By: Michael Crampton
Back in the fall of 2007 the regularly boisterous atmosphere of BMO Field overflowed into another of the memorable moments of Toronto FC’s inaugural season. Danny Dichio’s speculative chip of Matt Reis in the dying minutes of the final game of the season earned TFC a draw against the New England Revolution but it wasn’t really the result the fans were celebrating. The spontaneous pitch invasion was more about the joy, the outright giddiness, that soccer had made it in the city of Toronto. While virtually all of the fans dancing at midfield probably still entertained expectations that TFC would go on to be a regular contender in the then smaller pond of Major League Soccer it was, after years in the wilderness, simply having a team that was important.
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It’s probably fair to suggest one thing is fairly certain: the home portion of TFC’s 2012 season was never going not end with a pitch invasion. 2012 might resemble 2007 in that Toronto FC has once again set a new league record for futility and is set to finish in last place but the feeling is totally different. Where once the stands of BMO Field were full of optimism and a source of pride now the sparse attendees often trek down to the lakefront with a sense of resignation. Many cannot even summon the energy to be angry.
Yes, Toronto FC has major problems; the relationship with their fans and team itself cannot be fixed overnight and will take time to repair. What shouldn’t escape notice however is that, in the bigger picture, football has still won a major battle. The fans who packed BMO Field in 2007 have left a legacy that six years of mistakes, both on and off the field, cannot undo. For everything that has gone wrong with Toronto FC as a club the potential the sport exhibited back then is being realized.
Saturday afternoon two Canadian teams took to the field in the highest league in northern North America for the first ever league edition of the 401/20 Derby to be played in Toronto. The Montreal Impact featured players the class of Alessandro Nesta and Marco Di Vaio alongside the repatriated talents of Canadian Patrice Bernier. Were it not for injury Toronto FC side lining up against them would be captained by Torsten Frings. This evening the Vancouver Whitecaps have the chance to clinch a first ever MLS Cup playoff berth for a Canadian team. The Canadian Men’s National Team may have fallen humiliatingly short Tuesday in Honduras but, prior to that, they played home portion of their World Cup qualifying campaign in front of fiercely partisan crowds at BMO Field. Finally, after years of yearning, incremental steps, and the dedicated effort of a few committed individuals, home games for Canada actually feel like home games.
Back in 2007 there was, in some quarters, a frustration expressed that the story around Toronto FC nearly exclusively concentrated on their fans and that on field analysis seemed to take a back seat to what was happening in the stands. While we’ll never know how much that attitude contributed to the eventual problems TFC would face it now seems clear, looking back, that the fans really were the story. Toronto FC and their fans don’t deserve exclusive credit for what successes Canadian soccer has enjoyed over the past few years – the roots go deeper and were always far wider, as fans across the country will attest – but the catalyst moment that has ignited a soccer boom in Canada was that inaugural 2007 season. Where we are now, both good and bad, would not have been possible without the spirit that energized fans to celebrate a home draw in a largely miserable season like it was a league championship. Recollections of that time may be tinged with regret at what has been lost but that potential is still bearing fruit six years later.
If we’re all lucky, one day Montreal at Toronto on a Saturday afternoon in mid-October will be more than just a local rivalry. It’ll be a game that fans around the league feel the need to watch because of its relevance to the rest of MLS, not only the competing clubs’ supporters. Until then, it is what it is. That’s better than anything we had in Canadian soccer seven years ago even if it’s hard to remember that now.