Friday June 8 was a happy day for the hardcore Canadian soccer support (essentially, if you’re reading this you’re probably part of it). A 1-0 victory over Cuba to kickstart the third round of World Cup qualifying. Too bad barely 50,000 other Canadians decided to share in that happiness by watching the match on Sportsnet. A lot of Canadians were watching soccer that day: an average audience of 395,000 took in either Greece versus Poland or Czech Republic versus Russia on TSN. Two days later 1-million plus Canadians watched Spain draw Italy on Sunday afternoon.
Soccer is popular in Canada. And while television audiences for the domestic club game are starting to impress, the national mens’ team barely blips on the nation’s collective radar. The team is, relatively speaking, not good. That’s the easiest explanation as to why few people care about it. But what if the issue didn’t lie entirely with the on-field product? Or more accurately, what if it had something to do with the opposition. Because when it comes to international soccer, Canada has no enemies.
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In Simon Kuper’s thoroughly enjoyable piece from the latest issue of The Blizzard he talks about how old-school tribalism driven by fallout from both World Wars drove support for international football in Europe during the latter half of the twentieth century. In brief, everybody hated Germany and football replaced war as an outlet for nationalist aggression.
But let’s take that beyond just everyone hating Germany. Almost every European country dislikes another for some reason. Many of them completely preposterous. Hundreds of years living side by side will do this to people. As I watched the Czech Republic battle Poland over the weekend I couldn’t help think back a decade to when I was on a university-ish exchange in Prague. At one point I visited a Czech friend’s village near the Polish border. Well into the night after dinner was done, his father leaned in unsteadily and assured me that the Poles a stone’s throw away couldn’t be trusted because they don’t wash under their fingernails.
The same situation exists in South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Years piled upon years of conflict and festering resentment exist almost any place you point on a map. Any one country could encounter several foes in a World Cup qualifying campaign with which it has a litany of historical grievances. That’s the stuff Kuper says inflamed popular support. Concacaf is something of an exception.
Mexico and most Central American and Caribbean countries have plenty of historical animosity toward the U.S., even if most Americans are indifferent. But I don’t think Latin Americans spend much time thinking about Canada, and vice-versa. The only real ‘enemy’ Canada has on the international sporting landscape is the U.S. (and perhaps Russia when it comes to hockey).
Back to Cuba and Canada on a Friday afternoon. Cuba exists in the Canadian consciousness as romantic notions about a beret-sporting, beard-growing Che Guevara seducing women in the jungle. Or as a booze-soaked holiday destination to be enjoyed with constant low-grade food poisoning. It’s not imagery that makes you excited about your soccer team kicking the shit out of theirs.
And looking ahead, how would the average Canadian sports fan work up hatred toward Panama? There’s no history; there’s no animosity. There’s barely an ability to locate on a map. My colleague Squizz has made a laudable effort to villainize Honduras, but beyond a hardy band of supporters what Canadian would bleed red streaks of patriotic passion at the idea of eleven compatriots going to battle in San Pedro Sula?
Judging by the television viewing numbers, Canadians are much more interested in watching other countries sort their grudges on a football pitch. I suppose it makes sense when you have no grudges of your own. That said, you can’t really compare Euro 2012 viewing numbers to those for the third round of Concacaf qualifying. The Euros are an event, like the Super Bowl or American Idol. The vast majority of Canadians watching soccer on TSN won’t think about it again for another two years come July 2.
Perhaps when it comes to the opening rounds of Concacaf qualifying Canadian supporters should content themselves to maintain what they’ve already achieved. As long as there are a handful of cities where Canada can consistently expect between 8,000 to 10,000 boisterous supporters, its home matches will no longer feel like away fixtures. The games will be largely ignored, but hopefully more often won. ‘The Hex’ and its higher stakes may bring more attention. At the very least it would bring the U.S. in a seriously competitive fixture, the one country whom it shouldn’t be hard to hype.
Kuper also writes about the new transnationalism of international soccer support. It's more about the party atmosphere now. So many people are migrating to so many different places that supporting more than one national team is the new normal. Some people may scoff at that idea (I personally don’t get it), but Kuper gently reminds us that the entire construct of nationalism itself is only 200 years old. It may never happen that Canadians will watch Canada play in obscure Concacaf matches because they really wanna beat the other team, but they might eventually watch because they enjoy soccer, their team is competitive and it represents the place they live.
Photo from Flickr user cartoonist2006