Collingwood Cheer Squad has turned the corner.

[AlfAndrews]

Tonight at Colonial Stadium we saw the dawn of a new era in the history of the Collingwood Cheer Squad.

Mind you, as a four quarter effort it was disappointing. The Cheer Squad went missing for much of the second quarter as St.Kilda dominated the game. But generally speaking, it was the best the Official Cheer Squad has sounded for years.

But it's nowhere near the standard we should be aiming for. I would say that when we've reached the stage where we sound like we did tonight WHEN WE'RE LOSING, we will be able to say we've achieved something.

I doesn't matter what our team achieves or fails to achieve on the field this year. There is absolutely no reason why we can't be the BEST cheer squad in the AFL.

I know Joffa was a bit apprehensive about tonight. But his influence, and the influence of other members of the old unofficial squad has injected a bit of much-needed mongrel into the squad. And I think the new-found enthusiasm has affected many of the long-standing official cheer squad who, with the right encouragement, will come right out of their shells and get Collingwood back on top of the cheer squads' premiership table.

Some criticisms:
(and these are offered in the spirit of wanting our Cheer Squad to soar to great heights)

There are a lot of excellent chants that are being started up by a few people but are not catching on simply because people don't know them. The internet, and this forum in particular, provides an excellent opportunity for chants to be published. So, all you creative geniuses in the Cheer Squad, how about sharing your wit with the rest of us so we can all join in.

I also think the actual leading of the chants needs to be co-ordinated a bit better. It's very much a case of anything goes at the moment. So you get this situation where two or three people have started up the "Collingwood ... clap clap clap" chant at slightly different times. So it gets out of synch and sounds very messy. Too many people trying to be chiefs ... so the Indians don't know which one to follow.

Joffa ... stand up, son. It's your moment in history. Grab it with both hands.

We were too quiet when St.Kilda got their run-on in the 2nd quarter. This is unforgivable. A cheer squad has to work twice as hard when the team's going badly.

As the year goes on, there needs to be more of an effort to inspire the rest of the crowd to join in. The Cheer Squad is really there to kick-start the whole black and white army. If we're good enough, other Collingwood fans will want to sit near us. So we'll get this amazing pulsating, vibrating, mass of black and white taking up an entire end of the ground. No opposition supporters will want to go anywhere near us. That's how it should be, I reckon.

It is possible to really intimidate opposition supporters. And you don't need to be abusive to do it. You just need to be united.

And that's really what we need to be a great cheer squad. More unity. Tonight we made a start in that direction.

BUT WE'VE GOT A LONG WAY TO GO.

A BLOODY LONG LONG WAY TO GO.

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**floreat pica**

[Spooker]

Good post

[London Dave]

Excellent stuff Alf, I think you should be director of cheer squad strategy or something of that ilk. Lets hope your vision of a sea of black and white is realised. Your point about working extra hard when the going is not so good is so true. I reckon it would give the players a bit of a lift when they need it too. I asked a few locals here about why they continually follow useless teams (like Millwall) and chant the whole game. They said its all part of the experience, win lose or draw. (and they paid their money, so they want their moneys worth).
The intimidation you talk about is soooo true. Hopefully it'll catch on with you guys!

[CQ]

yeah, it would be sooooo annoying sitting near another teams cheersquad which never shutup!