Saluki faithful irked by low fan turnout
October 12, 1997
Daily Egyptian Reporter 13
As a Saluki faithful, Ken O’Brien makes it a point to attend the SIUC football games as often as he can, but there were few people like him at Saturday’s game at McAndrew Stadium.
I would rather watch us lose than watch anyone else play, said O’Brien, a senior in administration of justice from Marengo. At least I am staying past halftime.
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Despite the many empty seats at McAndrew Stadium Saturday, the Salukis pulled off a 31-29 victory over Illinois State University after two tough one-point losses.
The attendance numbered 3,000 people Saturday, and without the Marching Salukis, the student section would have been virtually empty. In comparison, there was a crowd of about 12,000 at the Oct. 4 Homecoming game against Southwest Missouri State University. At SIUC’s home opener Sept. 13 against Murray State University, 8,000 people attended the game.
O’Brien said he believes one reason students do not go to games is a feeling of apathy.
Everybody comes in during the first half and if we are down, they just forget about them, he said. Plus, they haven’t been that good in the last few seasons anyway.
Rob Kirr, a junior in accounting from Naperville, said another reason it is hard to get students to come to the games is the fact that students have no confidence in the team.
I think people are going on (the Salukis’) past performances, Kirr said. The fundamentals need to be improved on the team.
But the Salukis have won two of the three home games played this season. The one loss came at the hands of Southwest Missouri, and the Salukis lost that game by just one point.
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Saluki fan Mike Hohnecker, a junior in information system technology from Dubuque, Iowa, said attending the games is important because it will help the Salukis recruit players.
When new recruits come, the first thing they see is the fans, Hohnecker said. When nobody is here, they are going to go somewhere else where they come to a game and there is a full crowd.
It bothers Hohnecker that there are not more students at the game.
It makes me look bad to my friends back home, Hohnecker said. It gives them something to make fun of. You’d like to come home and say, We beat Northern Iowa,’ but that hasn’t happened since I have been here.
SIUC head football coach Jan Quarless said the fact that the team won shows that the players were able to play well despite the disappointing fan turnout.
We told ourselves that we were going to come out on this football field and look at a hundred yards squared, Quarless said. We weren’t going to look at the stands at either side. I said Prepare yourselves for that.’ We will look at everyone on the field. And I think they did that.
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