“Antisocial”

“Zero conversation,
Words upon a page
No communication, no respect”

“Up To Zero” – Overkill

I know it’s possibly difficult for some younger readers to believe, but there was actually a time before the internet.  Being of a certain age, I not only remember it but I’ve also seen how the “Hockey watching experience” has evolved in tandem with advances in technology

First step was the good ol’ mobile phone, something that these days we take for granted.  Visitors to Alty over the past few seasons will have been familiar with the Jon Hammond line “put your phones away and talk to each other”.  Obviously, back in the day the only thing mobiles were capable of was making phone calls, sending text messages or maybe the occasional game of “Snake”, so for a lot of us, period breaks were spent browsing the match night programme (an invaluable source of information at the time, and pretty good time killer) or “talking to each other” (Jon would be proud)

As far as scores from other games taking place at the same time were concerned, it was pretty much just a case of crossing fingers and hoping for the best (unless of course, you were in touch with someone at home trying to follow on Teletext and supplying you with updates.  Old time Storm fans will remember that Playoff game in Bracknell for instance (a game I sadly/foolishly missed out on, having decided somewhat prematurely that we had no chance and the season was done, spending  my evening avoiding what limited social media there was at the time and attempting to forget the game was taking place)

As time went on, you could start to use your phone to access the internet so things became much easier, to the point where we now have the “Flashscores” app, something that has become invaluable to most of us.  In a funny twist of fate, said app now has a lot of us “talking to each other” (there’s that phrase again) as we inform surrounding fans of the latest developments in important games around the country

In another “it’s funny how things turned out”, I originally joined Twitter with the sole intention of just using it for score updates and over time it has slowly become my social media platform of choice

However, possibly the biggest change in the way we now experience the game has been the advent of social media

To start with, the original Storm website contained a basic forum of sorts with no type of log in required – you simply posted as you went along under any assumed name that took your fancy.  For the more “selective” fan, there was “Into The Storm” – a fan page that featured an independent forum that always felt more “mature”, rather than a “free-for-all”.  Speaking as someone the had their first experience of Hockey at the arena, this was a place (to my novice eyes at least) that was frequented by people that really appeared to know their stuff and even the occasional fan from other teams.  Whilst it was very welcoming, it also didn’t tend to suffer fools (or “trolls” to use the proper/modern term) gladly

As a result, this was a place I tended to “lurk” rather than get involved at the time as it was somewhere I knew I could really learn something

Having lived so much of my life without it, I considered (and still consider) social media to be a bit like a huge “virtual pub”.  Here is the opportunity to share thoughts, observations, opinions and even arguments with not only the group of people that you are currently physically with, but with fans from around the country, and even around the world.  As a result, I’ve always maintained the attitude of trying not to speak to someone on social media in a way that I would if they were sat in front of me

Sadly, it would appear that not everyone sees things that way, something that I put down to seeing the internet as a modern invention rather than having had it there all my life.  Some would appear to love the animosity the internet brings, giving the opportunity to verbally abuse others anonymously with no fear of retribution.  This in turn has also led to the term “banter” which appears to just be an excuse to be offensive

It’s only fair to point out that from my experience that this type of attitude isn’t exclusive to just Hockey fandom. I’m a big music fan so frequent a couple of news sites that have comment sections.  Some of what appears there makes “banter” on Hockey forums look tame, so maybe the whole thing is the result of a recent change in social attitude?

There’s also the ability to spread misinformation.  One famous line (one that I quickly learnt to ignore) that used to appear with alarming regularity (especially in the off season) would start “I’ve got a friend that works in the Storm office and they said that…” with regards to potential player signings. Needless to say that such rumours seldom came to fruition, but depressingly, this also seems to be a habit amongst some that has continued to the modern day, with some people revealing knowledge or innuendo from “a reliable source” (funny how they never reveal said “source”), possibly, I’m guessing, as an attention seeking exercise. As mentioned in a previous post, to me personally the whole “I know something you don’t know” concept should have been taken to its logical conclusion a good number of years ago when a couple of Sheffield fans started the rumour that the wife of referee Andy Carson (a name that will need no introduction to Storm fans of a certain age) held a high position within the Steelers Supporters Club, resulting in countless meltdowns amongst Storm and Panthers fans (and a good amount of egg to be wiped off face by said fans when the truth finally came out)

On the flip side, it’s also worth pointing out that there have also been many positives.  I’m sure that any of us that have used any type of Hockey related social media have made friends with fans, either from the same or even rival teams over the years as opposed to just the small number of regular faces that you happen to be sat with on any given game night.  Online conversations have developed into chatting in person (I guess there’s another warning there about using respect when posting online – very easy to be disrespectful behind a keyboard, but you never know if or when your path will cross with the person in question) and “real life” relationships formed

We have to remember that Hockey in this country is still pretty much a minority sport, and for many of us, a fairly recent discovery.  Unlike say football or rugby for example, rather than having the love of the sport passed down to us from a family member almost like an heirloom, a good number of us have had to learn the rules and how the game works on the fly, so for us it has been a valuable tool in developing our knowledge of the sport and it’s intricacies.  It’s also a handy device for passing on said knowledge to newer fans as they are introduced

When you sit down and think about it, it’s sometimes funny how the sport has brought us all together.  We have a number of different people, all from different backgrounds, experiences and ages that now have the ability to come together and share our thoughts on a common interest in one easy to access place.  One of many depressing aspects of the original Storm folding was meeting up with old friends from watching the game and having lost the common ground, found that we had little to talk about anymore

We have a fantastic tool here with almost unlimited potential.  Maybe it’s time a few of us changed our attitude to how we use it?