On the occasion of my 10,000th post on Silvertails, I claim the indulgence of some musings.
The topic: What Silvertails means to me.
Some 8 or 9 years ago I discovered the club's official website and its fan forum, my first forum experience, and when that forum bit the dust a few years later I gratefully took up membership here and started posting on Silvertails.
Around the time I joined, plenty here were bemoaning the so-called dumbing-down of the forum following the great immigration from the defunct club forum to Silvertails. The unwashed herds and riff-raff (like me) that floated ashore with the wreckage from SS Manly Fan Forum.
At the time I thought those complaints were a tad precious or cliquey, though it's true enough that the archetype of the rugby league supporter is no sophisticate. In fact he's far more lumpen than enlightened, and typically characterised by all the chauvinism and prejudice commonly associated with the social class from which the game sprang.
So, were the Silvertails a cut above? Were modern Manly fans even supposed to be?
And what was this Silvertails mantra I heard from time to time: 'Mediocrity will not be tolerated'? I don't know its exact origin, but it immediately brings to mind our teams, players, and probably also our coaching staff and management. As a catch cry it is apposite now as ever it was.
And ought it not apply equally to Manly fans right here on Silvertails??
I commend Silvertails members to treasure this site. As we know, it's where we can get news before it becomes news. It is where we can amuse and inform each other, vent our rage and joy, or sometimes even enlighten and inspire.
I treasure Silvertails, but like everything else it changes, develops, and evolves.
Not always for the better.
How easy has it been to be a Manly fan during the last 10 years? But how revealing has it been to see just how quickly the commentary on this forum has descended to a primitive and distinctly unattractive level as the team's fortunes slumped?
Temper tantrums, the sense of self-entitlement, the need to blindly blame and to lash out. At times with pure unadulterated hatred. I could go on, it is not a pretty picture.
Could it be that a rebuilding phase is too emotionally confronting for some of our staunch members?
Does it eat at their shaky self-esteem to see us on the bottom of the ladder?
Is it true that the only explanation for our demise is that players are liars and spoilt and a 'cancer', and others are not first grade standard?
We hear that Zorba is a cancer, Foran is a cancer, Watmough is a cancer, I've even heard Brett Stewart and Matai referred to in this vein (and never mind that all of those people have won premierships as players for Manly). The CEO is incompetent. Players aren't even really injured, they just lack heart. Penn is a simpleton. Can Toovey even coach?
Foran is slammed – no, worse that slammed, he is vilified and slandered – for playing a test match when unfit, yet it was Manly who deemed him fit and sent him out to play the previous week, which he did and helped our team to a great win over Melbourne!
There are plenty of legitimate questions about the sudden fall of our team, but get a grip. Some of the emotional hyperbole here currently is frightening, it really is Kill the Pig stuff and does none of us any credit.
In fact, as of right now, I'd say Manly rates on a 'civilised fan' scale about the same as our team does on the competition ladder, if recent posts here are anything to judge by.
We're not bottle-throwers, nor will we be the on-line equivalent. Silvertails - to me - means we don't let fellow posters get away with mediocrity. We'll be sceptical of un-named sources. We'll question false logic. We'll challenge prejudice, mean-spiritedness and bullying.
By all means let the criticisms be scathing. Let the jibes be cutting, let all our affections be fleeting, for that is the right of every fan!! But also let's remember who we are, we support a club with an unmatched record of accepting nothing less than excellence, why should we accept less from each other? There is a vast difference between anger and hatred; a vast difference between pulling no punches and viciousness. We are civilised, we pursue excellence, we are the Silvertails.
So as the proud newest member of the 10000 club, I offer a simple challenge: live up to the history of this site, and the club we all follow. Do not belittle this unique on-line community with childlike repetition of the same point ad nauseum! Swear if you must but do not demean us by substituting oaths and asterisks for a genuine effort to express what you really think and feel! And don't abuse the generous anti-censorship spirit of the site by posting without due regard for the feelings of others. Silvertails rules, and Go Manly!
The topic: What Silvertails means to me.
Some 8 or 9 years ago I discovered the club's official website and its fan forum, my first forum experience, and when that forum bit the dust a few years later I gratefully took up membership here and started posting on Silvertails.
Around the time I joined, plenty here were bemoaning the so-called dumbing-down of the forum following the great immigration from the defunct club forum to Silvertails. The unwashed herds and riff-raff (like me) that floated ashore with the wreckage from SS Manly Fan Forum.
At the time I thought those complaints were a tad precious or cliquey, though it's true enough that the archetype of the rugby league supporter is no sophisticate. In fact he's far more lumpen than enlightened, and typically characterised by all the chauvinism and prejudice commonly associated with the social class from which the game sprang.
So, were the Silvertails a cut above? Were modern Manly fans even supposed to be?
And what was this Silvertails mantra I heard from time to time: 'Mediocrity will not be tolerated'? I don't know its exact origin, but it immediately brings to mind our teams, players, and probably also our coaching staff and management. As a catch cry it is apposite now as ever it was.
And ought it not apply equally to Manly fans right here on Silvertails??
I commend Silvertails members to treasure this site. As we know, it's where we can get news before it becomes news. It is where we can amuse and inform each other, vent our rage and joy, or sometimes even enlighten and inspire.
I treasure Silvertails, but like everything else it changes, develops, and evolves.
Not always for the better.
How easy has it been to be a Manly fan during the last 10 years? But how revealing has it been to see just how quickly the commentary on this forum has descended to a primitive and distinctly unattractive level as the team's fortunes slumped?
Temper tantrums, the sense of self-entitlement, the need to blindly blame and to lash out. At times with pure unadulterated hatred. I could go on, it is not a pretty picture.
Could it be that a rebuilding phase is too emotionally confronting for some of our staunch members?
Does it eat at their shaky self-esteem to see us on the bottom of the ladder?
Is it true that the only explanation for our demise is that players are liars and spoilt and a 'cancer', and others are not first grade standard?
We hear that Zorba is a cancer, Foran is a cancer, Watmough is a cancer, I've even heard Brett Stewart and Matai referred to in this vein (and never mind that all of those people have won premierships as players for Manly). The CEO is incompetent. Players aren't even really injured, they just lack heart. Penn is a simpleton. Can Toovey even coach?
Foran is slammed – no, worse that slammed, he is vilified and slandered – for playing a test match when unfit, yet it was Manly who deemed him fit and sent him out to play the previous week, which he did and helped our team to a great win over Melbourne!
There are plenty of legitimate questions about the sudden fall of our team, but get a grip. Some of the emotional hyperbole here currently is frightening, it really is Kill the Pig stuff and does none of us any credit.
In fact, as of right now, I'd say Manly rates on a 'civilised fan' scale about the same as our team does on the competition ladder, if recent posts here are anything to judge by.
We're not bottle-throwers, nor will we be the on-line equivalent. Silvertails - to me - means we don't let fellow posters get away with mediocrity. We'll be sceptical of un-named sources. We'll question false logic. We'll challenge prejudice, mean-spiritedness and bullying.
By all means let the criticisms be scathing. Let the jibes be cutting, let all our affections be fleeting, for that is the right of every fan!! But also let's remember who we are, we support a club with an unmatched record of accepting nothing less than excellence, why should we accept less from each other? There is a vast difference between anger and hatred; a vast difference between pulling no punches and viciousness. We are civilised, we pursue excellence, we are the Silvertails.
So as the proud newest member of the 10000 club, I offer a simple challenge: live up to the history of this site, and the club we all follow. Do not belittle this unique on-line community with childlike repetition of the same point ad nauseum! Swear if you must but do not demean us by substituting oaths and asterisks for a genuine effort to express what you really think and feel! And don't abuse the generous anti-censorship spirit of the site by posting without due regard for the feelings of others. Silvertails rules, and Go Manly!
