[Archived] Atmosphere At Ewood - Darwen End Lower

[RoverInWigan]

Although it seems to have taken some time, the atmosphere in the Darwen end lower is improving as could be heard on Monday when they were louder than the Blackburn end and the Sunderland fans at times.

There is a growing bunch of lads who never stop hardly and with the away fans above there is some great banter going on.

Does anybody else not think that the fans or the club should sort a singing section out in this unreserved seating area. Whether it be official or unofficial, anybody who wants to sing should go there. It seems to have worked well at clubs like Bolton and Wigan and could only help improve the atmosphere at Ewood...?

It's up to the fans to keep it going and the club to encourage it. What are your thoughts??

[dannydisco]

Although it seems to have taken some time, the atmosphere in the Darwen end lower is improving as could be heard on Monday when they were louder than the Blackburn end and the Sunderland fans at times.

There is a growing bunch of lads who never stop hardly and with the away fans above there is some great banter going on.

Does anybody else not think that the fans or the club should sort a singing section out in this unreserved seating area. Whether it be official or unofficial, anybody who wants to sing should go there. It seems to have worked well at clubs like Bolton and Wigan and could only help improve the atmosphere at Ewood...?

It's up to the fans to keep it going and the club to encourage it. What are your thoughts??

Previously the Blackburn End (home only) and Darwen End (away only) arrangement meant the distance was too far fans to pick up the banter and only one or two big songs could be heard and retaliated too, apart from an occasional yet tame effort from the Riverside, so the atmosphere was difficult to get going. It definitely makes a difference from previous seasons having both home and away fans in close proximity in the DE. The banter, gestures and songs flow back and forth more often and as you have also noticed it adds to the atmosphere.

It would be good to create a singing area and is perhaps one for the marketing department to encourage, their 'taking back ewood' at the end of last season worked pretty well along with the promo items (hooters/blow up drum sticks/face masks) handed out. So building on from that maybe have more 'theme games' It was ladies day a few games back, so what about a silverware day for example where a few legends bring out the trophy and they show clips of the associated season/game on the screens. I'm sure there lots more themes that could be thought up and added too.

Perhaps a better incentive than individually discounted tickets would be to do generous group discounts such as 3 for 2 (dad's with lad's combos) which I think could encourage more groups of mates/families to be in the same area rather than spread out. There is also the cheaper beer offer that stops 1 hour before kick off could be extended to liven things up a little.

Also a lot more could be done to plug into the factories where, as happens in Italy, factories own a whole block of say 400 regular seats and give them to their shop floor, rather than the 5 or 6 execs in the box. (Which one would see the biggest increase in productivity??)

I also think another disadvantage is the design of Ewood with it's open corners, which i reckon allows a lot of sound to escape rather than reverberate around. This could be improved by an extra jumbotron bridging the gap (a bit like Anfield) or a couple of mesh banners (like the famous Tevez one on Deansgate) to fill in the gaps between the 3 biggest stands.

[Hughesy]

Heard them abit more against Sunderland, but only because the Blackburn End was fairly quiet.

[Sparky Marky]

Also a lot more could be done to plug into the factories where, as happens in Italy, factories own a whole block of say 400 regular seats and give them to their shop floor, rather than the 5 or 6 execs in the box. (Which one would see the biggest increase in productivity??)

Factories???? You're living in cloud cuckoo land mate...there is none left in blackburn and the ones that are left certainly can't afford to be lashing out 400 season tickets for it's staff....

[10moorgate]

yeah, the darwen end boys are doing a stirling job. keep it coming lads!

[cletus]

Heard them abit more against Sunderland, but only because the Blackburn End was fairly quiet.

The Darwen End is for defo more lively than the BBE.....who could not be heard during the Sunderland game. There`s about 50/60 (& it seems to be growing) lads in the top corner of the DE who sing all through the game & exchange 'banter' with the away fans.

If any Darwen Enders are reading this, i reckon a couple of renditions of "Riverside, give us a song. Riverside riverside give us a song!!" might get a bit of atmosphere going in the ground or even a song back!!

Maybe a poke at the BBE too?? "Where`s the famous Blackburn End?" or Darwen Enders, Darwen Enders, olay olay olay!! to see if we can provoke a response from the silent BBE?

It`s worth a try & might even get something going between the stands

[Ossydave]

Without wishing to rain on anyone's parade, you could only be heard on a couple of occasions from the BBE, which was once again pretty flat itself.

[cletus]

Without wishing to rain on anyone's parade, you could only be heard on a couple of occasions from the BBE, which was once again pretty flat itself.

At least we were singing!

.....whilst you were all sat on your hands (all except a few die-hards in the top left corner of the BBE) the Darwen End were exchanging 'banter' with the Makems & singing our little heads off!

[AndyNeil]

to say that there is 5000 people in the BBE lower, the noise level is pretty rubbish ... the idea of 'provoking' the Riverside / BBE is a good one, but the main problem with the atmosphere is (a) the sides of the ground being open coupled with the low roof on the riverside, and (b)the fact that there is a stand with anywhere between 6000 - 9000 people sit ... it is that quiet, if somebody farted you could hear it on the other side of the ground.

The small band of (sometimes very) merry men in the DE are more than holding their own!

COYB

[ABBEY]

The Darwen End is for defo more lively than the BBE.....who could not be heard during the Sunderland game. There`s about 50/60 (& it seems to be growing) lads in the top corner of the DE who sing all through the game & exchange 'banter' with the away fans.

If any Darwen Enders are reading this, i reckon a couple of renditions of "Riverside, give us a song. Riverside riverside give us a song!!" might get a bit of atmosphere going in the ground or even a song back!!

Maybe a poke at the BBE too?? "Where`s the famous Blackburn End?" or Darwen Enders, Darwen Enders, olay olay olay!! to see if we can provoke a response from the silent BBE?

It`s worth a try & might even get something going between the stands

i was too busy sleeping to sing.

to say that there is 5000 people in the BBE lower, the noise level is pretty rubbish ...

COYB

just like the rubbish being served up...one bloke who always sings says he isnt singing because zzzzam sees this as hes doing the right think by boring the arse off us punters who know nowt.

[rovers1995]

Why does everyone make a dig at the riversiders.

WE NEVER SING

ARE THE ONLY STAND TO HAVE FANS LEAVNG EARLY

At the end of the day we are all supporters of Blackburn Rovers and no one end is better than the other.

[roversWASmylife]

I usually sit in N01 in the Blackburn End, it used to be alright a few years ago, last two years or so it's gone downhill.

On Monday i was offered a ticket in the Jack Walker so I sat there. I was roughly near the half way line so half way between the BBE and Darwen End. The atmosphere from the BBE was poor apart from the odd chant of No Nay Never and "get into 'em"

The Darwen End for the amount of people in the back corner was good. I'm very tempted to go to the Darwen End next year, i don't make all the games for a start and if the same offer is on of what they've had this year I'll definitely move. At times the DE Lower was the loudest part of the ground.

Isn't the Darwen End already an unreserved seating area? I'm all for an area where fans can stand and sing all game, if the club aren't going to do it, then us the fans should get on with it and create our own.

[cletus]

Why does everyone make a dig at the riversiders.

WE NEVER SING

ARE THE ONLY STAND TO HAVE FANS LEAVNG EARLY

At the end of the day we are all supporters of Blackburn Rovers and no one end is better than the other.

I`m not having a dig my friend just giving you a gentle nudge of encouragement lol

I sat in the Riverside last season (near the DE) & at times the atmosphere was good. I think some of those lads & lasses have moved into the DE this term.

RoversWASmylife...."The Darwen End for the amount of people in the back corner was good. I'm very tempted to go to the Darwen End next year, i don't make all the games for a start and if the same offer is on of what they've had this year I'll definitely move. At times the DE Lower was the loudest part of the ground.

Come & join us my friend Come & join our bunch of merry men!! There`s lots of room & we always have a good sing-song

[Hughesy]

Without wishing to rain on anyone's parade, you could only be heard on a couple of occasions from the BBE, which was once again pretty flat itself.

Exactly Ossydave.

We were quiet (bburn end) - Darwen End also. Over the course of the game, id say both were about Equal.

You will have to do better than that Cletus

[Claytons Left Boot]

Does anybody else not think that the fans or the club should sort a singing section out in this unreserved seating area.

Yes I do and if they did I would be in there like a shot. Trouble is, that with Rovers supporters, any such suggestions are a cue for everlasting moaning....I'm not moving....I've sat here for years.......I don't want to sing........I don't want to stand......etc etc.

The 200 Wigan fans to our left at the DW made ten times as much noise as 4600 Rovers fans who basically sat in silence. Other clubs' supporters just get on with it and do it. Wigan, Bolton, Sunderland and others have all plonked themselves right by the away fans. They can do it, why can't we?

(Puts his hand to his ear and awaits the guaranteed whimpering.......)

[cletus]

Exactly Ossydave.

We were quiet (bburn end) - Darwen End also. Over the course of the game, id say both were about Equal.

You will have to do better than that Cletus

.....sorry, i can`t hear you!!

equal? equal?? you are now obviously talking out of your bottom Hughesy. There`s 5000 downstairs in the BBE & about 2.5k upstairs. You are 'supposed' to be the loyal hardcore, the bouncing Blackburn End!!.....yet you yourself admit you`re 'about equal' in volume to about 1200 Darwen Enders!

You 'hardcore' should be ashamed of yourselves.

Tell you what, we`ll sing a few songs for you at the next home game.....maybe you`d like to clap along, if it`s not too cold for your handys

[only2garners]

Yes I do and if they did I would be in there like a shot. Trouble is, that with Rovers supporters, any such suggestions are a cue for everlasting moaning....I'm not moving....I've sat here for years.......I don't want to sing........I don't want to stand......etc etc.

The 200 Wigan fans to our left at the DW made ten times as much noise as 4600 Rovers fans who basically sat in silence. Other clubs' supporters just get on with it and do it. Wigan, Bolton, Sunderland and others have all plonked themselves right by the away fans. They can do it, why can't we?

(Puts his hand to his ear and awaits the guaranteed whimpering.......)

What's stopping you? If you sit elsewhere in the ground and fancy trying out the Darwen End experience the club will swap your tickets on a match by match basis. That way 50-60 singing could rapidly became a couple of hundred. I don't think the club can organise a singing area - it needs to come from the fans and it clearly is doing as we get further into the season. Given the run of home matches we have coming up - Fulham, Wigan, Hull and Bolton, the last 3 all midweek, I'm sure we will see some cheap package deals coming out for these games which should up the Darwen end numbers as well. They won't all want to sing but there's plenty of room for singers and non-singers in that end.

The whole idea of the unreserved seating in the Darwen End was to encourage a singing area to develop. The Fans Forum first proposed an unreserved seating area a couple of seasons ago and this time last year the club were actively considering a small area as an experiment for this season - we wanted the Darwen End block of the Riverside and they wanted a section of the JW Lower. Then they went for broke with the Darwen end Lower unreserved seating idea, which was much more adventurous than we had been proposing.

[roversWASmylife]

I`m not having a dig my friend just giving you a gentle nudge of encouragement lol

I sat in the Riverside last season (near the DE) & at times the atmosphere was good. I think some of those lads & lasses have moved into the DE this term.

Come & join us my friend Come & join our bunch of merry men!! There`s lots of room & we always have a good sing-song

I will be joining you, im afraid it will be next season though.

[BRFC Casuals]

There is a growing bunch of lads who never stop hardly and with the away fans above there is some great banter going on.

Yes it seems to be getting better by the game only one request to make things better would be to move your grouping to the other top corner in the middle right next to the camera , at the moment you are right outside the control room and about 80% of the radio traffic on monday was about your grouping and your gestures/songs etc ............... Big brother is right behind you

[Ozz]

You could see a woman pointing out suspects in our end from the control box, and then 2 minutes later stewards march in a pull them out.

[RoverInWigan]

Seeing as a lot of people think that it would be a good idea to develop this singing area, what does everyone think would be the best way to get all of the fans who want to sing to actually sit there. Maybe posting on all the message boards and publicising it would help spread the idea???

[bonehead]

Yes it seems to be getting better by the game only one request to make things better would be to move your grouping to the other top corner in the middle right next to the camera , at the moment you are right outside the control room and about 80% of the radio traffic on monday was about your grouping and your gestures/songs etc ............... Big brother is right behind you

how do you know about the radio traffic and i wondered who that woman was pointing,the reason why alot of us stand there is it is the only place where we can stand together,if we moved over to the middle we may struggle to be all in the same place and regarding our songs as long as we keep it healthy then they can,t do jack sh*t.

[Rover9]

It's definately improving in the DE Lower and we were talking about the group in the back corner after the game, from where we were (back of N01 BBE) although not too loud considering numbers we did hear many of your songs and on a couple of occasions tried singing along. As is increasingly the case many in the BBE dont mutter much unless an injustice is done or there is something to moan about and as with 'the players' needing a goal to bring them to life,the same could be said for most fans aswel! It is tempting to move to the DE but I dont have any grumbles about where I sit as we do have a sing song even if most dont join in much, where I am I do tend to join in with those at the back of N02 also as they do get a few songs going aswel so cant complain either side!

[Claytons Left Boot]

What's stopping you? If you sit elsewhere in the ground and fancy trying out the Darwen End experience the club will swap your tickets on a match by match basis. That way 50-60 singing could rapidly became a couple of hundred.

Temporarily living in Zurich! Brilliant news though. I wasn't aware you could swap on a match by match basis. Will try it out with my two mates when I'm next over later this month. Maybe the 50-60 will grow to 200, then 1500. Why not? The Blackburn End has become a joke, the only time it awakens from the dead is against Burnley and to some degree Man Utd.

[Tom]

I was sat bang on the half way line two or three rows behind Sam on Monday, it must be said the atmosphere from both ends was poor but I'd blame that on the standard of football on display.

One thing we noticed from there is that about 5 minutes before half time the Blackburn End looked half empty, not that I blame anyone for that either.

It did pick up in the second half but it still wasn't great.