Drummers at war
Posted: 10 Jan 2011, 14:42
I was doing some reading about famous drummers in bands and came across some articles about very famous drummers who were awarded medals during various wars. I feel everything in the articles summed it up for the drums at football matches.
Communication
Obviously back in the days before radio transmissions, it was very difficult to tell your army to attack at the same time. Therefore the armies employed young boys to stand a few hundred yards apart and they would drum the instructions down the line. Because this was seen as highly important for tactical reasons, the drummers were always on the front line. As the soldiers attacked they would have to move with them, just in case the commanders wanted to pass messages down onto the battle field.
Moral
Before any battle the drummers would build up the atmosphere by building up a slow drum beat into a steady pace. They would get faster and faster just before the battle cries start. Also they would be entertainment for the troops when they are not fighting. This is when the introduction to bugglers came about, other musicians would join in with the drummers and play music. During the American civils wars they realised that this link of moral and communications was important and would employ young boys just to play instruments. The drummer was always seen as the important one, but the buggles were used to inform the soldiers at camp whether it was lights out or wake up time etc.
Football
I have been going to football matches for 30 years now and I remember there was always some sort of bustle and noise from the terraces. As I got older I moved away from standing with the family and started standing with my mates in the back of the terraces. When I got to about 20 I realised that if you had a good group of people around you, you could start any chant you wanted and they would sing along. So I lost my shyness for starting chants. However if the team on the pitch were playing badly, it is the one time you need the crowd behind you, but as you all know that is the one time you can't be arsed to sing.
Then came an unbelievable turn of events. Oxford v Torquay, midweek game, we were 3-0 down, we had nothing to lose. So a few of us at the back started the "Yellow Army" chant at the start of the second half, and we didn't stop for the entire half. It was the best feeling ever coming away 3-3 and for the first time I personally felt the satisfaction of being in the 12th man.
Then someone started bringing a drum to away games and being a drummer it was painful to hear the drum being played so badly. It wasn't until Steveange away though that I thought enough is enough and took the drum off the kids playing it and decided to try and do it properly. Southampton Gull will be the first to tell you, instantly the crowd were all together in time, very loud and the atmosphere was awesome. At one point the Stevenage manager came into the technical area and started shouting at his own fans and pointing at us as if to say "You are being out sung".
For me personally it felt awesome, having the control of crowd and the atmosphere. When there were quiet patches in the game I would play quietly, and as the game built up I would play louder. Dave may have to remind me, but I think we were 1-0 down, had a player sent off and we needed to get behind the team to help then dig in for the draw, and just like Oxford it worked. Then we have the famous games against Histon in the play off semi finals. Firstly the home leg in the away end. What a noise we generated that day. I had to work that day, and I couldn't finish early, so it was very close whether I would make it or not. I got stuck in traffic at Dorchester, I was very close to turning around because I know I would miss most of the first half. Alex and I were constantly phoning each other, me telling him I wouldn't get there in time and him convincing me I would. I may have broken some records that night, but I got through the turnstyle just as the players were coming onto the pitch. The rest (as they say) is History. The first time I had played the drum at Plainmoor and we took the roof off. The players must have been shell shocked with the noise that night. It was much the same for the return away leg. Cambridge were already through and most had travelled to Histon to support us from outside the ground. As we were leaving the Cambridge fans applauded us for the noise we made that game.
Then comes the best football moment ever for me......... the Wembley final. It started off from the Green Man, where Southampton Gull had arranged for a few of us to march down with the drum to the ground....... Just as we got to the bottom of Wembley, we turned back and the crowd went all the way up to the main road and we could see people still crossing the road. I am not very good with working out how many people are in a crowd, but I would say there were well over 500 of us all marching and singing together. Even the Cambridge fans applauded us from the walkway around Wembley (soon to be renamed Plainmoor2). As a kid I had always wanted to play my drums at Wembley (ideally in a rock band) so on this day my dream came true...... and yet again we made some noise that day.
I am not writing this to justify why we need a drum at games, I am not trying to blow my own trumpet, but just wanted to show the very close links between the drummers of war and the drummers at football (apart from I am not being shot at). Without them we can still build an atmosphere, but with them the crowd can sing in unisome and singing together must make us sound much louder. Even when some of us are not in the mood for joining in the singing because the game isn't very entertaining it is difficult not to join in when everyone around you is singing along to the drum.
Communication
Obviously back in the days before radio transmissions, it was very difficult to tell your army to attack at the same time. Therefore the armies employed young boys to stand a few hundred yards apart and they would drum the instructions down the line. Because this was seen as highly important for tactical reasons, the drummers were always on the front line. As the soldiers attacked they would have to move with them, just in case the commanders wanted to pass messages down onto the battle field.
Moral
Before any battle the drummers would build up the atmosphere by building up a slow drum beat into a steady pace. They would get faster and faster just before the battle cries start. Also they would be entertainment for the troops when they are not fighting. This is when the introduction to bugglers came about, other musicians would join in with the drummers and play music. During the American civils wars they realised that this link of moral and communications was important and would employ young boys just to play instruments. The drummer was always seen as the important one, but the buggles were used to inform the soldiers at camp whether it was lights out or wake up time etc.
Football
I have been going to football matches for 30 years now and I remember there was always some sort of bustle and noise from the terraces. As I got older I moved away from standing with the family and started standing with my mates in the back of the terraces. When I got to about 20 I realised that if you had a good group of people around you, you could start any chant you wanted and they would sing along. So I lost my shyness for starting chants. However if the team on the pitch were playing badly, it is the one time you need the crowd behind you, but as you all know that is the one time you can't be arsed to sing.
Then came an unbelievable turn of events. Oxford v Torquay, midweek game, we were 3-0 down, we had nothing to lose. So a few of us at the back started the "Yellow Army" chant at the start of the second half, and we didn't stop for the entire half. It was the best feeling ever coming away 3-3 and for the first time I personally felt the satisfaction of being in the 12th man.
Then someone started bringing a drum to away games and being a drummer it was painful to hear the drum being played so badly. It wasn't until Steveange away though that I thought enough is enough and took the drum off the kids playing it and decided to try and do it properly. Southampton Gull will be the first to tell you, instantly the crowd were all together in time, very loud and the atmosphere was awesome. At one point the Stevenage manager came into the technical area and started shouting at his own fans and pointing at us as if to say "You are being out sung".
For me personally it felt awesome, having the control of crowd and the atmosphere. When there were quiet patches in the game I would play quietly, and as the game built up I would play louder. Dave may have to remind me, but I think we were 1-0 down, had a player sent off and we needed to get behind the team to help then dig in for the draw, and just like Oxford it worked. Then we have the famous games against Histon in the play off semi finals. Firstly the home leg in the away end. What a noise we generated that day. I had to work that day, and I couldn't finish early, so it was very close whether I would make it or not. I got stuck in traffic at Dorchester, I was very close to turning around because I know I would miss most of the first half. Alex and I were constantly phoning each other, me telling him I wouldn't get there in time and him convincing me I would. I may have broken some records that night, but I got through the turnstyle just as the players were coming onto the pitch. The rest (as they say) is History. The first time I had played the drum at Plainmoor and we took the roof off. The players must have been shell shocked with the noise that night. It was much the same for the return away leg. Cambridge were already through and most had travelled to Histon to support us from outside the ground. As we were leaving the Cambridge fans applauded us for the noise we made that game.
Then comes the best football moment ever for me......... the Wembley final. It started off from the Green Man, where Southampton Gull had arranged for a few of us to march down with the drum to the ground....... Just as we got to the bottom of Wembley, we turned back and the crowd went all the way up to the main road and we could see people still crossing the road. I am not very good with working out how many people are in a crowd, but I would say there were well over 500 of us all marching and singing together. Even the Cambridge fans applauded us from the walkway around Wembley (soon to be renamed Plainmoor2). As a kid I had always wanted to play my drums at Wembley (ideally in a rock band) so on this day my dream came true...... and yet again we made some noise that day.
I am not writing this to justify why we need a drum at games, I am not trying to blow my own trumpet, but just wanted to show the very close links between the drummers of war and the drummers at football (apart from I am not being shot at). Without them we can still build an atmosphere, but with them the crowd can sing in unisome and singing together must make us sound much louder. Even when some of us are not in the mood for joining in the singing because the game isn't very entertaining it is difficult not to join in when everyone around you is singing along to the drum.
