Soccer was front and centre in Toronto Wednesday night as Toronto FC battled the LA Galaxy to a 2-2 draw in the CONCACAF Champions league before 47,658 spectators at Rogers Centre.
For anyone who was paying attention the message from the fans of the beautiful game was a simple one: we are here to stay.
For many TFC supporters the evening began with a trip to a bar. It might have been Real Sports for the official Toronto FC pre-game event, Crocodile Rock for the Supporters Groups event, or any other downtown establishment. Chances are wherever you went it was busy and full of fellow TFC fans clad in red.
The two larger events were capped off with a pair of supporters’ marches heading down the road into Roger Centre and for people along the street or trying to drive through downtown they would have seen some sight. I was in one march and everywhere we went people we passed were pulling out phones and taking pictures. Such a large and organized show of support is not something that the city of Toronto is used to with its sports teams. Thankfully, the police were ready and made certain that both marches went smoothly and everyone made it to the game safely with limited disturbance to the downtown.
Once we arrived inside the stadium it was awe-inspiring to see it fill up. There may have been the odd Galaxy or Manchester United jersey but for the most part the fans came dressed in TFC’s colours and it did not take long to cover the very blue Rogers Centre in TFC red.
The south end of the stadium was covered in the art that was created by the supporters groups. There were a variety of different banners and flags as well as a pair of large tifos (a choreographed display by fans) in an impressive exhibition of passion. That passion was not limited to just the south end, though, as signs and flags could be seen throughout the entire dome..
Then there were the streamers. The club decided to allow them to make their return for one game only and they came back with a vengeance. From the moment that people entered the building, there were streamers being thrown all over. There was a huge wave of them after an impromptu rendition of “O Canada,” as well as after Ryan Johnson opened the scoring early in the game.
The fans did save some streamers for David Beckham, as well. Every single time he went to take a corner he was bombarded by wave after wave of them. After his first few corners were delayed by the volume of streamers he learned his lesson and started taking them sooner. The one drawback was that when people are throwing things onto the field there is often that one person in the crowd who does not have a streamer so they throw something else.
The beer can that was thrown towards Beckham was one of the very few black marks on an otherwise spectacular night of soccer. On the night most of the fans in attendance were in a festive mode and enjoying a special event. It is those fans who deserve all the headlines.
When the club announced that the game would be played at Rogers Centre it was greeted with a fair bit of hesitancy from fans who were worried that it would not attract a large enough crowd. Those fears were laid to rest on Wednesday.
It is safe to say that Toronto FC fans should be proud of what took place at Rogers Centre. There is no doubt that they showed the city of Toronto and anyone watching that soccer is a big deal in this city and there is still a genuine interest in the sport despite five years of the club struggling.
This will probably be a game that people will not soon forget. Toronto is a city whose sports scene is starving for something special to happen and on Wednesday night in the building where Joe Carter touched them all they got a strong reminder of what it is like to be part of a real sporting spectacle.
David Rowaan is a Toronto-based writer and key contributor to Waking the Red, a blog about Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. Follow Waking the Red on Twitter.
