The Tap Room - Is The Huddle Really Necessary?: 2014

The Tap Room: Is the huddle really necessary?

14th August, 2014

Reply #1

Name: Rob McEvoy

Thank you for the invite to the Tap Room.

 With regards to the huddle, from the pro sports persons side it impacts in a number of ways.

 1. It shows that the team are a team in public. In Thailand, “showing” is very important, whether to the opposition, supporters or even the President. That is probably 1 reason that it is more popular here than in the UK.

 2. The first club to do it regularly in my recollection was Celtic. They are a successful club, so other clubs saw it, the atmosphere it created and Celtic winning, and it expanded from there. Everyone wants to win, so anything that can help is worth trying.

 3. From a sports psychology perspective, which is an area of interest of mine through golf, there are important psychological attachments to a huddle. Two main ones are:

a) Routine – individual sports people, golfers, tennis players, darts players, generally have visible and obvious routines. If they don’t have visual keys, they have mental routines. A routine creates a mental “state”, where anything that has happened before is forgotten, all that matters in the objective in hand. That is how Rory McIlroy can hole putts when people at home are shaking. His mental state is neutral and positive, focused on what will happen. A huddle can be part of a routine for footballers, helping the performance that is about to take place.

 b) Peaking - Supporters may not consider is that a footballer has to peak for just 90 minutes (or 180 if 2 games) a week. You can’t “peak” for the whole week, so some coaches work on getting players into that state for the 90 minutes. Again, the huddle can be the physical representation, or trigger for this. It can be practiced, so that after a huddle, your energy levels go up and you are in “the zone”.

For the foreign player, even though the huddles take place in Thai, but it gives them a chance to go through their own routines and get themselves ready for the game.

You might see some clubs and players performing a sort of group handshake routine after games. That in many cases is an “off switch”, where the game is over, and that action tells your brain it should switch off. A player can’t spend all night awake worrying what he did wrong. The coach is there to analyse performance, and tell the player what he did right or wrong. If  a player worries about that, he might not do what the coach wants, and he will be tired from worrying, which effects his training and injuries.

That is from the professional and sports psychology viewpoint.

Commercially, Thai football as a whole has to consider that Western TV schedules would never allow such events to effect the schedules it has. For televised games on UK Commercial TV, time management is key. Pre match and half time have a minute by minute event plan, pre checked, with a TV floor manager ensuring deadlines are kept. This is important for advertisers and TV schedules. Thai football will not crack the overseas TV rights market, which I’ve heard it is keen to investigate, if it cannot keep its time footprint consistent, with less “non action” time, to keep the TV viewer watching. 

From a stadium fans viewpoint I see them as part of the culture of Thai football, which is here to stay no matter what. My only hope is that the referees would ensure teams plan for them, especially after half time. If you have to have two huddles post half time, then the team should be on the pitch in enough time before the 2nd half starts, and then there’s not so much waiting around.  However, I’ve never met a Thai who has a problem with waiting around, it is mainly the Anglo Saxons who worry about when things “should start”, so again, I can’t see that changing either.  

Reply #2

Name: Malky

The annoyance for me with the huddle is that it simply isn’t a huddle anymore. It’s huddles, in the plural form, combined with plenty of faffing about before the kickoff. For some reason, this ritual has escalated in the last couple of seasons and I feel that it is somewhat needless.

After respect has been paid to his majesty, teams will then have a squad huddle with everyone from the club owners to hangers-on joining in. Some sides will then move over to their supporters and then stand in parade while their fans sing their club anthem. Then it’s back to the pitch where the starting XI have another gathering. During this period before the commencement of the match, no ball gets kicked. If you’ve ever witnessed a cup tie that has to be settled by penalties, you end up with extra huddles before extra time, at the turnaround in the additional thirty minutes and, before the spot kicks.

Rob’s first point clearly highlights why it is so popular in Thailand. It is explicitly for show and it gives the club presidents that feeling of importance when they are conducting their motivational address from the centre of the huddle.

Point three I’ve never considered. I suppose if it helps a team psychologically then there is no harm in it. Just don’t drag it out!!

From the timing issue, it’s is us Westerners who value the importance of punctuality. Thais generally are a bit more relaxed and anybody who’s worked in a Thai school following a timetable will be able to testify to this. I’d just like to see the teams come out ten minutes before the scheduled kick off and get the formalities over and done with so that the match can start on time. Similarly, teams can come out a few minutes earlier after the break if they want to huddle it out again.

So in conclusion, are pre-match huddles really necessary? I’d say no, but I can understand and accept the reasoning behind them for their inclusion in Thai football.

 

Reply #3

Name: Vinnie

Team supported: Nakorn Ratchasima

I've always thought that the huddle is an excellent motivational tool if it is saved for epochal moments.

Imagine it's the final day of the season, your team needs to win the match to guarantee promotion but is 1-0 down at half time, then, just before the second half kicks off, for the first time that season your team comes together for a huddle: at the centre of the circle of sweat-drenched teammates, your captain delivers a stirring diatribe as he exhorts his band of brothers for one big final push to get themselves over the line and into the promised land!

Or, imagine a puffed up, self-important chairman-type saying "Let's get three points! Let's win! Go team!". Then imagine it happening four times per game over a 34-game season, chuck in some cup games, and you've got the same uninspired, vapid cliches being repeated in over 150 huddles per team per season.

In short repetition has surely utterly diluted the huddle's power to motivate to the point where it has simply become an empty pre-game gesture with as much sincerity and depth of feeling as when players shake the ref's hand.

Reply #4

Name: Kevin 

Team supported: Singhtarua

My short answer this week's question is a resounding "NO"

I see absolutely no point in the Thai huddle.

The manager, captain, & if needed, puffed-up chairman have all week in training & pre-match to inspire/coach the team.If you need 2 last-minute huddles to get your message across, I'd suggest you're in the wrong profession. Similarly, what message needs repeating 3 times in 15-20 minutes at halftime?

I'd argue that as this is a relatively new phenomenon, then as a  psychological tool, it can be learnt. Logically, then it can also be unlearnt & players can be taught a new ritual.

I agree with Vinnie. The huddle can be inspirational if used sparingly & spontaneously; otherwise it becomes over-used & meaningless.

 

Reply #5

Name: Dale

Team supported: Chonburi

I’m not going to mince my words – I hate the bloody huddle! It drives me up the wall! I take on board what Rob says about it being a focus and a way to prepare mentally and concentrate all your energy for the next ninety minutes or more. I also understand what Vinnie and Kevin say about it being an effective tool if used sparingly and at the right time. But, for me, I think I'm more in line with Malky's opening salvo, it’s just more poncey modern day nonsense like multi coloured boots, pre match team photos, pre match handshakes, players bringing their children onto the pitch, balls on plinths (plinths!) and teams lining up in front of their fans to be serenaded, that have been introduced/crept into the game over the past few years. And it's getting worse. Much worse.

All the other contributors to this week's debate mention - or allude to - puffed up chairmen. Oh, how they must love the huddles. Especially as the TV companies have now started filming them in close up. The camera operators get right on down there in the middle, just so we the viewers can feel the intensity and the importance of the event. And what a delight it is to have such an opportunity. Thank you for allowing us mere fans to see how passionate you all are. It certainly inspires me...to scream expletives and chuck stuff at the tele.

It may well be a generational thing. I’m a good few years older than the rest of this week’s Tap Roomers and that may play a large part in my dislike of what I see as a huge waste of everybody’s time. I grew up in an era of Shankly, Paisley, Busby, Revie, Clough, Mercer and Frizzell. Can you imagine any of that lot - or even more recently Sir Alex - having time for the huddle? They were all hard men and winners and didn’t need to resort to such flamboyant shows of “togetherness”. They prepared their teams well and let them get on with it. No need for fannying around huddling and high fiving prior to steamrolling the opposition.

Even after the match, there was only a customary handshake for their opponents and a wave to the fans (if they were lucky) before the twelve players, manager and physio disappeared down the tunnel to the communal bath, a fish and chip supper and to start planning next week's victory. Compare that to the post match shenanigans of today.

In closing, I'd just like to say that this Grumpy Old Man only really has one ambition left in life (I've already recorded a session for John Peel and scored at Boundary Park) and that is to see a referee blow his whistle for kick off while one team is still huddling. The ensuing mayhem would rival the Marx Brothers for slapstick, knockabout comedy and it might just get the message across - Stop faffing about and get on with it!

The Final Word

Name:Rob McEvoy

In summary, I think that there is some annoyance from non Thai fans used to “proper football” but

 ·  Some Chairmen seem to like it, and without them the TPL would be in a much poorer state

·  True seem to like it, filming it in close up, and their exposure and money is much needed

·  The Thai fans never seem to complain, and I think the players singing with the fans before and after games is a fantastic part of Thai football, especially players who move in unison with the fans.

As a wise man once said, “he who pays the piper picks the tune”.

The only hope as I see is that True, and overseas broadcasters, will start demanding kick offs at the allotted time, which will mean huddles starting earlier. TV can be a force for good.

The huddle, like many things in Thailand, it isn’t going to change because a few foreigners don’t like it. Like the lack of Meat and Potato pies at half time, I think we’d better get used to it.