You're entitled to your opinion 'dude', as am I, freedom of speech is an enshrined basic human right after all...
it's just a pity that you feel my "attitude to a mass walkout at halftime is downright pathetic"...if you had taken the time to consider what I had written, you would realise that I suggested using various propaganda tools to inform the players beforehand, thus negating the 'shock' value of supporters leaving the stadium; after all the message is meant to be directed at the management, as a response to managerial misadventure...
Regardless, if you seriously believe that a single player would leave the club due to witnessing a protest of this sort, then that is your prerogative. But, pray tell, how do you evaluate players leaving the club for increased wages, better rep opportunites etc...personal development I suppose, yet we, as a loyal support base, cannot comment for fear of driving a 'loyal' servant away from the club...lol.
By the way, the only reason I mentioned that I was a season ticket holder, was to underpin the comments that followed, i.e. that as a season ticket holder I have already provided financial support to the club, therefore, if I walked out at half-time I would not have disadvantaged the club monetarily, are you with me now dude, eh!
Right, onto your next point...the following are just some of the varied sporting protest/boycott actions I alluded to:
71' Springbok tour of Australia (Joh had to call a 'state of emergency' and change venues due to the level of disruption).
81' Springbok tour of NZ (similar events but with a Maori flavour).
70's - 80's Rebel cricket tours to S.A. (protests by players, govts, supporters in S.A. including the ANC etc...).
Various boycotts of the Moscow, L.A., and Seoul Olympics.
Indigenous Australians boycott of the Sydney Olympics...by the way I believe 'our Cathy' could have done more, a black power salute a la Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Mexico 68 wouldn't have gone amiss (and there's another one for you right there dude).
Numerous British 'soccer' related supporter protests both inside (pitch invasions) and outside the grounds (vocal demo's in the boardroom, car park), usually against ground moves, mergers, takeover bids/franchises, corporatisation, e.g. West Ham, Wimbledon, QPR, Liverpool, Man U, Brighton, Watford, Hearts & Hibs. Also, recently the Celtic Trust began a campaign to encourage shareholders to vote against the appointment of former Home Secretary John Reid as Chairman due to his involvement in the Iraq war...
Likewise in Italy, the ultra's have boycotted games over ticket price hikes, managerial corruption and nepotism, police brutality, etc...the list goes on. Now if you have a look at my sig you will realise that I'm no fan of the ultra's, mainly due to the prevalence of neo-nazi, extreme right wing followers, however, protest and boycott they do, and you asked for examples...
also, in Italy a couple of seasons back, the smaller clubs boycotted the first 3/4 weeks of the season in protest at the unequal share of television rights monies. This continued with a television boycott for a further couple of weeks...all sanctioned by the clubs, management et al...
Now, you're probably going to pull me up about the level of success of these boycotts, but steady on there comrade, because it all depends on what you term as success. Surely in this (our) situation it revolves around having our say, a voice that is heard, i.e. raising awareness, expressing our opinions, educating the uneducated...whether some form of success that can be judged in other terms occurs is negligible at this stage.
all revolutions take time campesino...
Now I'm not going to continue typing for the sake of it, and there's no need to get into non-sporting protest or we'll be here all night, but understand this...I, as others have done, was simply providing ideas for discussion, debate and discourse. How we as a collaborative body of Parra supporters, decide to action these ideas will only become clearer through continued dialogue.
I'd prefer to see open letters printed in the media (also electronic media...e.g. sent to all of the forums on this site), flyers and leaflets distributed at the stadium, correspondence with the club (responses printed openly in the media...if any are received) as a basic framework, a foundation on which to alter the dynamic between the club hierarchy and the supporters...
prior to, possibly something visual at one of the away games at ANZ later this year...
but these are simply one person's ideas...
stay disappointed in me 'dude', the colour suits you and it allows me to sleep peacefully at night...
apologies to Hevy & Ron J, don't know why I was tampering with the font on the earlier post...won't do it again, eh!
regards
