"Go on Fearless"

Used to love the Fletcher Street end, that baying mass of Warringtonian passion. The South Stand unfortunately doesn't even come close.

Stadium leaks sound, the stands are too far away from the pitch, with no dedicated place for the die hard fans to stand...without being surrounded by the idiots.

What made Wilderspool the Zoo ?? The fans !!

What has happened to this feeling ?? I think the whole club - players / fans / board - have become complacent. The move to the HJ should have been the start, it appears to have been an end point for some. We can't be ar$ed when the 'lesser' clubs turn up, even (especially) the fans, we expect to win without the effort (on and off the pitch).

Atmosphere is certainly at the HJ but only for the big 2 or 3 and then only when we give them a decent contest. I think that turning the place into a bowl would help the atmosphere - shouldn't cost too much to put up a bit of roofing in each corner and then contain the whole stadium, will look much better as well - I get fed up of watching the game and then watching folk parking up for Tesco or buses passing by.

Everyone needs to have a good hard think about what they want from this rugby club, we are as much a (if not a bigger) part of this club than the players. We need to put in the effort to support in a positive way and make the HJ a fortress / a place to be feared. Maybe we reduce the size of the away dressing room and stick the away fans in a corner of the terracing rather than allowing them the comfort of the whole standing area.

A bit rambling but there are my thoughts.

Too many JCL's at the HJ.
When we moved there, everyone wanted to be part of 'rugby', because of the Rah Rah World Cup and the positive season in 2003, both of which brought with it a feel good factor that people wanted to be part of who hadn't previously been.
It perhaps wasn't that bad until 2006, either, to be completely honest. But now, I don't even have a 'regular spec' and don't know half of the people around me when I do stand somewhere with some regularity. That is a shame, because going to the match used to be a minor social gathering, where you'd meet up with like-minded friends and have some good banter.

what it should be

east stand all standing merging into the south stand being all standing up to about the half way when it can be seating
North stand- family and all seating (nothing changing) but link it to the east stand
West stand - away support( nothing changing)

that would probably improve the atmosphere
but it would never happen

Maybe the HJ should be renamed as 'The Poo'

it would be very apt if not a tad silly.

Was only talking about the zoo the other day and how I miss it.

Get away Mark! I stood in the same place on the Fletch for over 15 years and my sister and her friends were there longer than that.

However I do recall my enjoyment being ruined by two women who moved into our spot for the last 18 months, who shouted rubbish in a high pitch squeal throughout and demonstrated very little interest or knowledge in the game. We were forced to move from our spot just to get away from them (either that or my volatile sister would have chinned her!).

Yeah let's get rid of the Johnny Come Latelys and their unwanted revenue and support. Actually, thinking about it, you must have been a JCL at one point in time surely...?

Its people like Hitman that will drive the club into the ground with that mindset.

Does he not remember how close the club came to going bust?

don t know what it was about standing in the old fletcher end,
but you would always see that bloke who dropped a fart,
every other week without fail............usuallly the same time as well..

Johhny Warbo and the inane whistle, the guy with long blond locks who looked like a viking who once stood on top of the crowd barrier at a Hull FC challenge cup 1/4 final in the 80's orchestrating the crowd, and the morbidly obese guy, pie in hand, with about 300-400 RL/Wire related pin badges on his sky blue denim jacket reeking of body odour/faeces. I am going misty eyed just thinking about them all.

the best game i went to was warrington australia 31st october 1990
still have the programme

Not only was it an intimidating place - because you were reasonably close to the pitch you actually believed that the opposition or referee could hear the abuse you were hurling at them - but according to Garry Schofield the crowd at Wilderspool were good judges of medical conditions/injuries.

If you were carried off but got roundly booed then it was a fair bet you'd be up and running within a couple of minutes as if nothing had happened.

If you were carried off but got a round of applause then it was likely you would miss the following weeks game as well.

But if you got a standing ovation as you were carried off then it was time for your last rites.

He always maintained that not one opposition player got even a second of applause if they were on the pitch or even likely to be on the pitch.

Not like now at the HJ where we even applauded Catalans onto the pitch - what the hell was that all about