American baseball team, the New York Mets, are reportedly considering introducing a “quiet section” into their stadium.
The Mets sent out a survey to members asking if they would be prepared to purchase tickets in a quiet section, if this were offered at games.
This proposed section would have the PA system turned down, no loud, irritating music and no cheerleaders in your section.
My first thought on hearing this was I sincerely hope nothing like this ever happens in Australia.
Aside from the fact that I find the lack of clothing on cheerleaders more of an affront than any noise they might make, sporting games are supposed to be loud.
People go to matches to soak in the atmosphere, not to hide away from it and sectioning off an area of the stadium for silence is beyond ridiculous.
Silence should be reserved for libraries and quiet train carriage, not for sport.
However, the reasons behind these sections are nobler than simply protecting overly precious people who want to have a real at-home experience at a live football match.
The Mets’ move was prompted by calls from parents of autistic children, many of whom suffer from sound hyper-sensitivity.
I am a Brisbane Lions member and I go to all their home games with my autistic brother.
He is obsessed with the Lions and loves going to the footy.
Despite this, and the fact that he is on the more high-functioning end of the Autism spectrum he becomes noticeably uncomfortable with the level of noise around him, even when it’s just cheering.
After years of going to the footy, he has become more accustomed to it, but there are many others out there who could be missing out because they can’t.
This is something outside of their control and should not rob them of the chance to see their favourite teams live.
Even though there are potential benefits to a quiet section, I don’t see this coming into Australia anytime soon.
While the demand could be there, the logistics are all too hard.
Without erecting a physical barrier around a specific section or allocating certain boxes, no one can actually stop sound travelling around a stadium, not even Andrew Demetriou.
You can’t stop a fan from a neighbouring ‘loud’ section cheering (nor should you) and you can’t stop the PA from going to a particular area of the ground.
That’s not even considering the fact that noise and live sport are intertwined, particularly in Australian sport.
Even in tennis, where crowd silence is obligatory, some Aussies struggle to keep their mouths shut.
A quiet section could be a great way to attract more people to live sporting events eventually, if it’s implemented for the right reasons.
But for now, if you want a bit of peace and quiet at the footy, you’ll need to stay at home and put your TV on mute.
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