If Ryerson really wants to make Maple Leaf Gardens an intimidating place to play in when it opens up next year, it’s going to need a lot of fans and a lot of noise.  

From the Olympics, it’s quite clear that students will have to draw their inspiration on how to cheer from abroad, as Canadians don’t know how to cheer on a crowd. The bland “Go Canada Go,” the obvious “Let’s go Canada” and the commercial cheer of “Eh! O Canada Go,” are not the types of songs that let the visiting team know that this is our house.

And while spontaneously breaking out in the national anthem is heartwarming, it’s not the kind of music that will set a fire under the team’s ass when it’s losing.

This June, many Ryerson students will have their eyes focused on the field at this year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but they should also seriously take note of the musical harmony coming from the stands.  
     
English fans will sing  Rule Britannia, and the theme from the movie The Great Escape, both high-tempo songs that shows the country’s distinctiveness and nationalistic pride.

 The last time Ryerson had a fight song was in the 1950s. H.H. Kerr was president, and the school actually had a football team.

The first few lyrics of the song were “R.I.T., we will fight for you ever / for the gold and blue and white,” and the overall melody that Al Sauro wrote sounded more like a funeral dirge than a pep song.
  
Ryerson students should take note of all the great chants that fans will be singing at the World Cup.

And we don’t have to worry about having hoarse throats after every game.

Ryerson can use some sort of instrument, like how the South Africans use the vuvuzela, a metre-long horn that will create a din of “vuvus” throughout the tournament.

An obvious instrument would be to blow a ram’s horn throughout the game.

Sauro said he did it in five minutes. Ryerson students will have a whole year to do it and  president Sheldon Levy has even offered to start a contest.
 
The Gardens was not an easy building to get. Let’s show how much it means to us by making it the most intimidating university arena to play in.