Rawr-ing for the Tigers

Bianca Reo ’12 and Adeline Brown ’13 led a group of students wearing orange and black paint on a lively march across campus to encourage their classmates to support the football team at its Sept. 25 game against Lafayette.

This was the first event for Rawr, an unofficial new student group that aims to increase student attendance at football games, foster school spirit and support student athletes.

Reo, Rawr’s “head rabble rouser,” said that she’d always wished that the University had better school spirit.

“I feel that there is so much Princeton pride, and it’s really not represented at the football games,” she explained. “I really wanted to change that.”

One of Reo’s friends put her in contact with Brown, who is now Rawr’s vice president, and the two decided to form a student group to promote support for the football team. Without a concrete list of members or a title, the leaders of what is now known as Rawr put their plan into action.

They sent out e–mails to friends and listservs, telling students to meet them in front of Frist Campus Center. They also contacted Tyler King ’12 and asked him to spread the word on his Facebook group, “I solemnly swear to attend all football games.”

“There’s no central place that says these are the games that are happening today or tomorrow, so unless you’re really looking for it, a lot of times people don’t even know that the games are going on,” King said.

The group gathered at Frist, painted their faces and bodies and then paraded through the dining halls, loudly publicizing the game and amassing followers as they went.

“We really just found random people and were like, ‘Hey, will you take off your shirts and paint your stomachs?’ ” Brown said.

At the game, students spelled out “Go Princeton Tigers” on their stomachs and cheered on the football team along with many other people who joined them. Rawr collected the e-mail addresses of more than 90 people interested in joining.

Both Brown and Reo said that they thought this first effort was successful and noted that they plan to make this a tradition for every home football game.

“I thought we had a great turnout — probably better than any of the games I went to last year that I can remember,” Brown said. “Hopefully we’ll just continue to build on that and have a better turnout in the games to come.”

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Trey Peacock ’11, a wide receiver on the football team, said he enjoyed having RAWR attend the game.

“I didn’t know what it was called, but I saw them, I heard them,” he said. “I think it’s awesome that there are fans, and I think it’s an experience that everyone should have. Going to a game, even if you don’t know the rules, it’s still fun, and the atmosphere is great.”

Rawr is not going to become an official club, Reo and Brown said.

“We aren’t going for funding. We started to, but the University really doesn’t want to support groups that are just about one sport,” Reo said.

But University alumni have reached out to Reo and Brown, saying that they want to start a “Friends of Rawr” funding pool. Assistant Director of Athletic Relations Scott Jurgens confirmed that the athletics department will pay for Rawr’s paint, Brown said.

Though Rawr is solely for football, Reo said she hopes that the momentum from this football season will carry over to other seasons and other sports.

And although the group is not officially recognized by the University, it does already have an official slogan: “It’s a Rawr-volution in school spirit, and all are welcome to join the horde.”

Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article misstated Princeton's opponent in the Sept. 25 football game as Lehigh when it was, in fact, Lafayette.