Day -558. WorldCup2018
One week to go before the biggest football match ever in Toronto. There's been a few of those "biggest ever" recently and winning them has led Toronto FC to this one. The fans are ready and the City is looking forward to finally having a winner. The term "bandwagon" has been thrown about, but is that so wrong, to want to back a winner and possibly become a longer term fan.
The other label I came across on the Twitter chat yesterday was "Eurosnob." Tickets went on sale for season ticket holders and there were, understandably, a number of disgruntled individuals who did get tickets but not in their normal seats or sections, because this a league event not a Toronto FC one even though it is being hosted by Toronto at BMO Field.. Amongst all the "what's the big deal, we're in the final, it's in Toronto and we have tickets" and the "I hate MLS and TFC for taking my money and not caring about the real fans" comments somebody mentioned how a number of "Eurosnobs" were now bugging him to buy tickets for them. It's pretty self-explanatory: the European immigrants who never took MLS or TFC seriously, and maybe even poked fun at this amateur league. Now we all want to be part of it.
I say "we" because I'm sure that if I was at the match next Saturday sitting next to a 10-year season ticket holder, and we got talking, I'm sure that that's what he would think of me. I never bought a season ticket for TFC, I went to a handful of matches and not every season, I support a team in England and happily watch them on TV every weekend and I could tell my seat neighbour who Aston Villa's substitutes were in a particular match but would struggle to remember the name of TFC's right back a couple of years ago. So there I am, the typical Eurosnob.
But hold up there, I say. There's a number of reasons why I was not a season ticket holder, none of which I have to justify to my sneering neighbour. I was still a fan and have been since the beginning. I wish I could be there for every home match, but it doesn't work for everybody. Do I only support when it's fun to be there, when the team are winning and the stadium is full and I go for the atmosphere? I grew up watching football in Malta. I was at matches with a few hundred other people The football on offer was occasionally a step above dire. And I went back again and again, week after week.
I am incredibly excited by what TFC have done this year. I have not cared about the outcome of a football match as much as I did last Wednesday for a very long time. I watched Chelsea-Manchester City this morning and while I marvelled at the amazing quality of the football (I was almost drooling and could go on about it) it lacked the excitement, the nervousness, of wanting a team to win. Being a neutral eliminates a few necessary football fan ingredients,
Call this what you may, but as a European watching MLS I do still have a few fun questions about the quirks of football here. It's different, I get it, and this doesn't take away from what Toronto FC, the club, and the fans have achieved here.
Why is the advertised kickoff time not really the kickoff time? I'm used to it now: 7pm means it will start some time between 7.08 and 7.11? But why still call it kickoff time, because it's not. Why not find another word for what happens at 7pm?
Why do so many people come to the stadium so late and leave so early? When the match starts there are always an amazing number of empty seats. This summer I got off the train from work at Exhibition station (right by the stadium) and people were streaming towards the station from BMO Field. I checked, it was the 68th minute and TFC had just scored the first goal of the match.
Why do so many people wander about during a match at BMO Field? Watching on TV it is very easy to see all the people walking about in the open north end of the stadium. Constantly. What are they there for?
What's with the covered faces of the supporters in the south end supporters' sections? I hope the simple explanation is nose and mouth protection from the many flares and smoke bombs. Otherwise, I wonder if it's an attempt to copy the European "Ultras", And that would be sad because, as a European that's a symbol of the ugly side of football. It's a happier thing here, a fun place to go for anybody. What does the image of a men with scarfs covering most of their faces say to young fans?
Eurosnob or not I cannot wait for next Saturday to come around. This is like being in the World Cup or European Championship final host city that I was never in. It's going to be fun.