Soccer, Not Football

So it’s finally hit me this week: I am not English.

It all began last week, the week of March 16th, 2009 – one of the most memorable weeks for soccer in the Cascadia.

• Vancouver, a city with 30 years of history in soccer, officially wins one of the two 2011 MLS expansion spots
• Seattle Sounders hosts their inaugural MLS home opener in front of a 32,000-strong crowd
• Portland announced as the other winner for the 2011 expansion

I was fortunate enough to have taken part in two of these historic events, namely the celebration party in Vancouver on Wednesday night, followed by the Seattle Sounders’ opener on Thursday.

To make a long story short, the Sounders’ opener, while goosebump-inducing in countless ways (can you really ask for more than a 3-0 win on your first night out in the MLS?), remained a largely “North American affair”, much to my disappointment.

What do I mean by that?

Think organic vs. engineered.

You see, the main reason behind why I love the beautiful game, soccer -  or football, as the rest of the world calls it – is because of its tribal nature. It’s all about the club you support.  The more adversity the club faces, the more it means to the true supporters to stand behind her against the rest of the world.  The true supporters know that only the club stands the test of time: players and coaches and trophies come and go, but the club you support will remain timeless.

You don’t cease to be a Vancouver Whitecap after the whistle is blown in 90 minutes.  It runs in your blood.

It’s for these reasons that you see this sort of thing around the world:

*Note the ladies taking their tops off around the 50 second mark.  Those Brazilians……Anyways.

Yet, as North Americans, most of us are accustomed to having to be entertained, having to be fed.  We are used to sitting on our fat asses at home in front of our HDTVs.  In fact, we are so used to sitting in front of the TV that for most “fans”, going to the game and watching it on TV are actually interchangeable.  And even when we do actually attend professional sporting events, most of what we get is merely artificial, engineered support. You often see the big LCD screens in the stadiums displaying messages like “CLAP YOUR HANDS”, or “STAND UP”, or “SCARVES UP”.  You often hear loud rock music played over the PA every time play stops, as if to distract you from the silence that fills the stadium.  You see mascots telling you how to chant and how to react, and if you can string 3 words together (eg. “GO CANUCKS GO!”, “LET’S GO CANUCKS, LET’S GO!”), you are considered a hardcore fan.  And then you see cheerleaders jumping around even though they have absolutely no place on the field whatsoever.

This was the case in Seattle.  And so, a debate in my head arose.  “Was that really a good night out?  Or was it just the same old North American crap masked by all the fireworks and brass band and a bunch of bandwagoners?”  Afterall, some claim the Sounders managed to fill the stadium only because their city has just lost their NBA franchise, the Seattle Sonics.

And sadly, as a natural reaction – I think overreaction is a better description – to the disaster that North American sports have become, soccer fans in North America have decided to try to emulate their counterparts over in Europe, especially in England.  We start calling soccer “football”, start yelling around English phrases like “Shut up you twat”, or “Aye you’re a right bloody wanker like”, while raising up our scarves and singing English chants.  And guess what?  A little while later, you can’t help but notice that we’ve just gone one full circle and ended up exactly where we started – engineered support that is not true of who we really are.

So it is at this point that I stand.  Right here, right now.  This very moment.

Who are we, really?

Can I feel comfortable in my own skin as a Vancouverite and not end up as either i) a boring fickle fan like the Canucks lot, or ii) an Englishman wannabe?

Can I come to accept that while Seattle got it wrong on their big night out, at least Toronto FC got it spot on 2 years ago and that hopefully the Whitecaps will get it spot on as well come 2011?

Can we relive the day of the 100,000+ parade in downtown Vancouver in 1979, when we won the NASL Soccer Bowl?

Yes, I think I can.  In fact, I am very hopeful.

Those of you from the east coast might have read about this, but TFC just got an away support of about 2,000 fans in their game against Columbus Crew down in Columbus today.  That’s a 7 hour trip, and I’m not even counting the return trip.  They got a section all to themselves at Columbus’s ground.  Isn’t that amazing?

You have probably met people who moved from coast to coast because of the person they love, or their family, or their career.

For me, I think I have just found my reason to stay in Vancouver.

This is my home.

What a day it is for Vancouver

I think this article by one of the Southsiders sums it up:

From Friends of Soccer:

http://friendsofsoccer.blogspot.com/

In 1979, a simple soccer team and a famous sportscaster’s slip of the tongue, brought Vancouver together like never before. In the buildup to ABC’s coverage of the ‘79 NASL Soccer Bowl, the legendary Jim McKay innocently referred to Vancouver as a “deserted village”. When the Whitecaps returned home as Champions of the North American Soccer League, over a hundred thousand Vancouverites took to the streets in joy and made the word “Villager” a badge of honour. Vancouver had never celebrated anything with such unity and passion before. Nor has it since.

March 18, 2009 is a great day in history for both soccer and our city. Today’s announcement that the Vancouver Whitecaps will become a member of Major League Soccer in 2011 is the fantastic result of almost seven years of hard work and vision by Greg Kerfoot, Bob Lenarduzzi, Rachel Lewis and the entire Whitecaps organization. The B.C. soccer community and the citizens of Vancouver owe them a great debt of gratitude and heartfelt congratulations for their achievement.

More than ever before, soccer has become the international language of the world, and Vancouver can now reclaim its top tier place in the game’s global community. Famous soccer clubs from the great cities of the world will once again make their way to Vancouver on a regular basis, and the Whitecaps name will become synonomous with our city throughout the globe. The soccer culture that has always existed in Vancouver & B.C. will flourish like never before, and our children will be able to grow up knowing that the soccer they play is much more than a “foreign” game.

The news that Vancouver is once again back at the top level of North American soccer will also bring tremendous benefits to our city for generations to come. The culture of traveling support that exists in MLS will fill thousands of hotel rooms, and bring new jobs and millions of dollars into our local economy at a time when we need it most. The tens of thousands of new patrons that will descend into the City Centre will help relieve some of the pressures felt by small businesses in Downtown, Chinatown, and Gastown. Vancouver can expect to reap the economic benefits of MLS for decades to come.

But more important is soccer’s ability to unite people from all different walks of life. Today, the Whitecaps are giving Vancouver one of its first truly multicultural institutions that’s inclusive, accessible and comfortable for people of all cultures, races and backgrounds. It’s a fine legacy for an organization that has given so much of its time, effort and resources to communities throughout B.C. & Western Canada.

Soccer in Vancouver, B.C. and all of Canada is stronger today than it was yesterday. But it is still a work in progress. For Canada to continue its progress, we need more solid clubs. We need fewer petty territorial squabbles. We need to accept a soccer culture that builds professional excellence. And we need real soccer infrastructure in our country, such as stadiums.

But today is for celebrating the deserved achievements of the Vancouver Whitecaps. It’s a chance to look back on all of the good a simple soccer club has done for this city over almost 35 years. And it’s a dare to dream about what might be possible in the years ahead.

Today, Vancouver is a “Village” once again.

Yours in Sport,
Bill Currie
Friends of Soccer

Pilgrimage

My year begins a fortnight from today, in the Emerald city.

I honestly can’t wait!

Here are some of the more important fixtures that I will be attending for sure:

Thu 03/19 – Seattle Sounders FC vs. New York Red Bulls – (the debut of our Cascadian friend/foe in the MLS)

Sat 04/04 – Colchester United vs. Leeds United – (tickets yet to be acquired, chances not looking good)

Sat 04/11 – Tottenham Hotspurs vs. West Ham United

Sat 04/25 – Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Portland Timbers

Sat 05/30 – Portland Timbers vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

Tue 06/02 – Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Toronto FC

Sun 06/07 – Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Montreal Impact

Football Education

This year has started fantastically well when it comes to my football education.  Going a few posts back I had talked about how my hopes for this new year is that I would finally get out of the whole (Chinese) Christian bubble, and, more importantly, to invest this year into the Whitecaps so I can become a proper supporter.

I got to hit 2 birds with 1 stone last night as I attended my first ever Southsiders gathering, where the supporters group for the Vancouver Whitecaps gathered at a pub downtown with none other than the championship winning manager himself, Teitur Thordarson.

This is the beauty of the USL and supporting your local side – to be able to meet these folks up front like that and put them on the spot with some tough questions.

It was definitely a great opportunity to get out of my bubble, as I was the only non-white person there.  I also got to chat with 2 very knowledgeable men, one who is a younger lad who is actually currently writing a book on his 1 year of experience being a supporter for a football club in South Korea.  The other bloke is a older man who is actually making a film on the history of footy here. So he was able to answer all my questions about the good ol’ Whitecaps and 86ers from back in the NASL days – when the likes of Alan Ball, Grobbelar (lol) and Peter Beardsley played for us. The good ol’ days of when Vancouverites were actually fans of the beautiful game, instead of this boring stuff they call the Canucks now……

I was glad I was able to share some of my wealth as well, taking out the latest “textbook” I have been using from my backpack, Gary Imlach’s “My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes”.  Great book that puts the game back into perspective.

We even got the chance to clear our throats and sang a few chants, for me that was immense already.

I can’t wait till the season finally starts.

Going to be heading down to Portland with the lads for the away game there, and I might even fly out to Montreal for one of the games there, as I’ve always been meaning to visit that beautiful city.

And let’s not forget about going with the Leeds away supporters to a game at Colchester when I head to the UK in April.  Wootttttttt!!

One thought that came to mind, and I wish to discuss next time, is: do instant replays and highlights ruin the game? (reason being that the goal is no longer a special moment, but a dissected piece of junk painted by all the crap the pundits say)