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12th Man (football)
Encyclopedia
The 12th man or 12th player is a term used to describe the fans
within a stadium
during association football or American football
games. This term has a different meaning in cricket
, referring to the first substitute player who fields when a member of the fielding side is injured. Since most football leagues allow a maximum of eleven players per team on the playing field at a time, the term denotes the attempt of a team's fans to help their team. In American football, the term is trademarked by and originated with Texas A&M University
in 1922.
The presence of fans can have a profound impact on how the teams perform. Namely, the home team fans would like to see their team win the game. Thus these fans will often create loud sounds or chant
in hopes of distracting, demoralizing and confusing the opposing team while they have possession of the ball; or to persuade a referee to make a favorable decision. Noises are made by shouting, whistling, stomping and various other techniques.
Sometimes, the sideline is also referred to as the "12th man" or "12th defender". Since a player is considered down when he steps out of bounds, the sideline effectively acts as an extra defender. This usage is less common than the one referring to the fans.
The first recorded instance of the term "12th Man" being used was to describe E. King Gill and his actions in Dallas on 2 January 1922, at the Dixie Classic, the forerunner of the Cotton Bowl Classic. Texas A&M played defending national champion Centre College
in the first post-season game in the southwest. In this hard fought game, which produced national publicity, an underdog Aggie team was slowly but surely defeating a team which boasted three All-America
ns. Unfortunately, the first half produced so many injuries for A&M that Coach D. X. Bible
feared he wouldn’t have enough men to finish the game, so, he called into the Aggie section of the stands for E. King Gill, a reserve who had left football after the regular season to play basketball. Gill, who was spotting players for reporters at the time and was not in football uniform, willingly volunteered and donned the uniform of injured player Heine Weir. When the game ended with an A&M victory, 22–14, E. King Gill was the only man left standing on the sidelines for the Aggies. Gill later said, "I wish I could say that I went in and ran for the winning touchdown, but I did not. I simply stood by in case my team needed me." Although he did not actually play in the game, his readiness to play was noted. As there were 11 men on the field, E. King Gill was the 12th Man, hence the term.
, Green Bay Packers
, Buffalo Bills
, Denver Broncos
, Washington Redskins
, and Chicago Bears
in reference to their supporters, though the Bears no longer use the term "12th man" at the request of Texas A&M. The Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks continue to use the phrase, the latter having settled with Texas A&M out of court after a trademark lawsuit.The Chicago Bears now use the term "The Fourth Phase" referring to the fans contribution toward victory along with the contributions of the other 3 phases namely offense, defense and special teams.
As a tribute to their fans, the Seahawks retired the number 12 during a game on December 15, 1984. Since then #12 Jerseys have been sold by the team and worn by Seahawk fans, often with the name "Fan" on the back. The Seahawks also have a ceremony before each home game where a flag bearing the #12 is raised by a prominent individual.
The Buffalo Bills
have honored their 12th man by inducting them into the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame inside the Ralph Wilson Stadium. They were inducted in 1992 because of their loyal support during the team's early 90's Super Bowl
runs. The name "12th Man" is still on The Wall today.
Current Texas A&M students call themselves the 12th Man, meaning they are there to support the 11 players on the field and are eligible and ready to enter the game if the events of 1922 were to be repeated. To further symbolize their "readiness, desire, and enthusiasm", the entire student body stands throughout the game. A statue of E. King Gill stands to the north of Kyle Field
to remind Aggies of their constant obligation to preserve the spirit of the 12th Man. Beginning in 1985, fans also began waving 12th Man Towels during the game to show their support. The tradition of towels started when coach Jackie Sherrill's 12th man squad began carrying them to motivate the student body in the stands. During the season, students began waving their own white towels, and now the towels are ubiquitous. In the 1988 Cotton Bowl Classic game vs Notre Dame, a member of Sherrill's 12th Man Kickoff Team Warren Barhorst
tackled Heisman Trophy
winner Tim Brown. He took Brown's towel and waved it over his head in celebration. An infuriated Brown tackled Barhorst, earning himself a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Because the students are always waiting for the opportunity to support their team, they are also willing to take the credit for the team's good deeds. A popular Aggie tradition is that "when the team scores, everybody scores." Whenever the Aggies score points during the game, students kiss their dates.
In the spirit of the original 12th Man, the football coach Jackie Sherrill
created the "12th Man Kickoff Team" in the 1980s composed of non-athletic scholarship students who tried out for the team instead of players who were recruited, as is the normal practice in college football. Coach Sherrill has written a book entitled "No Experience Required" which details this team and the tradition. These students were placed on the roster for the sole purpose of kickoffs. Each player was given a number to wear (at the time NCAA regulations did not prohibit more than one person on the field with the same number) and nicknamed "the suicide squad," many kick return teams feared the walk-on students who were determined to leave their mark in Aggie lore; these students often had little regard for their safety and were determined to make a tackle at any cost. 12th Man kickoff team performed very well and held opponents to one of the lowest yards per return averages in the league. Later, head coach R. C. Slocum
changed the team to allow only one representative of the 12th Man on the kick off team who wears uniform number 12. The player is chosen based on the level of determination and hard work shown in practices. Under Dennis Franchione, the "12th Man Kickoff Team", entirely made up of walk-ons, was brought back, though used only rarely when the team is up by quite a few points.
In January 2006, Texas A&M filed suit against the Seattle Seahawks
to protect the trademark and in May 2006, the dispute was settled out of court. In the agreement, Texas A&M licensed the Seahawks to continue using the phrase "12th Man" in exchange for public acknowledgement by the NFL franchise as to Texas A&M's ownership of the phrase.
The term "twelfth man" is commonly used in association football to refer to the fans and occasionally to the manager
. European powerhouses Bayern Munich, S.S. Lazio
, FC Red Star
and Fenerbahçe S.K. have officially retired the number 12 to the fans.Stockport County fans
are registered as official members of their squad with the number 12. Portsmouth F.C.
has also retired its number 12 shirt, and lists the club's supporters, "Pompey Fans", as player number 12 on the squad list printed in home match programmes, while Plymouth Argyle
have theirs registered to the Green Army (the nickname for their fans). Number 12 is also reserved for the fans at CSKA Moscow and Zenit Saint Petersburg
in Russia and Grimsby Town
from England as well as Odense Boldklub, also known as OB, in Denmark. Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven from the Netherlands
have also a retired number 12. Dynamo Dresden
in Germany also keeps number 12 for their fans, as well as the official team anthem being "We are the 12th man". The Hibs 12th Man is “Powered by Hibs Fans” followers of the Scottish Premier League
club Hibernian F.C.
. Set up in June 2010, by the support, the Hibs 12th Man has the official backing of the Club. Aberdeen F.C.
supporters commonly display a large banner in the shape of a football shirt with the text "Red Army 12" in place of a player's name and number. The fans of the Northern Ireland national football team
and Derry City
are referred to as the twelfth man as well. In the League of Ireland
Shamrock Rovers F.C.
retired the number 12 jersey in recognition of the fans who took over the club in 2005. Cork City F.C., Clube Atlético Mineiro
and Clube de Regatas do Flamengo
also retired the number 12 for the fans. The most vociferous fans of Boca Juniors
in Argentina
are known as "La Doce" or "The Twelfth." On 18 September 2004, U.S. Lecce
, an Italian team currently playing in Serie A
, retired the number 12 to the fans, which was handed to them by the former captain Cristian Ledesma
. They symbolically represent a 12th Man in the field. In the beginning of 2009/2010 season, Happy Valley AA introduced the club's mascot, a panda, on squad list as the fan club captain wearing the number 12 jersey.
In American football, fans are most incited by physical play, especially good plays made by the defense. Additionally, the home team can derive energy from the loud noise of their fans; former American football players have described the feeling of their adrenaline pumping after hearing the fans yell, which is "like you have a reserve energy tank."
The noise of the crowd can have a significant impact on the players on the field. In American football, an extremely loud crowd can prevent the offensive linemen from hearing the snap count. This can have the effect of making the player slower to react when the ball is snapped, and his eventual response may be weaker than normal because each play is begun "with some indecision and doubt." The noise can also prevent players from hearing audibles
and can make it difficult for the team's offense to coordinate plays in the huddle. The effect of the noise can often be measured in mistakes, such as false start
penalties.
Coaches can take steps to minimize the effect of the crowd noise on their teams. Some American football teams bring large speakers to their practice fields and broadcast loud noises such as jet engines to prepare their teams for the anticipated noise level. Crowd noise tends to diminish after a long lull in play, such as a pause for instant replay
. Former NFL player Brian Baldinger
speculates that some coaches draw out reviews as part of a coaching strategy to quiet the crowd for their next play.
The New York Giants
allegedly asked the NFL to intervene in 2006 when they played the Seattle Seahawks
. In their 2005 matchup at Qwest Field
, the Giants incurred 11 false start penalties due to the crowd noise. For the 2006 rematch between the two teams, the NFL sent observers to verify that the Seahawks were not artificially enhancing the noise level. Qwest Field in Seattle has been architecturally designed to be the loudest stadium in the NFL. This has caused 2.83 false starts per game, which is the highest in the NFL since 2005. The Decibel level at Qwest Field is a whopping 112 dB, only 18 dB below the roar of a Boeing 747.
In Association Football (soccer), the crowd is often loud throughout the match – for example before kickoff (Liverpool
fans singing You'll Never Walk Alone
as the players run out); during the buildup to and scoring of a goal
; when encouraging the team to come back from defeat; to discourage an opposition penalty taker; or to harass a referee giving a free kick to the opposition team.
A researcher from Harvard University
discovered in a study that some association football referees appeared to be impacted by crowd noise. His studies revealed that a home team acquired an additional 0.1 goal advantage for every 10,000 fans in the stadium.
Delia Smith
, Norwich City
's joint major shareholder, received some notoriety when, seemingly under the influence of alcohol, she took to the pitch during the half time interval, with a microphone in hand and Sky TV
cameras in tow, to tell fans the side "need their twelfth man." "Where are you?" she cried. In the end Norwich City
lost the game in the dying seconds, but Smith's passion worked to increase the affection the fans held for her.
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
within a stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
during association football or American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
games. This term has a different meaning in cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, referring to the first substitute player who fields when a member of the fielding side is injured. Since most football leagues allow a maximum of eleven players per team on the playing field at a time, the term denotes the attempt of a team's fans to help their team. In American football, the term is trademarked by and originated with Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
in 1922.
The presence of fans can have a profound impact on how the teams perform. Namely, the home team fans would like to see their team win the game. Thus these fans will often create loud sounds or chant
Football chant
A football chant or terrace chant, is a song or chant sung at association football matches. They can be historic, dating back to the formation of the club, adaptations of popular songs, or spontaneous reactions to events on the pitch. They are one of the last remaining sources of an oral folk song...
in hopes of distracting, demoralizing and confusing the opposing team while they have possession of the ball; or to persuade a referee to make a favorable decision. Noises are made by shouting, whistling, stomping and various other techniques.
Sometimes, the sideline is also referred to as the "12th man" or "12th defender". Since a player is considered down when he steps out of bounds, the sideline effectively acts as an extra defender. This usage is less common than the one referring to the fans.
History
Centre College
Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, USA, a community of approximately 16,000 in Boyle County south of Lexington, KY. Centre is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution. Centre was founded by Presbyterian leaders, with whom it maintains a loose...
in the first post-season game in the southwest. In this hard fought game, which produced national publicity, an underdog Aggie team was slowly but surely defeating a team which boasted three All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
ns. Unfortunately, the first half produced so many injuries for A&M that Coach D. X. Bible
Dana X. Bible
Dana Xenophon Bible was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi College , Louisiana State University , Texas A&M University , the University of Nebraska , and the University of Texas...
feared he wouldn’t have enough men to finish the game, so, he called into the Aggie section of the stands for E. King Gill, a reserve who had left football after the regular season to play basketball. Gill, who was spotting players for reporters at the time and was not in football uniform, willingly volunteered and donned the uniform of injured player Heine Weir. When the game ended with an A&M victory, 22–14, E. King Gill was the only man left standing on the sidelines for the Aggies. Gill later said, "I wish I could say that I went in and ran for the winning touchdown, but I did not. I simply stood by in case my team needed me." Although he did not actually play in the game, his readiness to play was noted. As there were 11 men on the field, E. King Gill was the 12th Man, hence the term.
Use in American football
The "12th man" term has been used by various American football teams including the NFL's Seattle SeahawksSeattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
, Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
, Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
, and Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
in reference to their supporters, though the Bears no longer use the term "12th man" at the request of Texas A&M. The Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks continue to use the phrase, the latter having settled with Texas A&M out of court after a trademark lawsuit.The Chicago Bears now use the term "The Fourth Phase" referring to the fans contribution toward victory along with the contributions of the other 3 phases namely offense, defense and special teams.
As a tribute to their fans, the Seahawks retired the number 12 during a game on December 15, 1984. Since then #12 Jerseys have been sold by the team and worn by Seahawk fans, often with the name "Fan" on the back. The Seahawks also have a ceremony before each home game where a flag bearing the #12 is raised by a prominent individual.
The Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
have honored their 12th man by inducting them into the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame inside the Ralph Wilson Stadium. They were inducted in 1992 because of their loyal support during the team's early 90's Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
runs. The name "12th Man" is still on The Wall today.
Texas A&M tradition
Kyle Field
Kyle Field is the football stadium located on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. It has been the home to the Texas A&M Aggie football team in rudimentary form since 1904, and as a complete stadium since 1927. It is known as The Home of the 12th Man...
to remind Aggies of their constant obligation to preserve the spirit of the 12th Man. Beginning in 1985, fans also began waving 12th Man Towels during the game to show their support. The tradition of towels started when coach Jackie Sherrill's 12th man squad began carrying them to motivate the student body in the stands. During the season, students began waving their own white towels, and now the towels are ubiquitous. In the 1988 Cotton Bowl Classic game vs Notre Dame, a member of Sherrill's 12th Man Kickoff Team Warren Barhorst
Warren Barhorst
Warren Edward Barhorst is the founder and chief executive officer of the Barhorst Insurance Group, Ltd. , based in Houston, Texas...
tackled Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
winner Tim Brown. He took Brown's towel and waved it over his head in celebration. An infuriated Brown tackled Barhorst, earning himself a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Because the students are always waiting for the opportunity to support their team, they are also willing to take the credit for the team's good deeds. A popular Aggie tradition is that "when the team scores, everybody scores." Whenever the Aggies score points during the game, students kiss their dates.
In the spirit of the original 12th Man, the football coach Jackie Sherrill
Jackie Sherrill
Jackie Sherrill is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Washington State University , the University of Pittsburgh , Texas A&M University , and Mississippi State University , compiling a career college football record of 180–120–4...
created the "12th Man Kickoff Team" in the 1980s composed of non-athletic scholarship students who tried out for the team instead of players who were recruited, as is the normal practice in college football. Coach Sherrill has written a book entitled "No Experience Required" which details this team and the tradition. These students were placed on the roster for the sole purpose of kickoffs. Each player was given a number to wear (at the time NCAA regulations did not prohibit more than one person on the field with the same number) and nicknamed "the suicide squad," many kick return teams feared the walk-on students who were determined to leave their mark in Aggie lore; these students often had little regard for their safety and were determined to make a tackle at any cost. 12th Man kickoff team performed very well and held opponents to one of the lowest yards per return averages in the league. Later, head coach R. C. Slocum
R. C. Slocum
Richard Copeland Slocum , better known as R. C. Slocum, was the head football coach at Texas A&M University from 1989 until 2002. He has won more games as coach than anyone else in Texas A&M football history.-Personal:...
changed the team to allow only one representative of the 12th Man on the kick off team who wears uniform number 12. The player is chosen based on the level of determination and hard work shown in practices. Under Dennis Franchione, the "12th Man Kickoff Team", entirely made up of walk-ons, was brought back, though used only rarely when the team is up by quite a few points.
Texas A&M trademark issues and Seattle Seahawks lawsuit
The term "12th Man" was coined and marketed to represent the Texas Aggie fans after the 1922 Dixie Classic. While intellectual property laws recognize such common law uses in trademark disputes, the official registration of the mark was not filed by Texas A&M (U.S. Reg. No. 1948306) until September 1990, and later significantly bolstered by the passage of the Federal Dilution Trademark Act of 1995. This law allowed Texas A&M to use potential damage to the trademark through dilution as a justification in its lawsuit against the Seattle Seahawks. According to statements made by Texas A&M officials, they sent requests to stop using the phrase to the Seattle Seahawks (2004, 2005), Buffalo Bills (undated), and the Chicago Bears (undated). Both the Bills and the Bears responded to the requests stating they would no longer use the phrase, however the Seahawks failed to respond to the request.In January 2006, Texas A&M filed suit against the Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
to protect the trademark and in May 2006, the dispute was settled out of court. In the agreement, Texas A&M licensed the Seahawks to continue using the phrase "12th Man" in exchange for public acknowledgement by the NFL franchise as to Texas A&M's ownership of the phrase.
Use in association football (soccer)
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
. European powerhouses Bayern Munich, S.S. Lazio
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football...
, FC Red Star
Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...
and Fenerbahçe S.K. have officially retired the number 12 to the fans.Stockport County fans
Stockport county fans
Stockport County Football Club recently registered their own fans as an official member of their squad, the number 12, as a reference to the fans being known as the "twelfth man" based on the fact that the supporters in the stadium on a match day can sometimes influence the match just as much as a...
are registered as official members of their squad with the number 12. Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
has also retired its number 12 shirt, and lists the club's supporters, "Pompey Fans", as player number 12 on the squad list printed in home match programmes, while Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle F.C.
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Plymouth, Devon, that plays in Football League Two.Since becoming professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles, five Southern League titles and one Western League title. The 2009–10 season was the...
have theirs registered to the Green Army (the nickname for their fans). Number 12 is also reserved for the fans at CSKA Moscow and Zenit Saint Petersburg
FC Zenit Saint Petersburg
Football Club Zenit is a Russian football club from the city of Saint-Petersburg. Founded in 1925 , the club plays in the Russian Premier League...
in Russia and Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...
from England as well as Odense Boldklub, also known as OB, in Denmark. Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven from the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
have also a retired number 12. Dynamo Dresden
Dynamo Dresden
SG Dynamo Dresden are a German association football club, based in Dresden, Saxony. They were founded in 1950, as a club affiliated with the East German police, and became one of the most popular and successful clubs in East German football, winning eight league titles...
in Germany also keeps number 12 for their fans, as well as the official team anthem being "We are the 12th man". The Hibs 12th Man is “Powered by Hibs Fans” followers of the Scottish Premier League
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...
club Hibernian F.C.
Hibernian F.C.
Hibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their Edinburgh derby rivals, Hearts...
. Set up in June 2010, by the support, the Hibs 12th Man has the official backing of the Club. Aberdeen F.C.
Aberdeen F.C.
Aberdeen Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen...
supporters commonly display a large banner in the shape of a football shirt with the text "Red Army 12" in place of a player's name and number. The fans of the Northern Ireland national football team
Northern Ireland national football team
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. Before 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association...
and Derry City
Derry City F.C.
Derry City Football Club is a professional football club based in Derry, Northern Ireland. It plays in the League of Ireland Premier Division...
are referred to as the twelfth man as well. In the League of Ireland
League of Ireland
The League of Ireland is the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. Founded in 1921, as a league of eight clubs, it has expanded over time into a two-tiered league of 22 clubs. It is currently split into the League of Ireland Premier Division and the League of Ireland...
Shamrock Rovers F.C.
Shamrock Rovers F.C.
Shamrock Rovers Football Club are a professional football club from Dublin, Ireland. They compete in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland and are the most successful club in Irish football history. The club have won the League of Ireland title a record 17 times and the FAI Cup a record 24...
retired the number 12 jersey in recognition of the fans who took over the club in 2005. Cork City F.C., Clube Atlético Mineiro
Clube Atlético Mineiro
Clube Atlético Mineiro , are a Brazilian football club based in Belo Horizonte, the oldest in the city. Founded in 1908, they play in the Campeonato Mineiro and Campeonato Brasileiro Série A or Brasileirão. Atlético Mineiro have been Brazilian champions once, state winners a record 40 times and...
and Clube de Regatas do Flamengo
Clube de Regatas do Flamengo
Clube de Regatas do Flamengo , also known as Flamengo and familiarly as Mengão, is a Brazilian sports club based in the Flamengo bairro, Zona Sul, Rio de Janeiro, best known for its professional football team...
also retired the number 12 for the fans. The most vociferous fans of Boca Juniors
Boca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
are known as "La Doce" or "The Twelfth." On 18 September 2004, U.S. Lecce
U.S. Lecce
Unione Sportiva Lecce or simply U.S. Lecce is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia who play in the Italian Serie A. After being crowned Serie B champions in 2009–10, the team successfully managed to avoid relegation in 2010-11....
, an Italian team currently playing in Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
, retired the number 12 to the fans, which was handed to them by the former captain Cristian Ledesma
Cristian Daniel Ledesma
Cristian Daniel Ledesma is a footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Lazio. A dual citizen of Argentina and Italy, he represents the latter at international level since November 2010....
. They symbolically represent a 12th Man in the field. In the beginning of 2009/2010 season, Happy Valley AA introduced the club's mascot, a panda, on squad list as the fan club captain wearing the number 12 jersey.
Effects
The effects of the "12th man" vary widely, but can be put in two categories. The first is simply psychological, the effect of showing the home team that they are appreciated, and showing the away team that they are somewhat unwelcome. The second directly relates to the deafening effects of a loud crowd.In American football, fans are most incited by physical play, especially good plays made by the defense. Additionally, the home team can derive energy from the loud noise of their fans; former American football players have described the feeling of their adrenaline pumping after hearing the fans yell, which is "like you have a reserve energy tank."
The noise of the crowd can have a significant impact on the players on the field. In American football, an extremely loud crowd can prevent the offensive linemen from hearing the snap count. This can have the effect of making the player slower to react when the ball is snapped, and his eventual response may be weaker than normal because each play is begun "with some indecision and doubt." The noise can also prevent players from hearing audibles
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and can make it difficult for the team's offense to coordinate plays in the huddle. The effect of the noise can often be measured in mistakes, such as false start
False start
In sports, a false start is a movement by a participant before being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start...
penalties.
Coaches can take steps to minimize the effect of the crowd noise on their teams. Some American football teams bring large speakers to their practice fields and broadcast loud noises such as jet engines to prepare their teams for the anticipated noise level. Crowd noise tends to diminish after a long lull in play, such as a pause for instant replay
Instant replay
Instant replay is the replaying of video footage of an event or incident very soon after it has occurred. In television broadcasting of sports events, instant replay is often used during live broadcast, to show a passage of play which was important or remarkable, or which was unclear on first...
. Former NFL player Brian Baldinger
Brian Baldinger
Brian David "The Facemask Fingerer" Baldinger is a former professional American football player and former color commentator for National Football League telecasts on the Fox network. He also covers Atlanta Falcons preseason games as an analyst on WXIA-TV with Randy Waters...
speculates that some coaches draw out reviews as part of a coaching strategy to quiet the crowd for their next play.
The New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
allegedly asked the NFL to intervene in 2006 when they played the Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
. In their 2005 matchup at Qwest Field
Qwest Field
CenturyLink Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It serves as the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League and Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer...
, the Giants incurred 11 false start penalties due to the crowd noise. For the 2006 rematch between the two teams, the NFL sent observers to verify that the Seahawks were not artificially enhancing the noise level. Qwest Field in Seattle has been architecturally designed to be the loudest stadium in the NFL. This has caused 2.83 false starts per game, which is the highest in the NFL since 2005. The Decibel level at Qwest Field is a whopping 112 dB, only 18 dB below the roar of a Boeing 747.
In Association Football (soccer), the crowd is often loud throughout the match – for example before kickoff (Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
fans singing You'll Never Walk Alone
You'll Never Walk Alone (song)
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.In the musical, in the second act, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the female protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the...
as the players run out); during the buildup to and scoring of a goal
Goal (sport)
Goal refers to a method of scoring in many sports. It can also refer to the physical structure or area of the playing surface where scoring occurs....
; when encouraging the team to come back from defeat; to discourage an opposition penalty taker; or to harass a referee giving a free kick to the opposition team.
A researcher from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
discovered in a study that some association football referees appeared to be impacted by crowd noise. His studies revealed that a home team acquired an additional 0.1 goal advantage for every 10,000 fans in the stadium.
Delia Smith
Delia Smith
Delia Smith CBE is an English cook and television presenter, known for teaching basic cookery skills. She is the UK's best-selling cookery author, with more than 21 million copies sold....
, Norwich City
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
's joint major shareholder, received some notoriety when, seemingly under the influence of alcohol, she took to the pitch during the half time interval, with a microphone in hand and Sky TV
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
cameras in tow, to tell fans the side "need their twelfth man." "Where are you?" she cried. In the end Norwich City
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
lost the game in the dying seconds, but Smith's passion worked to increase the affection the fans held for her.
External links
- The Texas A&M Association of Former Students include an MP3 recording of The Twelfth Man Song.
- Football Streaming named to fans(12thplayer).