Last Saturday, I had a chance to travel to the CNE grounds to check out Toronto FC play in their inaugural match at the newly built BMO Field. I wasn't born when the late Doug Ault hit two homers on the Blue Jays' first Opening Day in 1977 but now I would be part of Toronto sports history that also took place on a chilly April day at the very same location.
Although the end result was a 1-0 loss to Kansas City, the crowd rocked the ground and it is quite evident BMO Field will be an imposing place to play for the opposition. The fan base, whose heart beats in the south stand, with the U-Section and Red Patch boys, were equipped with chants and songs, both prepared and drummed up on the spot. One was a chant, "all we are saying, is give us a goal," to the tune of John Lennon's Give Peace A Chance.
It is also quite evident that if FC's poor passing continues, Mike Shropshire might want to sign up to write Seasons In Hell II starring Toronto FC as the Texas Rangers and coach Mo Johnston as Billy Martin, but that’s another story.
The beauty of what MLSE has created in Toronto FC is that not only will they help draw people to soccer, but are taking in people who need no converting., Fans that avidly follow La Liga, the Premiership and Serie A can unite and support TFC. Whatever league you watch, whatever club you support, people can support TFC with these inherited traditions of being a fan.
My team, for instance, is Liverpool, and I know there is no comparison between the Reds and TFC beyond the colour of their jerseys. I have never been to Anfield, and I'd like to go someday before they shut it down. However, as I was walking back after the game to our parking spot along the Lakeshore my imagination ran away with me a little.
As O Canada was played, the crowd at BMO field sang at the top of their lungs, many with their TFC scarf’s held high above their heads. Seeing as how TFC is the lone Canadian team in Major League Soccer, could O Canada double as our version of Liverpool's You’ll never walk alone to start each match?
Could the boisterous section at the south end that was the pulse of the atmosphere all day long and will be for the foreseeable future be the MLS version of the Kop? Before and after each match, passing in and out of the Princess Gates, will someday people have the same tingle as they do when they pass under Shankley’s Gate?
There is no doubt that many who came out Saturday, thought of their first time at Stamford Bridge, or their last time at the Bernabeu, or their next time at Ibrox. Perhaps, like myself and Anfield, they imagined how it might be at the pitch of their favourite club in Europe.
All of these are daydreams, for now. The real beauty is that with TFC and BMO field, Toronto has a fresh start and can create a tradition and lore surrounding their team and pitch that years from now, will be the talk of the MLS. For fans of soccer in North America, it may be a place that you are drawn to, by unseen forces, such as the same way I was drawn to LFC as a boy, watching Soccer Saturday hosted by Graham Leggett in the late 1980s.
All of this seems possible because for the first time, in a long time, it seems that an ownership group had it right, and has it right. With soccer in Toronto (or football if that’s what you prefer), tradition never was manufactured as it is with seemingly every expansion team in every sport. The currents were here and they were channeled; now flows a sea of Red and Grey that is certain to rise over time into something very special.
OTHER BUSINESS
- The OT in Game 3 of the Sabres-Rangers series is Exhibit A for the NHL leaving playoff overtime as is. I know it's hard, Gary Bettman, I know...
- Having attended the Raptors' first home playoff game and the last one on Tuesday, I have to say Vince Carter and the Nets better get it done in Game 6 on Friday. If they don’t, the atmosphere in Game 7 at the ACC is going to be unlike anything witnessed in the previous home games.
- At Game 5 on Tuesday, I thought the gentleman in front of me looked familiar, so I tapped him on the shoulder, and sure enough, it was Brian Papineau, equipment manager of the Maple Leafs. And for those wondering, he was a very courteous fan.
By the way, for those of you wondering, Neil does not agree with everything Neate Sager writes here.
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2 comments:
I have to say, the designers of BMO Field deserve big complements - that view of downtown T.O. from the upper stands is incredible.
I swung by the game, scalpers were asking 60 bucks for the last 20 minutes. From the outside, up close, it looks like a _great_ park. Anyone else have impressions of the layout?
I really hope TO gets behind this. We are generally apathetic as Canadians, and as sports fans in TO. I'd like for us to learn a thing or two from the football lovers that have settled here, and I don't mean any of British, Italian, Scot, German, whatever.. twats that were walking around like veterans trying to have their day impressing the locals. Not cool.
I also hope the league sticks around after we dominate it.
N send me your deets I don't have them - tmarsh
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