How the HSV supporters make the ground shake

During the first home match of Hamburger SV of the new season against Hertha BSC on August 10, our WAVE fiber optic network was also listening live in DESY’s PETRA ring close to Volksparkstadion. At 20:42, HSV scored a goal and the vibrations caused by the cheering supporters were clearly visible in the livestream.

At 20:58 the HSV supporters could be seen jumping on the TV signal. Also in our fiber optic network, a strong signal was visible at that time.

A spectrogram of the measured vibrations during 5 hours around the match between 19 h and 0 h clearly shows the signature of the match starting at 20:30 h. Even the people arriving at the stadium before the match and leaving it afterwards seem to be visible. However, the strongest signals seem to be caused by the drums of the supporters and synchronized jumping during the match.

A closer look at the first half shows the strong support in the first minutes, after the goal and around minute 27 when jumping supporters were visible in the TV signal. It can also be seen that the signature of the goal scored by HSV looks different than other signals, which might be related to the goal jingle. The end of the first half is clearly visible as the signals die down.

During the first part of the second half, the signals in general seem to have slightly less amplitude. This might be related to the fact that Hertha BSC was getting stronger. The most important scenes of the second half, a free kick by HSV that hit the post and the equalizer by Hertha BSC just afterwards do not seem to have a clear signature. Another strong signal is visible shortly after the final whistle, which is probably the moment in which the HSV players thanked the fans for their support.