Fairfield once prided itself on its “super fans,” students who would get revved up for athletic games. With student interest dwindling in varsity sports, the school is trying to revive the tradition.
“We don’t only want students to show up for the games, we want them to come together as a force that is behind the team,” said student athletic coordinator David Bingham.
The force that Bingham refers to has in the past been know as “The Red Sea,” from 1993 through 1996, and “The Super Fans,” from 1998 through 1999. Both of these groups were students who would show up to mainly men football and basketball games dressed and painted in the school colors to get both the team and the crowd fired up to win.
Because of the decline of students participating in the last two years, the school is organizing a return of the Super Fans by turning it into a club at Fairfield. Students will receive free tickets, transportation to games, t-shirts, and other give a ways to entice people to come out.
Filling up one section of fans at Alumni Hall was never difficult. But now that the basketball team has moved to Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, filling up the arena, which is over twice the size of Alumni Hall, will be a challenge.
“All you need is a handful of students and it would begin to take off,” according to Brian McGarvey, a student who helped to organize the Super Fans in 1998. “We may not see a huge turn out this year, but we are hoping for this to grow each season.”
McGarvey, who is helping with the re-induction of the Super Fans, says students do not realize how much fun this use to be and once they do, it will hopefully stay for good.
“Students use to show up for games no matter what else was going on,” McGarvey explain, “When the Super Fans were big, we would even drive up to the games over winter break to show support.”
When asked how they felt about a reformation of the Super Fans, students have mixed feelings.
“That sounds like a great idea but I wouldn’t want to do that if there were only a handful of people along with me,” said sophomore Michael Giancola.
“Two of my friends and I have gone to games with our faces painted, but no one else caught on and weren’t even cheering with us,” explained freshman Michael Wilson.
Leave a Reply