Part III: The fans effect on players

Fans are a huge aspect to any sports game, without fans the sports we love today wouldn’t be what they are. Fans have helped sports become this huge form of entertainment for everyone in the world, they pay athletes wages and are vital to all clubs but especially at the Northern League level.

Studies have shown that encouragement can improve an athlete’s performance/ effort levels by up to 7%. It can provide a positive distraction from fatigue as well. (Andreacci JL, LeMura LM, Cohen SL, Urbansky EA, Chelland SA, Von Duvillard SP. The effects of frequency of encouragement on performance during maximal exercise testing. J Sports Sci. 2002) Emotions are very heightened for fans during a game and majority of the time their emotions are aimed towards the players. Whether good or bad, players and referees get the brunt of emotions that fans feel throughout a match.

Most players want to win and play well for their club and fans. So, any form of motivation, whether that comes from anger or positive encouragement can help a player with their performance.

Covid-19 led to the Northern league being put on hold whilst higher leagues such as Premier League played games in front of empty stadiums.

An empty stadium can pretty eerie just standing there never mind trying to play 90 minutes of football, especially when players can thrive off the energy given by crowds.

‘Not only do fans add to the value of football, but they are fan engagement is good for player performance too. Players thrive when feeding off the energy and electricity provided by a crowd. Empty football stadiums have a huge impact psychologically, denying players that connection with their supporters that normally improves performance levels significantly. Take the noise of a home crowd urging their tired and weary team on. The roar of match-going fans is proven to distract from fatigue when harnessed by individual players. This is true for virtually any sport in the world, in fact.’ (https://www.wemakefootballers.com/news/why-are-football-fans-important)

Although Northern League has considerably smaller grounds and crowds the fans can still make some noise and have an impact. A smaller crowd can lead players to actually hear everything from the fans, which can be positive and negative. It also allows the players to see facial expressions and body language which can be more telling than verbal shouting at times.

Jamie Harwood, a current player at West Auckland FC, said, “The crowds the majority of times are quite small so this is not a noticeable factor, it can add a little more pressure and tension when in bigger games or important cup games but generally the bigger crowds make it more exciting to play in.”

Jamie has also played at Bishop Auckland FC so has played against a former club which can be exciting for some players.

“It usually adds more emotion to the game and you usually get more verbal stick from fans… it all adds as motivation and makes it better when you win.”

There is home advantage which can help players. Having that home court advantage can help teams play better as they have more support from fans. However, it can also be a disadvantage as if the home team isn’t playing very well the away fans can be louder and that could have a negative impact on the home team’s mentality.

‘A study by the Times found that home teams score more goals than the away team (about 37% more). This is because the crowd expects them to go out and attack and, a lot of the time, they do.

Research also suggests that regular encouragement (which a crowd tends to provide… especially at the start or when things are going well) can help motivate athletes to put in more effort. In fact, the study found that effort levels increased up to 7%, which in a game where small differences can make the biggest difference, is huge!’

‘Some of the best crowds are visually impressive too. It turns out that visual representations of encouragement can be used to create an atmosphere that influences athletes both physically and psychologically. It has actually been found to help boost the physical strength of athletes by up to 8%.’ (https://blog.innerdrive.co.uk/sports/psychology-playing-behind-closed-doors)

Andrew Johnson, a former Northern League player, said: “If fans are encouraging and giving players praise it can boost a player’s performance and self-confidence massively which can impact on team results and individual performances.

“If fans are negative towards a player this obviously can have the opposite effect.

“However, some players play better when criticized by fans and it encourages them to play better and prove fans wrong or the player may even try harder to annoy the away fans as well and encourage them to play better.”

A player can experience a lot of different emotions and pain during a game and fan encouragement can help them push through some of that. For example, if a player makes a really good challenge or scores a goal in the 70^th minute that roar, cheer and positive reinforcement from their fans can help them push on as they start to feel exhaustion and pain take over them.