With AFTN having moved under the <i>Canadian Soccer News</i> umbrella now, we felt it was the ideal opportunity to look at the issue of whether Whitecaps fans are more interested in the Canadian or the Cascadian rivalries, and do they have their priorities right?
It might not be a burning question for everyone, but I feel it’s a good discussion to have and we’ll be looking at both sides in a three part series this month, with some fans who have strong feelings on both sides sharing their viewpoints.
A few weeks back I was talking to a Toronto based friend and we were chewing the fat about AFTN’s switch to CSN.
“That’ll be good for you to have the banter with your fellow Canadian fans” he said, going on to add “Your abuse is bound to be good for the rivalries!”.
He was somewhat astounded when I told him that a lot of Whitecaps fans don’t really give two hoots about the Canadian rivalries when it comes to MLS, only when the Voyageurs Cup is involved.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
I’m pretty sure that the feeling is mutual with Toronto, and now Montreal, supporters.
We care very little about them. They care very little about us. Toronto and Montreal have each other to hate, and TFC has had the intense rivalry with Columbus stoking their fires the last few years. All of which takes the edge off the Vancouver games a little.
Major League Soccer clearly thinks otherwise.
With Vancouver hosting Montreal for their 2012 First Kick on March 10th, it’s the second consecutive year that the Caps will be opening their MLS campaign against Canadian opposition.
It’s certainly not a forced rivalry. There will always be added spice to games when Canadian pride is on the line, but how much further does it go than that?
Sure, we want to see both teams lose and fail to make the playoffs. You do that with your rivals. I want them to crash out of the Champions League at the earliest opportunity. Screw all that “they’re doing it for Canada” crap.
For many supporters, that’s as far as it goes and the real animosity is reserved for Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers.
Members of supporters’ groups may love the Cascadian games, but there are also a lot of people who just don’t care about Cascadia. To them, it’s just another visiting American team for the Caps to try and beat and it’s the Canadian ones that matter.
It’s a strange one, and opinion is clearly split, but Canada needs intense rivalries between all three of our MLS teams for the game to continue to flourish and grab more attention of the casual fan.
Personally, I do feel that I should “hate” Toronto and Montreal solely because they are both in the same league and the same country as me. I would probably be putting out the bunting for the street party if Montreal were to bite the dust and go out of business mind you! We have history after all.
That’s my Scottish upbringing. Those kind of feelings towards your footballing rivals is instilled in you from a very early age, where local tribalism always wins the day. There’s not a lot of love for anyone that isn’t your own team.
These feelings are not as deep rooted amongst the general football fan in Vancouver, if they even exist at all, and a lot of that comes from the diverse ethnic nature of the city. It would be very interesting (to me at least!) to find out how many regular Whitecaps fans are ‘homegrowns’, and born in Canada, and how many are football loving ex-pats.
For those Canadians that have come from a traditional hockey background, there is a lot more interest in their eastern cousins.
A lot of that comes from those that hate Toronto and all she stands for. Justifiable centre of the universe loathing or jealous chip on the shoulder?
As a non Canadian, the cities of Toronto and Montreal mean as little to me as New York and Boston.
I don’t hate TFC just because they come from Toronto. That’s just foolish. There’s so many other reasons to despise and mock them. I certainly don’t hate the city. It was the first place I ever went overseas and I’m a longtime Leafs fan (can’t be accused of being a gloryhunter there!).
Both cities though are far removed from my own life in terms of culture and lifestyle, not to mention on the other side of the country.
I find it hard to get too het up about cities and teams that are thousands of miles away from me and if I want to shout abuse at them I have to hop on a plane.
I’m used to hopping in my car every week, making a short drive to wherever and following my black and gold heroes of East Fife across Scotland. I still find it hard that I can’t do that with the Caps, but it has led to my love for watching the PDL, U18 and U16 guys to fill the gaps instead. And that’s been very rewarding to a lover of lower league football like myself.
It’s as a result of such travel logistics that AFTN, and many other Vancouverites, feel a lot more affinity towards the cities, people and lifestyles of the laid back towns and cities in Washington and Oregon.
If you looked around Empire Field and BC Place last season, especially in the Southside, sure you saw the odd Maple Leaf flag, but Cascadia flags were in abundance.
At the Man City friendly in July, the Southsiders had a huge <i>“Welcome To Cascadia”</i> banner. All season long they sold Cascadia flags and Cascadia flag patches, which many fans sewed onto their replica kits in addition to their Maple Leaf patch.
I'm proud to own a Cascadia scarf and have a Cascadia flag pin adorning my Southsiders scarf.
Some won’t feel such an affinity with a region that exists more as a mindset than a reality, but some, like myself, really identify with the ethos behind the <i>Republic of Cascadia</i>.
If I could only go to BC Place to watch two MLS games all season, the Sounders and Timbers would be my opposition of choice. That said, if I was to pick from ANY two games in a season, it would be the two Voyageur Cup games.
They mean more to me than the regular MLS season. There’s your Canadian pride right there.
That might not be a good thing, especially if we want to grow the game countrywide. The League games <i>should</i> matter just as much.
I would love more deep-seated hostilities amongst the Canadian teams and fans. It can only benefit the sport here. Any current lack of that is one of the downfalls from playing in a continent-wide North American league, coupled with the vast expanse of Canada.
Vancouver does have the pure, unadulterated ‘hatred’ towards Montreal Impact embedded in some of their support, after various souring shenanigans in the last few years, and for me, that’s a good base to try and build up the Canadian rivalries.
Long term Whitecaps fans are a bit sick to the back teeth of playing the Quebecois. We’ve seemingly played them endlessly these last few years, and not with the greatest amount of success either. That in itself just leads to agitation.
But I love it. We need games with a real heat in them like this and I’ll tell you why.
Vancouver fans may not like to admit this, but whether it is the Cascadian or the Canadian rivalry, the Whitecaps are the outsiders. Sure we get to play with the toys when we visit our cousin, but it’s a bit grudgingly.
Portland and Seattle have a longstanding dislike of each other. So do Toronto and Montreal.
With all four cities, this goes way beyond football. This is intense city rivalries.
You cannot understand the scale of the hatred Portlanders feel towards their northern rivals until you pay a visit to the city and talk to them about it. It honestly blew me away when I first went there.
Whether we like it or not, if you took Vancouver out of the Cascadian or Canadian equation, it wouldn’t affect the intensity of the remaining matches one iota.
If anything, Vancouver needs a more local rival solely of our own, like a MLS team in Edmonton, Calgary or Victoria. It’s not going to happen any time soon, but the Whitecaps would greatly benefit from it.
Football thrives on animosity.
Hate in football is not a bad thing. It’s not a bad word, as long as it’s tempered. If anything, it can be used a major factor for growth if marketed fully.
And that’s where the fans have a big part to play.
It should always be remembered that we don't hate our rival fans. It's the teams. Football fans in North America are a small enough minority without turning on each other. That's important.
For me, football has always been about good natured pre and post match drinks and banter, but 90 minutes of intense dislike sandwiched inbetween.
If we want the Canadian rivalries to grow, we need to stoke the fires a little online, in the media and with tifos and chants.
Of course, maybe we don’t want that. What say you?
* * * * * *
<u>Coming Up:</u>
Canada v Cascadia - The Maple Leaf Forever
Canada v Cascadia - Vive La Republique
<p>