One day Canadian national team fans won't have to talk about attendance.
They will - the fan is always going to be confused that not everyone in the country shares their passion for the team and the demographics of the nation will ensure that there will always be a significant amount of people in the stadiums not cheering for the home team. However, the day is not far off when the numbers in the stadium will be OK.
And OK is fine. Especially if you were around the team in the bad old days when they played steel drums at halftime of World Cup qualifiers to make the away support feel at home. If you were around then, you understand how much better it is today. There are supporters. They are identifiable and they play a significant role in the stadium. The idea that there could be a 2000 seat supporter’s section full of rowdy Canadian fans was absurd just a decade ago. But, that happens now. It will only get bigger.
But, let’s be honest here. The crowd will still disappoint on Sept 7. Those close to the situation have told us that there will be about 1000 away fans at the game. The supporters section for Canada will be full, but the rest of the stadium is always a crapshoot. There will be red seats visible no matter how hard supporters try to get butts into the stadium.
It’s important that Canadian fans not get discouraged that they can’t turn things around overnight. We are Canada. We are coming at things from many significant disadvantages and the work done already should be celebrated.
However, we still need to keep pushing.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Not that anyone reading this needs to be told, but it's important that the fans keep trying to sell tickets. We are walking examples that put to rest the notion that no one cares about the national team in Canada. No amount of marketing money can have the same impact as a passionate fan talking one-on-one with a fan of the game that has not yet experienced the rush of supporting your country in the stands.
The Canadian national team is like an indy rock band that finds fans one at a time through word of mouth. However, once you expose a reluctant fan to the product they generally come back again and they pass on the mp3 on to another friend. The band grows bit by bit until it suddenly breaks through to the mainstream.
A couple personal stories to illustrate how sharing the passion can reach people:
In 2007, I was living in St. Catharines, Ontario. There, I tended to watch big football games at The Celtic Pub, which was a Celtic supporter's bar, but also served as a meeting point for all fans of the game in that city regardless of who they cheered for (well, with one notable exception...).
They would play any game that you wanted, so long as they got the channel. However, when I walked in and asked for the semi-final of the '07 Gold Cup to be put on I was given a puzzled look.
"Canada? The gruff Scottish fellow said. "Ok, but why? "
He wasn't hostile, just genuinely confused that I would choose a Canada game over other options.
However, as the game went on more and more of the men at the bar started to pay attention. They were asking questions about where the players were playing and were impressed by the answers. By the time Atiba Hutchinson was robbed they were screaming at the TV, irate at the call. Even though they were mostly ex-pats and supported another national team there was no hesitation to cheer for Canada as well. They just needed the push.
The general consensus amongst the men at the Celtic Pub that day was that Canada was way better than they thought. Misperception corrected, they all said that they would give the national team a try moving forward.
Flash-forward to this past weekend and I'm involved in a conversation with a Manchester City fan at the City bar Opera Bob's following the game Sunday. The topic of conversation had turned to Canada and my claim that Canadian national team games offer the best display of talent BMO regularly sees (admittedly the local 11 make that distinction easy).
He was convinced that I was out of my mind, suggestion that Canada had several players that weren't even playing professionally. Even after I had explained that wasn't true he remained unconvinced. The idea that Canada could have players playing at a high level seemed to be beyond his comprehension. At one point he argued the New Zealand's national team was "way" better than Canada, based only on the fact that they were in South Africa. That a good amount of New Zealand’s players play at a professional level below MLS didn’t matter to him.
The point of this story isn't to make fun of the fan's lack of understanding of international football, but rather to illustrate the key component of his ignorance -- lack of exposure.
The only way to convince him that Canada was worthwhile is to show him. If you just get him into the stadium then he can see with his own eyes that there is nothing that beats watching international soccer live – especially if it’s in support of your country.
This story has a happy ending. Partly based on my conversation, plans were made to gather a group of regulars from the bar to go to the Panama game.
The hardest part has been accomplished. Chances are that at least some of that group will become fans of the program in a more involved way moving forward.
Who knows, one day down the road they might even find themselves convincing a new fan to come out to the stadium to watch Les Rouges.