ABSTRACT
A few years ago we held a one-day seminar at Sussex to discuss the nature of sonic bridges – metaphorical bridges, not physical. The seminar was to be held on a Saturday, however, after organising the event we realised that the expected time of winding up the seminar coincided with the end of the local football match. Brighton and Hove Albion, who were then in the English 1st division, had just built a wonderful new stadium adjacent to the university with a crowd capacity of 26,000. The football fans attending the match would all be leaving together at 4.45 and would be funnelled onto the local railway platform – the same platform from which our guests would be using in order to return to their homes. We decided to end the seminar early and as we left in the dusk of a winter’s afternoon we heard a tremendous, joyous roar emanating from the stadium, escaping from the open roof across the university and further across the South Downs. Having been a keen football supporter for years I surmised that this second-half roar sounded as if Brighton had just scored the first goal as the joyous roar appeared to be tinged with an element of relief. On returning home I discovered that Brighton had indeed won the match one nil.
