand new season and it seems like only yesterday I wrote my first post on the very first proper match day thread to appear on the TFF( I did not start the thread as Joe beat me to it) away to Histon.
The TFF was barely three months old and I guess had no more that 50 or so members and we sure did not have a dedicated match room back then or a programmes room or pages in the home programme or receiving match photos from the club and we sure never sponsored a player but a thread was put up as someone suggested we should try but we never got enough takers.
After getting so close to getting back into the football league I felt on the night I wrote my post on the match day thread that we would go one better and get promoted and so it turned out to be and what a magic end to it all seeing Lewis lead our boys out on to the Wembley pitch.
A magic season and even more special as we retuned to where we belonged and I knew that last season was only ever going to be about making sure at all costs we remained a league club because we all know the club could have ended up in real difficulties if he had gone back to the BSP.
So two years on from that very first proper match day thread and the TFF has grown and become I hope a good forum that gives many Torquay United fans pleasure. The club has lost a whole lot of money over the last two seasons and yet it has managed to keep itself on course and continues to keep building itself back up in all the right areas to make it a club we will be very proud of.
Yes cutbacks has had to be made but I don’t think at the end of the day the squad has suffered too much and in fact I believe while slightly thinner in numbers, we have a better and more settled side starting this season than we did the last one. The players we have here now can cut it in league two and its not going to be the case this season of having to give any of them the chance to prove they can play in this league.
I do believe we are all going to enjoy this season and I hope more and more of you will share you views here on the TFF so we become an even richer and better forum.
On to this week’s winner and not a very high scoring week and in the end four members in total received votes. The member has recently won the award for the first time and he is very well educated and writes posts with such good English and grammar and so well I end up wishing I had worked harder at that Highweek School For Boy all those years ago.
This weeks winner is johannesburggull
A post made by johannesburggull
I nearly started a thread on this yesterday but decided to wait and see if other posters would comment. A few thoughts from the exile in SA (although, he will be returning to take up a job in Sheffield so may well see a few of you at a couple of the early season games at Plainmoor):
1. The noise of the vuvuzela when used at local games here in SA by people who can use them and understand the (fairly simple) call and response patterns is, in my mind, not bad at all and - in all honesty - is far more entertaining than listening to the majority of chants emanating from British football terraces. On that note, the singing at local games here is very different from the UK - very little is negative or antagonistic towards the players, opposition or ref, but primarily is about celebration and enjoyment (some favorites (in isiZulu, isiVenda and seSotho) include songs asking the referee to give the opposition a goal as we will beat them anyway; asking the crowd to turn around at shake their rears at the opponents; praising/thanking the sponsors; a song asking/saying we will score and/or win; as well as songs like Shosholoza).
2. The sound of the vuvuzelas on TV coverage does not do justice to how they sound at a game. Another aspect is the visual one - being in a crowd of several thousand fans waving vuvuzela's in unison while singing Shosholoza is undoubtedly one of the most amazing and uplifting experiences I've had at a football match and one that certainly adds to the atmosphere of a game.
3. I do have a vuvuzela in TUFC colours but that will now be relegated to my cupboard at home. I had also planned on bringing back some makarapas in TUFC colours for a few people but those will not now be coming with - for several reasons but it seems that the 'unique' atmosphere at Plainmoor is one that would likely not welcome these rather colourful and wonderful hats either.
4. In the club's statement I find the comment that Plainmoor has a 'unique atmosphere' intriguing - what, exactly, makes the atmosphere at our club 'unique'?
5. Also in the club's statement they talk about the supporter and, by implication, family friendly nature of the club - could I ask if anyone from the club has been to a fixture in SA where the vuvuzelas and makarapas are everywhere and to witness the number of children and women as well as families in the crowds? How does a vuvuzela make a venue un-supporter or un-family friendly?
6. To Cav - shame you found the vuvuzelas such a nuisance during your trip to the world cup, but I take exception to your comments about "locals spitting flem through the *********zela passing on the delights of the local diseases": would you care to explain what 'local diseases' these are? Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive but that type of language and narrative begets a neo-colonial mindset and one that has the potential to be read in certain ways - ways I doubt you intended or meant - surrounding issues of colonial history and narratives of 'civilisation', 'disease' and 'race' that are rather problematic (and no, this is not a case of political correctness gone mad before anyone invokes that idea). Cav - I do not know you and do not wish to imply you deliberately set about promoting these ideas, I'm just noting that my own (and others I have spoken with) understanding and reception of your comments can be read in this way.
7. As for the art of blowing a vuvuzela - one of the things you learn very quickly is to blow the vuvuzela upwards so as to not blow it into the ear of anyone: crowds at local games learnt this a long time ago, along with the patterns and styles to which it is used during the duration of the game.
8. In all honesty, was there a need to ban them anyway? How many TUFC fans own a vuvuzela? Is this a 'jumping on the bandwagon' moment? Even if a few people brought them to the games I would have thought that a. they and their fellow fans could reach an agreement as to 'acceptable use', and b. if they annoy people as much as they seem to, the noise of them might have prompted a few more songs and chants (and more people to join in with them).
In conclusion, I really don't mind either way if vuvuzelas are banned or not at Plainmoor - I have found them to be an integral and enjoyable part of SA football but, in the same vein as I was opposed to attempts during the World Cup from European and other quarters to have vuvuzelas banned during the tournament (i.e. taking away another layer of the local football experience and turning the tournament into an ever-more sanitised, Euro-centric event), I respect (even though I may disagree with) the fact that TUFC don't feel they form part of the football culture at the club.
On that note, I'll look forward to my last local matches on the 7th August at the Telkom Charity Cup being held in Soweto at the FNB Stadium (Soccer City to an international audience) where Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and (most likely) Bloem Celtic will battle it out in a one-day knock-out tournament: my makarapa will be worn, my vuvuzela blown, and pap and steak eaten. I'll then look forward to my return to Plainmoor for the game on the 11st against Reading - complete with a pint or two at the Royal, a 50:50 ticket and ah, sod it, maybe I will rock up in my Chief's gear (minus vuvuzela): at least you'll know who I am!
Here we are on the eve off a brand new season and it seems like only yesterday I wrote my first post on the very first proper match day thread to appear on the TFF( I did not start the thread as Joe beat me to it) away to Histon.
The TFF was barely three months old and I guess had no more that 50 or so members and we sure did not have a dedicated match room back then or a programmes room or pages in the home programme or receiving match photos from the club and we sure never sponsored a player but a thread was put up as someone suggested we should try but we never got enough takers.
After getting so close to getting back into the football league I felt on the night I wrote my post on the match day thread that we would go one better and get promoted and so it turned out to be and what a magic end to it all seeing Lewis lead our boys out on to the Wembley pitch.
A magic season and even more special as we retuned to where we belonged and I knew that last season was only ever going to be about making sure at all costs we remained a league club because we all know the club could have ended up in real difficulties if he had gone back to the BSP.
So two years on from that very first proper match day thread and the TFF has grown and become I hope a good forum that gives many Torquay United fans pleasure. The club has lost a whole lot of money over the last two seasons and yet it has managed to keep itself on course and continues to keep building itself back up in all the right areas to make it a club we will be very proud of.
Yes cutbacks has had to be made but I don’t think at the end of the day the squad has suffered too much and in fact I believe while slightly thinner in numbers, we have a better and more settled side starting this season than we did the last one. The players we have here now can cut it in league two and its not going to be the case this season of having to give any of them the chance to prove they can play in this league.
I do believe we are all going to enjoy this season and I hope more and more of you will share you views here on the TFF so we become an even richer and better forum.
On to this week’s winner and not a very high scoring week and in the end four members in total received votes. The member has recently won the award for the first time and he is very well educated and writes posts with such good English and grammar and so well I end up wishing I had worked harder at that Highweek School For Boy all those years ago.
This weeks winner is johannesburggull
A post made by johannesburggull
I nearly started a thread on this yesterday but decided to wait and see if other posters would comment. A few thoughts from the exile in SA (although, he will be returning to take up a job in Sheffield so may well see a few of you at a couple of the early season games at Plainmoor):
1. The noise of the vuvuzela when used at local games here in SA by people who can use them and understand the (fairly simple) call and response patterns is, in my mind, not bad at all and - in all honesty - is far more entertaining than listening to the majority of chants emanating from British football terraces. On that note, the singing at local games here is very different from the UK - very little is negative or antagonistic towards the players, opposition or ref, but primarily is about celebration and enjoyment (some favorites (in isiZulu, isiVenda and seSotho) include songs asking the referee to give the opposition a goal as we will beat them anyway; asking the crowd to turn around at shake their rears at the opponents; praising/thanking the sponsors; a song asking/saying we will score and/or win; as well as songs like Shosholoza).
2. The sound of the vuvuzelas on TV coverage does not do justice to how they sound at a game. Another aspect is the visual one - being in a crowd of several thousand fans waving vuvuzela's in unison while singing Shosholoza is undoubtedly one of the most amazing and uplifting experiences I've had at a football match and one that certainly adds to the atmosphere of a game.
3. I do have a vuvuzela in TUFC colours but that will now be relegated to my cupboard at home. I had also planned on bringing back some makarapas in TUFC colours for a few people but those will not now be coming with - for several reasons but it seems that the 'unique' atmosphere at Plainmoor is one that would likely not welcome these rather colourful and wonderful hats either.
4. In the club's statement I find the comment that Plainmoor has a 'unique atmosphere' intriguing - what, exactly, makes the atmosphere at our club 'unique'?
5. Also in the club's statement they talk about the supporter and, by implication, family friendly nature of the club - could I ask if anyone from the club has been to a fixture in SA where the vuvuzelas and makarapas are everywhere and to witness the number of children and women as well as families in the crowds? How does a vuvuzela make a venue un-supporter or un-family friendly?
6. To Cav - shame you found the vuvuzelas such a nuisance during your trip to the world cup, but I take exception to your comments about "locals spitting flem through the *********zela passing on the delights of the local diseases": would you care to explain what 'local diseases' these are? Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive but that type of language and narrative begets a neo-colonial mindset and one that has the potential to be read in certain ways - ways I doubt you intended or meant - surrounding issues of colonial history and narratives of 'civilisation', 'disease' and 'race' that are rather problematic (and no, this is not a case of political correctness gone mad before anyone invokes that idea). Cav - I do not know you and do not wish to imply you deliberately set about promoting these ideas, I'm just noting that my own (and others I have spoken with) understanding and reception of your comments can be read in this way.
7. As for the art of blowing a vuvuzela - one of the things you learn very quickly is to blow the vuvuzela upwards so as to not blow it into the ear of anyone: crowds at local games learnt this a long time ago, along with the patterns and styles to which it is used during the duration of the game.
8. In all honesty, was there a need to ban them anyway? How many TUFC fans own a vuvuzela? Is this a 'jumping on the bandwagon' moment? Even if a few people brought them to the games I would have thought that a. they and their fellow fans could reach an agreement as to 'acceptable use', and b. if they annoy people as much as they seem to, the noise of them might have prompted a few more songs and chants (and more people to join in with them).
In conclusion, I really don't mind either way if vuvuzelas are banned or not at Plainmoor - I have found them to be an integral and enjoyable part of SA football but, in the same vein as I was opposed to attempts during the World Cup from European and other quarters to have vuvuzelas banned during the tournament (i.e. taking away another layer of the local football experience and turning the tournament into an ever-more sanitised, Euro-centric event), I respect (even though I may disagree with) the fact that TUFC don't feel they form part of the football culture at the club.
On that note, I'll look forward to my last local matches on the 7th August at the Telkom Charity Cup being held in Soweto at the FNB Stadium (Soccer City to an international audience) where Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and (most likely) Bloem Celtic will battle it out in a one-day knock-out tournament: my makarapa will be worn, my vuvuzela blown, and pap and steak eaten. I'll then look forward to my return to Plainmoor for the game on the 11st against Reading - complete with a pint or two at the Royal, a 50:50 ticket and ah, sod it, maybe I will rock up in my Chief's gear (minus vuvuzela): at least you'll know who I am!