Fans
- Early audiences
- Tone to the
occasion - Displays of passion
- Greatest rivalry
- Special trains
- Something to
cheer about
Displays of Passion
Audiences at Mount Allison and in the Maritime region became more partisan and enthusiastic to their home team by the turn of the century. Cheers and yells in support of Mount Allison's teams were established by 1892, and were sung by members of the audience. Cheerleaders, who stand on the field, dance and sing songs toward the crowd, did not exist back then.
By 1900, some Mount Allison fans also began taunting their team’s opponents with belligerent comments. Spectators attending a football match on Mount Allison's new Athletic Field, for example, were singled out by The Argosy (November 1900) for not having been very respectful of the other teams, and for having shouted out "coarse and impertinent remarks." Mount Allison hockey players, meanwhile, were accosted by audience members at Acadia University in March 1903. A member of Mount Allison's hockey team noted in The Argosy (March 1903):
"We very much regret that a Mt. Allison man struck an Acadia player in the game, even though provocation was great. At the same time we take serious exception to the action of the spectators, most of whom were Acadia students, in hissing that man. We are not in the habit of hearing collegians hiss nor of being hissed ourselves and think such action at least somewhat unsportsmanlike."
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