Allie Pritchett Viking Fusion Reporter and Hannah Johnson Editor
MOUNT BERRY, Ga.- Berry College has watched its football team rise to glory playing in the new Valhalla stadium with two of the home games being sold out this season. The team is tied leading the SAA conference standings, but Berry’s school spirit has not reflected the lead.
Pre-game tailgating and the “Viking Walk” have not seen the numbers that Berry’s Student Activities Office were anticipating.
“I can’t say we were hugely successful at Barron [Stadium],” Director of Student Activities and alumna Cecily Crow said. “I expected that we would have 10 or 12 groups, and we are lucky if we have three or four.”
| Upon Valhalla’s grand opening, football spirit has not reached expected levels. Photo by: Allie Pritchett |
From the 70s into the 90s, soccer and basketball were the most popular sports at Berry. At that time, Berry was in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and was able to give out athletic scholarships. Berry recruited athletes from South America, Europe, New Jersey, and New York. Berry had a strong rivalry with neighboring college, Shorter University, and this is what fueled school spirit according to Crow.
“There was support [for athletics], but there was no dancing on the sidewalks after-wards,” Massey said. “Having three or 4,000 people in one place, yelling and screaming, that didn’t happen before. Those weekends felt like I was in a different place. I felt like I was at a different school.”Dean of Student Work and alumnus Rufus Massey compared the atmosphere surrounding sports from his time as a student at Berry to the atmosphere of Berry’s past few home football games.
According to the book, “Berry College: A History” by Dickey, Ouida, and Doyle Mathis, Martha Berry declared that football was not to be played. Intramural sports were played, but football was not allowed.
“School spirit, you see it more around traditions,” Crow said. “We cheer for Martha, not necessarily the Vikings.”
Berry College has always revolved around traditions like the Grand March, Mountain Day Olympics, and the Berry-Shorter rivalry, although the schools no longer play each other. In the 70s, there was an annual Mountain Day football game involving the Georgians versus the Syrreb’s, which is Berrys spelled backwards. The Berry versus Syrreb game brought high levels of spirit to Berry. So, football has existed for some 45 years at Berry, but does not have the sense of communal spirit like at a Division I university.
“A lot of funding goes to football, but it takes away from other sports,” Junior Emilee Burroughs said. “I think it’s one of the reasons Martha Berry didn’t include football.”
“I think having wins means a lot more to the fans because personally, I believe the football players are trying to prove they are worth seeing, “ Sophomore Felipe Mejia said.
The football team has certainly proven they are worth seeing this season with a 7-2 record. The Vikings play their next home game on November 14 against Centre College.