|
The 12th man or 12th player is a term for fans of teams in eleven-a-side sports games, particularly American football or association football. As most football leagues allow a maximum of eleven players per team on the playing field at a time, referring to a team's fans as the 12th man implies that they have a potentially helpful role in the game. Infrequently, the term has referred to individuals having a notable connection to their football team. In Canadian football, 12 players are usually on the field at one time and the term 13th man is often used to refer to fans. Similarly, in Australian rules football, 18 players are on the field and the fans are often referred to as the 19th man. The term has a different meaning in cricket, referring instead to the first substitute player who fields when a member of the fielding side is injured (the term 6th man has a similar connotation in basketball). The presence of fans can have a profound impact on how the teams perform, an element in the home advantage. 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. ==History== The first recorded use of the term "twelfth man" was a magazine published by the University of Minnesota in September, 1900, that referred to "the mysterious influence of the twelfth man on the team, the rooter." Later, in the November 1912 edition of The Iowa Alumnus, an alumni publication of the University of Iowa (then known as State University of Iowa), E.A. McGowan described the 1903 game between Iowa and the . In his article, titled "The Twelfth Player" McGowan wrote: "The eleven men had done their best; but the twelfth man on the team (the loyal spirited Iowa rooter) had won the game for old S.U.I." The earliest documented reference to the numerical "12th Man" term occurred at the 1922 Dixie Classic (the forerunner of the Cotton Bowl Classic). Texas A&M (then known as The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas) played defending national champion Centre College. In this hard fought game, which produced national publicity, an underdog Texas A&M team was slowly but surely defeating a team which boasted three All-Americans. During the game, A&M coach Dana X. Bible realized that one more injury would leave him without another backfield player to send into the game. Coach Bible remembered that E. King Gill, an individual who had tried out for the squad but who "lacked the experience and ability to play for the varsity" had made the trip as a member of the school’s Corps of Cadets and was sitting with his friends in the stands. Bible sent for Gill and asked for him to suit up and be ready if needed. 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. Other individuals have occasionally been labeled by local media as the "Twelfth Man" of their team. In 1930, W. H. Adamson, Principal of Oak Cliff (Dallas) High School was called the "Twelfth Man" of the school's football team by a local reporter due to the rousing pre-game speeches he would give to the players. In the 1935 Princeton- game before 56,000 fans who braved the snow and cold,〔(【引用サイトリンク】date=December 23, 1935 )〕 spectator Mike Mesco was initially reported to have left his seat from the stands to join the Dartmouth defensive line and was referred to in a local newspaper as the "Twelfth Dartmouth Man." As it turned out it was not Mesko but George Larsen of Cranford, N.J., who dashed from the stands to aid Dartmouth in her game with Princeton. Asa Bushnell III, Princeton class of 1947, wrote of the incident in 1960 for the Princeton Athletic News: "Strange as it may seem, it was a young architect from Cranford, N.J., a refugee from the University of Cinncinnati, no less - who immortalized the activities in Palmer Stadium on November 23, 1935. It was he who, midway through the fourth period that tingling afternoon, left the other 55,999 spectators in their seats to assist the Dartmouth Indians in a determined goal-line stand. It was he who lined up with the Hanoverians on the two yard stripe and prevented Jack White from scoring - and White boasted interference from the awesome likes of Johnny Weller and Homer Spofford. It was the daring "twelfth man" who, though escorted unceremoniously off the field and out of the stadium without further ado, gained a nationwide football reputation in a single play." The December 18, 1938, ''Dallas Morning News'' said "Whether they play now on a team, used to play back in the day, follow the game closely or just quarterback from the grandstand occasionally, every football enthusiast well knows how much that twelfth man in the stands means to any football team. But that backing means unusually much in the traditional Thanksgiving game between the University of Texas and Texas A&M. With an uncertain monotony that has long since made game forecasters exceedingly skittish, these two win where their twelfth men help most." Thus, in this single instance, the term "Twelfth Man" was used to refer to the fans of both schools playing. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「12th man (football)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|