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| MLS Cup, Toronto FC and soccer's fight for relevance in Canada | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| After scoring five goals, eliminating their rivals Montreal Impact from the MLS playoffs, and advancing to the first MLS Cup in team history, Toronto FC got down to the important business of discussing Drake. “You’re going to join Drake and company on the town,” a member of the club’s staff – probably Jeff Bradley, the communications chief – yelled to players across a crowded locker room. | After scoring five goals, eliminating their rivals Montreal Impact from the MLS playoffs, and advancing to the first MLS Cup in team history, Toronto FC got down to the important business of discussing Drake. “You’re going to join Drake and company on the town,” a member of the club’s staff – probably Jeff Bradley, the communications chief – yelled to players across a crowded locker room. |
| Drake, the 6 God, was not, in fact, waiting for the players. His last meaningful involvement with the club came in 2014, when he reportedly called Jermain Defoe as part of TFC’s efforts to sign the striker – an episode the club and its fans have tried to forget. But his specter pointed to the awkwardness of the occasion. Toronto, like much of Canada, has both a vibrant culture and a vibrant soccer culture; the question the MLS Cup final raises is whether those qualities can ever become one and the same. | Drake, the 6 God, was not, in fact, waiting for the players. His last meaningful involvement with the club came in 2014, when he reportedly called Jermain Defoe as part of TFC’s efforts to sign the striker – an episode the club and its fans have tried to forget. But his specter pointed to the awkwardness of the occasion. Toronto, like much of Canada, has both a vibrant culture and a vibrant soccer culture; the question the MLS Cup final raises is whether those qualities can ever become one and the same. |
| “Toronto is a soccer city, and has been a soccer city for generations,” says Torontonian and soccer fan Colin Crawford. “I just don’t think it’s ever been a local soccer city.” Half of the city’s residents were born abroad, and its population includes large Italian, Portuguese, Persian and Latin American communities that are reliably soccer-mad. Streets are regularly closed or flooded with honking cars during European Championships and World Cups. The city also has a wealth of supporters’ groups for major European clubs. It is, by any reasonable North American standard, an excellent place to watch soccer. | “Toronto is a soccer city, and has been a soccer city for generations,” says Torontonian and soccer fan Colin Crawford. “I just don’t think it’s ever been a local soccer city.” Half of the city’s residents were born abroad, and its population includes large Italian, Portuguese, Persian and Latin American communities that are reliably soccer-mad. Streets are regularly closed or flooded with honking cars during European Championships and World Cups. The city also has a wealth of supporters’ groups for major European clubs. It is, by any reasonable North American standard, an excellent place to watch soccer. |
| Toronto FC has not always benefited from these positive environmental factors. On the pitch, much of the club’s history has been a study in futility. It only made its first playoff appearance in the parity-crazed MLS last year. In recent years, the club has regularly sold out BMO Field, but struggled to achieve broader relevance. That phenomenon is not a historical anomaly. Upon their return from the 1984 NASL final – a match attended by Mr T, and the last time a Canadian team appeared in a US club soccer final – Crawford notes that the Toronto Blizzard were only greeted by a few hundred fans. Two years prior, he says, “the photos of people on St Clair Avenue after Italy won the World Cup are insane.” | Toronto FC has not always benefited from these positive environmental factors. On the pitch, much of the club’s history has been a study in futility. It only made its first playoff appearance in the parity-crazed MLS last year. In recent years, the club has regularly sold out BMO Field, but struggled to achieve broader relevance. That phenomenon is not a historical anomaly. Upon their return from the 1984 NASL final – a match attended by Mr T, and the last time a Canadian team appeared in a US club soccer final – Crawford notes that the Toronto Blizzard were only greeted by a few hundred fans. Two years prior, he says, “the photos of people on St Clair Avenue after Italy won the World Cup are insane.” |
| These qualities, however, have long marked Toronto as a promising city for club soccer. During half-time of the team’s game against Montreal, MLS commissioner Don Garber called the sold-out match a “great night for our league and the sport here in Canada.” More than 36,000 fans had braved the cold and rain to pack the stadium on a weeknight. He added: “We knew that it was a market that really loved game.” | These qualities, however, have long marked Toronto as a promising city for club soccer. During half-time of the team’s game against Montreal, MLS commissioner Don Garber called the sold-out match a “great night for our league and the sport here in Canada.” More than 36,000 fans had braved the cold and rain to pack the stadium on a weeknight. He added: “We knew that it was a market that really loved game.” |
| On the back of this successful season, Toronto FC’s players, the league, and fans are finally seeing signs of progress. Many of the city’s red streetcars are now adorned with matching red Toronto FC stickers. Mayor John Tory, who is not known as a soccer fan, unveiled a multi-storey TFC jersey in front of city hall and wagered a 12-pack of beers with New York City mayor Bill de Blasio during the team’s Eastern Conference semi-final with New York City FC. The beer bet was a reprise of his wager with Kansas City’s mayor during the Blue Jay’s 2015 Major League Baseball playoff run. On the day of the club’s last home match, captain Michael Bradley said that all of his child’s classmates were kitted out in TFC gear when he made his school run. Most of the parents also wore some form of club regalia. “I live downtown,” defender Drew Moor said after the match. “I walk out my door and I can feel it.” | On the back of this successful season, Toronto FC’s players, the league, and fans are finally seeing signs of progress. Many of the city’s red streetcars are now adorned with matching red Toronto FC stickers. Mayor John Tory, who is not known as a soccer fan, unveiled a multi-storey TFC jersey in front of city hall and wagered a 12-pack of beers with New York City mayor Bill de Blasio during the team’s Eastern Conference semi-final with New York City FC. The beer bet was a reprise of his wager with Kansas City’s mayor during the Blue Jay’s 2015 Major League Baseball playoff run. On the day of the club’s last home match, captain Michael Bradley said that all of his child’s classmates were kitted out in TFC gear when he made his school run. Most of the parents also wore some form of club regalia. “I live downtown,” defender Drew Moor said after the match. “I walk out my door and I can feel it.” |
| For Canadian soccer culture, and Toronto’s in particular, it is not yet clear if hosting – and potentially hoisting – the MLS Cup will have a long-term impact. “If Toronto win, will people still show up,” asks Alexander Nathan, co-host of the Under The Cosh podcast. “The fact that they’ve won something tangible in the Eastern Conference should hopefully encourage more people to come out next season to regular season games,” he adds. Attendance, however, may not be Toronto FC’s most pressing concern. Hockey notwithstanding, this has been a good year for Toronto’s sports teams. The Raptors and Blue Jays advanced to basketball and baseball’s respective conference finals this year. Toronto FC, however, is the first local men’s team to make a men’s final since the 1993 Blue Jays. For all these teams, the hope is that recent events will maintain interest even during less successful periods. | For Canadian soccer culture, and Toronto’s in particular, it is not yet clear if hosting – and potentially hoisting – the MLS Cup will have a long-term impact. “If Toronto win, will people still show up,” asks Alexander Nathan, co-host of the Under The Cosh podcast. “The fact that they’ve won something tangible in the Eastern Conference should hopefully encourage more people to come out next season to regular season games,” he adds. Attendance, however, may not be Toronto FC’s most pressing concern. Hockey notwithstanding, this has been a good year for Toronto’s sports teams. The Raptors and Blue Jays advanced to basketball and baseball’s respective conference finals this year. Toronto FC, however, is the first local men’s team to make a men’s final since the 1993 Blue Jays. For all these teams, the hope is that recent events will maintain interest even during less successful periods. |
| Men’s soccer in Canada, however, is not the direct analogue of hockey, basketball, and baseball. It is arguably the sport with the greatest promise for the future, a sport that, in its domestic form, has yet to fully capture the public imagination. It is, however, the sport that Canadian children play. Since 1998 government surveys have indicated that more Canadians aged five to 14 play soccer than hockey. The gap has grown to the point where, in 2010, soccer was nearly twice as popular with the nation’s children. “Everybody I know played soccer,” says soccer journalist and Toronto FC supporter Sonja Cori Missio. “Obviously it doesn’t have the same sort of continual outlasting like you have in Italy or England.” | Men’s soccer in Canada, however, is not the direct analogue of hockey, basketball, and baseball. It is arguably the sport with the greatest promise for the future, a sport that, in its domestic form, has yet to fully capture the public imagination. It is, however, the sport that Canadian children play. Since 1998 government surveys have indicated that more Canadians aged five to 14 play soccer than hockey. The gap has grown to the point where, in 2010, soccer was nearly twice as popular with the nation’s children. “Everybody I know played soccer,” says soccer journalist and Toronto FC supporter Sonja Cori Missio. “Obviously it doesn’t have the same sort of continual outlasting like you have in Italy or England.” |
| The MLS Cup final is therefore an opportunity to unite the disparate constituencies in the local soccer culture and establish life-long bonds. “The excitement of the two games and the amount of goals, I can’t imagine this won’t bring more people into the sport,” Toronto FC manager Greg Vanney said after the Eastern Conference final. Should that happen, the city’s many soccer communities might finally coalesce. “I hope that kids and players will start saying things like ‘I want to play for TFC’ instead of ‘I want to play for Arsenal, Barça, or Udinese’,” Missio says. “I want them to see TFC as a legitimate professional team like the Jays and Raptors.” | The MLS Cup final is therefore an opportunity to unite the disparate constituencies in the local soccer culture and establish life-long bonds. “The excitement of the two games and the amount of goals, I can’t imagine this won’t bring more people into the sport,” Toronto FC manager Greg Vanney said after the Eastern Conference final. Should that happen, the city’s many soccer communities might finally coalesce. “I hope that kids and players will start saying things like ‘I want to play for TFC’ instead of ‘I want to play for Arsenal, Barça, or Udinese’,” Missio says. “I want them to see TFC as a legitimate professional team like the Jays and Raptors.” |