I mentioned this on another thread,

On Wigan TV, Shaun Wane said "the atmosphere, with the crowd lent to a poor start" against Catalan.

I know there has been a lot of discussion about the atmosphere at the DW, but for the Manager to openly criticise this, to me seems wrong.

What is he getting at?
Does he want us to improve?
Does he want the club to try and produce a better experience?
Does he want oppositions to bring bigger crowds?
Is it that we clapped for the Catalan try?

Should it matter to pros?

The atmosphere is always subdued when Catalan come to the DW as there are virtually no away fans. Same with London.

I heard his comments but I didn't read anything into it to be honest. It must really pump the players when the noise and excitement level are are high for games like Saints, Wire, Leeds etc.

Should it matter to pro's? Probably shouldn't make much difference but to answer ur opening question, I'm not sure SW meant anything to be honest?

I think he has that the wrong way around. The poor start by the team deflated the crowd.

We always get louder support at away games and I reckon our away form is better. I don't have the facts and maybe someone will be able to prove me wrong but it seems to me that the the players respond positively to the loud support away from home. Those of us who follow the team away from home also seem less inclined to moan, thus the away support is always loud AND positive.

Of course professionals should be able to play in any conditions, but they are only human. We all react well to encouragement.

Personally I think Shaun Wane has a point. The home crowd is very lacklustre. And I'm not talking here about tedious 'songs' - if you want to sing go to a gig or to church - or the brainless banging of a drum. I just mean shouting the lads on.

I've said before, doing radio the crowd noise is emphasised in our head sets and I do find that the home crowd deflates easily. But I think the real issue is that our support knows this top 8 system is a load of garbage and that most of the regular season doesn't really matter and I think they find it tough to get excited for it at times.

Between 1986 and 1995 we won 8 first past the post titles and a lot of our crowd remembers how bloody hard some of them where to win, especially dealing with Regal Trophy, Lancashire Cup and Challenge Cup on top and quite often having to chase from behind.

St Helens, Leeds and Warrington combined haven't won a first past the post title since 1975, so a lot of their fans can't really emphasise with this, thats except a first past the post title won by Saints in 1996, but that was only a short 22 game season in which the cup was dusted before the season had really begun and doesn't really compare.

Thats how I see it anyway at the moment. Poor results in big regular season home games against Warrington, Leeds and Huddersfield haven't helped either.

Also I think the tannoy music has lost it's way as well. It's like a CD on repeat every week. Whats with the 60s northern soul stuff all the time?

I think wane is correct,
The south stand is like a morgue this season.
We have had a bit more noise in the last couple of games, but nothing like the last 3 seasons.
There are 10k + every game and the best we manage is polite applause.
Let the drum back in

The tannoy music has definitely run its course, it's dreadful.

Before kick off... that awful Verve remix.
Half time... "Here comes your Warrior..."
Start of 2nd half... "I am the Warrior..."
Every try... Chelsea f****** Dagger.
Every goal... Chase The Sun.
Full time... Long After Tonight... ZZZZZZZZZ.

Boring, repetitive and stale. Change the record, please Wigan!

I don't think the music played makes any real difference to the atmosphere but it's definitely something that should probably change.

I disagree with what DaveO said about the poor start deflating the crowd. The crowd was never 'inflated' in the first place and rarely is. Had the team started brilliantly the atmosphere would still have been poor because it always is except in bigger games or during games with plenty of quality and controversy (which are few and far between at the DW).

The poor atmosphere is pretty worrying. I find a good atmosphere really improves games while a poor one can make some seem to drag on. Not every game is going to have a good atmosphere but the DW is probably the absolute worst stadium in Super League when it comes to creating a bit of noise during most games.

I've often defending Wigan's renting of the DW when fans of other clubs have been sniping for whatever reason, but to be honest I hate the DW as a rugby league venue except for in big games. It's completely soulless. Size isn't necessarily the issue either as sometimes a half full stadium can still have a good atmosphere.

Fans who want to sing and make a bit of noise during games seem to be small in numbers, or perhaps it's just a case that they are so spread out that nothing can get started. Trying to create a singing section isn't necessarily going to make a huge difference either because as we've found previously, a small singing section in the south doesn't make much difference either because a small concentrated group of people in a corner doesn't create much of an atmosphere either.

I doubt the DW will ever be a ground that generates a good atmosphere but it's certainly been much better in the past than it is right now.

In a perfect world Wigan would have a stadium that holds about 20,000 that's enclosed, perhaps like a bigger version of the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster but possibly with a standing area.

While the stadium itself is pretty poor, I'd love a stand that could generate the same sort of atmosphere as the south stand at Headingley. Those at the back probably can't see a thing whenever the ball goes up in the air but the design helps create a bloody great noise.

Explosions of excitement are created by doing something that gets the crowd on its feet, not watching four or five drives before the famed Wigan move takes over.
Last season Sam scored over twenty tries and made many more, and when he went looking for the ball the crowd got exited.
In my eyes Sam was a standoff playing fullback who came into is own when he took it upon himself to pop up all over the pitch.
Bowen who has been one of the games great fullbacks ( playing fullback) over the last 10 years does not seem to have that unpredictability that Sam had to get involved in the half's, this means that Wigan are relying more and more on the 4/5 tackles then swing it wide.

Unless Wigan change drastically I can see Wigan finishing 150/200 points short of the points scored last season.

Sanitise the crowd to make it family friendly and this is the knock on effect.

I'm a bit more concerned with the trend this season for the soccer markings to be brighter than the Rugby markings,with no apparent effort being made to tone them down for Rugby matches.
Or is this another spiteful little dig by our Landlord, just letting us know who's boss?

So you don't think conceding a try after less than five minutes ever silences a crowd? And continued poor play doesn't keep the crowd muted? Really?



This atmosphere has very little to do with the ground IMO and far more to do with the crowds expectations.

I mentioned this on another thread that cropped up a few weeks ago that instead of basking in the glory of watching a Champion team move onwards and upwards as you might expect after a double winning season the fans are not thick and realise we have a new team out there that in several positions is considered inferior to last seasons (whether that is true or not is not the issue but the perception is).

As I said previously I feel the crowd is kind of nervous and its expectations are lower or at least uncertain as to how the team is going to play.

If that is so continued poor starts to games as we have seen at home is not going to dispel any of those feelings. I think it is going to make it worse.

So I think you are way off the mark about the poor start not deflating the crowd. I think poor starts to games reinforce a view we are not as good as we should be and it will knock the wind out the crowds sails very easily.

If the team look sharp the I think the atmosphere will improve. How quickly I don't know because to certain extent poor starts are becoming far too normal and so expectations are IMO already lower and early points conceded hit the enthusiasm of the crowd.

I think for most teams a poor start will deflate the crowd, but not in Wigan's case because the atmosphere during games is poor regardless of the score, how well/poorly the team start a game, with a few exceptions.

The atmosphere was poor against Wakefield, yet we picked up the first try. It doesn't seem to matter what happens during the games, the stadium is pretty much always quiet.

Obviously a good game with plenty of exciting incidents is likely to get the crowd going but even then it's rarely anything to write home about. Even last season when we had that brilliant game against Hull FC the week after the Challenge Cup final the atmosphere was nothing special.

Even when the team has looked sharp during good runs of form over the last two or three years the DW has still been a much quieter stadium than most.

Lets look at the opposition so far:

Hudds - half decent support for them, but were split into two groups (North & East Stands) due to the groupon offer.

Wakey - usual poor following.

Hull KR - Awful following (200 max), possibly their worst Ive seen them bring across.

Catalans - No opposition fans at all.

London up next, another 11k expected so it wont get any better for the forseeable it would seem.