Why are football crowds getting quieter? 6 Minute English

Dan: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English.

I'm Dan.

Neil:And I'm Neil.

Dan: Now, Neil,

do you like going to live football matches?

Neil: Oh yes, I love it.

Dan: Is it better than watching them on TV?

Neil: Well, you don’t really see as much as you

do on TV,

but then on TV you don’t really feel the atmosphere.

You can’t sing along

with the chants and songs at home.

Dan: Well, it’s good you mentioned the songs and

chants because that is today’s topic.

It seems that for some football clubs, the atmosphere

in the stadiums is becoming a bit ‘quiet’.

Now, before we look at this topic in more

detail, here is today’s quiz.

As we are talking about football, in which decade was

the first ever international football match played?

Is it a) in the 1870s

b) in the 1890s

or c) in the 1910s

Neil: I could be wrong but I think it was before

the turn of the century, so I’ll say the 1890s.

Dan: Well, we'll see if you're right or not later in the show.

Now, songs and chants are part of the experience

of football matches.

But where do they come from? What are they about?

Here’s Joe Wilson from BBC Sport.

Which team name does he mention?

Joe Wilson: Some songs can be witty, honed specifically

to celebrate a certain player or

moment in a club’s history.

Others rely more on a hypnotic repetition of syllables.

U-NI-TED, for example.

Dan: So, which team does he mention?

Neil: Well, he used the syllables from United.

This isn’t one team as there are quite a few professional

teams in Britain that have United

in their names, in fact there are over a dozen.

Perhaps the most well-known though would be

Manchester United.

Dan: I think fans of Welling United might argue

with you about that! Anyway, what did Wilson say

about the nature of football songs?

Neil: He said they could be witty. Witty means

funny but in a clever way.

He also said that they could be honed.

Dan: Honed is an interesting word here.

Something that is honed is carefully crafted,

skilfully created and developed over a period of time.

Neil: When it comes to witty football songs Wilson

describes them as being honed to be about a particular

player, or a moment in a club’s history.

But these aren’t the only kinds of songs.

Another kind of song he describes

is the hypnotic repetition of syllables.

Dan: Something that is hypnotic repeats again and again

– like a magical spell or chant.

What’s interesting is that in football songs words

can have more syllables than you would expect.

Neil: Oh yes, for example, let’s take England.

Two syllables, right?

Dan: Right!

Neil: Wrong!

At least in a football stadium it becomes

three syllables.

Eng – ger – land, Eng – ger – land …

Dan: Alright! Thank you! Let’s listen to Mr Wilson again.

Joe Wilson: Some songs can be witty, honed specifically

to celebrate a certain player or moment

in a club’s history.

Others rely more on a

hypnotic repetition of syllables.

U-NI-TED, for example.

Dan: Now, apparently, in many stadiums, the crowds

aren’t singing as much as they used to.

Some managers have complained that the fans

are too quiet and that this has a negative effect

on the players.

So what are some of the reasons for this?

Here’s BBC Sport’s Joe Wilson again.

How many reasons does he mention?

Joe Wilson: The decline in singing may be explained by

changing demographics in football attendance.

Older supporters, more expensive tickets.

Or by stadium design.

All-seater arenas may discourage the instinct

to stand up and sing.

Dan: So, what reasons did he give for the decline

in singing, for the fact that singing

is getting less common.

Neil: He gave a number of reasons.

He talked about the change in demographics.

Demographics refers to a section of the population

that do a particular thing.

It can refer to age groups or wealth, for example.

Dan: What Wilson says is that the members that

make up a football crowd are changing.

They are older and wealthier, and perhaps that

is a demographic or group that is less likely

to sing in public.

Neil: Another reason he gives is that sitting down

might also discourage people from singing.

If something discourages you, it makes you

not want to do it.

Most stadiums in the UK have to have seats and maybe

singing is something that people feel happier doing

when they are standing up.

Dan: Well, the final whistle is about to blow on

today’s programme.

Before that though,

here’s the answer to our quiz question.

I asked you

when the first international football match took place.

Neil: And I took a guess with the 1890s.

Dan: And that's a red card, I'm afraid, Neil.

The first international football match took place in the

1870s between England and Scotland.

Neil: Oh, come on ref!

Dan: And now, to take us to the whistle, let's

review today’s vocabulary.

Neil: The first word we had was witty.

A kind of humour that is smart and clever.

Dan: Then we had honed for something that is crafted

and improved over time.

A bit like my physique.

I’ve been honing my body in the gym.

Neil: Really?

Are you being witty?

Dan: I wasn’t trying to!

Anyhow, we then heard about hypnotic repetition

to describe the effect of thousands of people repeating

the syllables of a football team over and over

and over and over and over and over and over…

Neil: OK, Dan! OK, Dan!

We use the phrase a decline in

to say that something is getting less.

Dan: Demographics refers to a group or section

of the population that is involved a particular activity.

Neil: And finally we had the verb discourage for

something that makes us less likely to do something.

Dan: Well, that is it for this programme.

If you're not interested in football,

I hope we didn’t discourage you from listening again!

Neil: Indeed, I hope it doesn’t lead to a decline

in our audience.

We want to have as wide a demographic as possible.

Dan: So with that in mind, don't forget to find

us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube,

and of course, on our website – bbclearninenglish.com!

Bye!

Neil: Goodbye!