Obinna Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 http://www.kinggeorgev.ca/ Check it out if your interested. Set to open July 15th. (or so they say) To be honest, i'm pissed off that the stands are too far away from the field. But hey, another SSS in Canada is still good news. (especially at the site of Canada's historic WCQ victory over Honduras in 85) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 Why are the stands so far away? And will this be ready in a week? What does it look like now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masster Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 It says they have a national team game scheduled for 2006. What could that be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoyleG Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 Rugby in August: Canada v. USA RWCQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAS Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 A few months ago, I suggested having the MNT play more games there due to it's proximity to Europe, and nearly 100% Canadian population. I'm glad that they are upgrading the place, but I don't like the choice of FieldTurf, although I understand it, and I wish the plan was more ambitious. I don't know why the seating is so far away. A bit more money and a better plan could turn it into the perfect place for the MNT to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolando Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 quote:Originally posted by KAS A few months ago, I suggested having the MNT play more games there due to it's proximity to Europe, and nearly 100% Canadian population. While I agree that games in the Atlantic are a great idea, I think you're treading dangerous territory here, if only because you're missing the point that the vast majority of the people cheering for Canada's opposition (eg El Salvador, Brasil, jamaica) at MNT games are in fact Canadians as well. Immigrants. New Citizens. Second and third generation Canadians in some cases. Just not the kind of Canadians who like to cheer for Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted July 8, 2006 Author Share Posted July 8, 2006 quote:Originally posted by Daniel Why are the stands so far away? And will this be ready in a week? What does it look like now? Apparently the stands are already up. Right now they are installing the field turf. And i'm unsure if the T.V towers, soccer pavilion, and scoreboard are completed yet. According to www.nlsa.ca it does indeed open July 15th. I'll be checking it out then. quote:Originally posted by KAS A few months ago, I suggested having the MNT play more games there due to it's proximity to Europe, and nearly 100% Canadian population. I'm glad that they are upgrading the place, but I don't like the choice of FieldTurf, although I understand it, and I wish the plan was more ambitious. I don't know why the seating is so far away. A bit more money and a better plan could turn it into the perfect place for the MNT to play. I hear you. Bad for attracting MNT, good for the local soccer community. A while back it was mentioned in the paper that KGV would get the upgrades but remain a natural grass playing surface.(Quidi Vidi Lake has potential to flood, which could ruin the Fieldturf) Along with KGV upgrades, they were going to build a Fieldturf facility in another part of the city. Unfourtnatly...they found a way around their Quidi Vidi Lake problem. quote:Originally posted by Sigma The women's national team plays China twice at the stadium this summer. http://www.nlsa.ca/default.php?display=modNews&do=viewNews&nid=62&pageNum=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted July 8, 2006 Author Share Posted July 8, 2006 quote:Originally posted by nolando While I agree that games in the Atlantic are a great idea, I think you're treading dangerous territory here, if only because you're missing the point that the vast majority of the people cheering for Canada's opposition (eg El Salvador, Brasil, jamaica) at MNT games are in fact Canadians as well. Immigrants. New Citizens. Second and third generation Canadians in some cases. Just not the kind of Canadians who like to cheer for Canada. His point was that Newfoundlanders are exlusivley of British and Irish origin, therefore logic says that games against the likes of El Salvador, Brazil or Jamacia, (or any CONCACAF team) will undoubtedly be Pro-Canadian. But Canada vs Ireland? ... That's another story. I hope the CSA notices how advantagous this venue will be for the MNT during WCQ. - Proximinty to Europe (benifits our Euro-based players) - Hostile %100 Pro-Canadian crowds - Unfriendly climate for CONCACAF opponents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolando Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 quote:Originally posted by Obinna His point was that Newfoundlanders are exlusivley of British and Irish origin, therefore logic says that games against the likes of El Salvador, Brazil or Jamacia, (or any CONCACAF team) will undoubtedly be Pro-Canadian. But Canada vs Ireland? ... That's another story. I hope the CSA notices how advantagous this venue will be for the MNT during WCQ. - Proximinty to Europe (benifits our Euro-based players) - Hostile %100 Pro-Canadian crowds - Unfriendly climate for CONCACAF opponents Ok Obinna, now I'll call you out on your dangerous remark...are you equating being "100% Canadian" with being of British and Irish heritage? I doubt KAS wants those words put into his mouth. 100% PRO Canadian is one thing, but I think there is a not-so-implication in your post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 quote:Originally posted by nolando Ok Obinna, now I'll call you out on your dangerous remark...are you equating being "100% Canadian" with being of British and Irish heritage? I didn't read that at all in Obinna's post. It was stated that against CONCACAF competition, they'd get an overwhelmingly pro-Canadian crowd. He even qualified that by saying that against Ireland, it would be another story. This wasn't a G-Man or snowsoccer-type blatant xenophobic comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Man Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 "snowsoccer-type blatant xenophobic" hahahaha. What should worry all is that this SSS might take the U-20 WC final away from Toronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 quote:Originally posted by G-Man What should worry all is that this SSS might take the U-20 WC final away from Toronto. I'm shaking in my boots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOareaFan Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 I may have missed it on the web page....how many does this place hold? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loud Mouth Soup Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 But G-Man-they can't even support an AHL team, and that's Canada's game!!! OH NOOEEES!! /your trolling has become poor lately Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolando Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 quote:Originally posted by Rudi I didn't read that at all in Obinna's post. It was stated that against CONCACAF competition, they'd get an overwhelmingly pro-Canadian crowd. He even qualified that by saying that against Ireland, it would be another story. This wasn't a G-Man or snowsoccer-type blatant xenophobic comment. Rudi, I only bring it up because I think it highlights a couple of common misconceptions about Canadian soccer supporters, which by the way I am quite sure (from their previous posts) that KAS and Obinna don't share. One, like I mentioned in this thread, is that the away supporters are mostly foreigners or very recent immigrants. I think most of us who have talked to those "away" supporters know that the vast majority are in fact just as "100% Canadian" as the rest of us, our neighbours and our workmates. The other is that the best and most vocal supporters, and thus the most preferrable crowd, would necessarily be a group whose roots can be traced to Britain and Ireland. I think the biggest missing puzzle piece in solving the chronic lack of Canadian support for the MNT is intertwined with these two issues. Why have the States been able to bring ethnic groups into the fold of MNT support (and to their domestic league) so much better than we have in Canada? How did Australia, a country of comparable size and ethnic make-up to Canada, manage to have a single minority community (teh Croatian-Australians) so strongly behind their MNT, that they seemed to make-up the heritage of half the squad and half the people cheering in the stands (judging by the Croatian flags at the Uruguay game). What hasn't Canada, a country with so much in common with the like of Australia and the States, been able to tap into even a tenth of the same support for our own team? No answers here (as usual) but at least a few more questions... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hottoddy7 Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Ummm no offence but if they are cheering for the other team they are not 100% Canadian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 just gonna pitch a few out there, including a couple of responces to Nolando. Been on this board for about 4 years now and have been telling anyone who'd listen/read I think St.John's is the place for our MNT to play. Not the least reason being the mentioned proximity to Europe and the increased travel difficulty for our CONCACAF opponents. Both huge factors, there's no denying. All that was lacking was a suitable facitlity which would at least meet the minimuim requirments of FIFA. Doesn't have to be the prefered choice, just has to meet the minimium requirements. With the renovations of King George V this seems the case and thank Gawd it is. And sure, I'd say it corespondes with my experience that the decendents of immigrants from the British Isles are rarely found as supporting Central American or West Indie sides over say, Canada. Strange perhaps, but true. But that's just my experience, so if St. John's has a smaller latin immigrant population then much of the rest of Canada, all the better for our lads I'd say. We've got a few Yanks who frequient this board and I'm sure they'd dispute the claim that the USMNT has done a good, or at least better job, of bringing in their latin populations into the ranks of supporters. At least as supporters for the USMNT. I know Bruce Arena would. Don't know enough about Austrialia to comment too much but I'll guess if you broke down the numbers you'd find some pretty big differences between the ethnic populations of Australia and Canada, and most especially the number and types of recent immigrants (true or 1st generation) between Australia and Canada. As to the Croatians, I'm sure there's more to it, but the tragidy of Yugoslavia's civil war has been Australia's footballing boom. Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Feel free to shoot holes in my boats but I've not yet changed my mind about St. John's as THE venue for the MNT during WCQ, and will be glad when I'm forced to make that trip to see our lads play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoyleG Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 The players of Croatian desecent on the Australian team were born long before the civil strife in the region. Croatians used to go abroad to earn hard currency that would be sent home to their families, something that the other ethnic republics didn't have. This allowed Croatia in the pre-war era to have a standard of living higher than the average Yugoslav had. It also allowed them to finance the defence of their country and their recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Yugoslavia was the strongest economically of the communist countries but still not at western standard. It still had a secret police which if you didn't say anything wrong was not as severe as in many other communist countries but if you resisted the regime you were harshly dealth with. Many Croatians immigrated to Canada and particularly Australia as refugees. Yet the Croatian team has often had 3 to 4 Australians with Croatian parents who learned to play in Australia's excellent sports schools yet turned their back on the country that took their family in. We have one Hargreaves, Australia has several, Simunic being the most disgusting example. On the other hand there are also more honourable Croatians that play for Australia. The irony is that when Simunic chose Croatia, Croatia was a better team but now one would have to say Australia has surpassed Croatia and is on the rise while Croatia is on the decline. There are many problems in the Croatian Australian relationship and it is not the ideal presented here by some people. My opinion is if you are 100% Canadian you cheer for Canada before any other countries. I know immigrants who have been here one year and they cheer for Canada first regardless of which sport. Yet there are also people like Hargreaves who were born and raised here but will turn their back on Canada. If you cheer for Canada first you are 100% Canadian in my books whether you are black, brown or white and have been here for 1 year or all your life. If Canada is not your first choice you are not 100% Canadian even if your ancestors have been here for 300 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAS Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 I don't understand how a simple and obvious line in my first post could take this thread off course, but I will try to explain. This is a forum for Canadian soccer fans. When I was discussing KGV, I was evaluating it based on its' potential to host MNT games - both in terms of physical requirements, and giving the Canadian team a possible advantage. Obviously, fan support is a factor, and the "100% Canadian" refered to fan sentiment. I really don't care if the population is all Canadian-born or foreign-born, it's who they cheer for that matters. As someone who was born and raised around Toronto, I know that Canadian-born will often cheer for their parents/grandparents country of birth, just as some immigrants are hardcore Canadian. I have spent this World Cup giving a hard time (in a friendly way) to a Canadian-born from Portuguese parents who cheers for Portugal. My Mom's French-Canadian family has been here since the New France era, but my Dad was born and raised in Glasgow. Although he was smart enough to see Canada's advantages, he was always Scottish at heart and cheered for them in sports he didn't care too much about just as I will watch any sport when Canada is playing. Of course, since they rarely competed directly, my Dad was also able to support Canada. As others have noted, one of the advantages of KGV is that the people in St John's are more likely to support Canada than any other CONCACAF team. That is not something that can be said with any real confidence about some other Canadian cities, particularly Toronto. The Citizenship status and ethnicity of the crowd is irrelevent. It's all about giving the Canadian team the best chance of winning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolando Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Funny how nobody seems to comment on the little details I mentioned, like like the subtle connection between being of British ancestry and being 100% Canadian. Ah well...point missed. The CSA misses it too when they think that their target fans will always be those same white guys of British origin. Thought we might be able to discuss what we're really missing as a fan base. Grizz's comments sound a little like the drivel coming from the American right in the a rah rah kinda way that people shouldn't criticize their own country, or cheer for the other team even you see a longterm benefit in it for your own country (like leftie Americans hoping that more troops die in Iraq so that they close up shop for good, for the benefit of their own country, or like rooting for a quick exit in qualifying for Canada in order to see the CSA completely cleaned out, from top-to-bottom). Let's not get "American" patriotic. Perhaps 60,000 would come out to cheer Canada if we made it to the final few games of the hex (like Australia, let's say), but don't think for a minute that there won't be mostly people with "dual-citizenship" sitting in the stands, meaning people who passionately and regularly cheer for two countries (their ancestor's homeland, and their own country, for instance). Maybe we need to find a way to bring them on board too. Having said that, I have to admit that I do agree with Grizz's sentiment that the Scottish born, Canadian raised, educated, married, employed, etc guy should really be cheering for Canada wherever possible. And I do like your open interpretation of what it means to be 100% Canadian. If it takes playing in St. John's or Saskatoon or Hay River to fill the seats with a pro-Canadian crowd then let's play in those venues, and play in them often. Don't get me worng about that. Just be careful who you're calling a true Canadian, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Man Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 quote:Originally posted by Loud Mouth Soup But G-Man-they can't even support an AHL team, and that's Canada's game!!! OH NOOEEES!! /your trolling has become poor lately hey Toronto can't support a AHL team either...but maybe Newfoundland could support an NHL team.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 quote:Originally posted by nolando Why have the States been able to bring ethnic groups into the fold of MNT support (and to their domestic league) so much better than we have in Canada? How did Australia, a country of comparable size and ethnic make-up to Canada, manage to have a single minority community (teh Croatian-Australians) so strongly behind their MNT, that they seemed to make-up the heritage of half the squad and half the people cheering in the stands (judging by the Croatian flags at the Uruguay game). What hasn't Canada, a country with so much in common with the like of Australia and the States, been able to tap into even a tenth of the same support for our own team? I don't necessarily disagree with your other points, so I'll just respond to the above. The US still struggles with away support outnumbering home support in many cities. While the USSF has no problem playing Mexico in friendly matches in places such as LA, Houston, San Diego, etc., they've learned not to ever play a home WCQ against Mexico in those areas. The last two US-based hex matches against Mexico have been in Columbus, Ohio. The same goes for teams like Haiti, Jamaica, Guatemala, etc. You'll never see those teams take on the US in WCQ in major cities, but rather travelling to places like Birmingham, Raleigh, Seattle, Kanasa City, and Salt Lake. As for the Aussies, their culture is far more sport-oriented than ours. Australia has mandated sports into their culture through schooling and similar initiative, and as such has created a fircely proud nation that gets behind all of its national teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted July 10, 2006 Author Share Posted July 10, 2006 quote: Rudi, I only bring it up because I think it highlights a couple of common misconceptions about Canadian soccer supporters, which by the way I am quite sure (from their previous posts) that KAS and Obinna don't share. Stop being sure. My post was not implying that British ancestry equals being 100% Canadian. By looking too much into my post, you are observing "subtle connections" that do not exist. If you wan't people to respond to your comments, why not start a thread? That will be more effective instead of bringing up this issue on a thread which is called "SSS in Newfoundland". And By the way, I am an Africian Canadian of Nigerian origin and I am also %100 Canadian. You still might fail to see the point which everyone else obviously understands. If so, read Cheeta's comment, it is very true and summerizes the point quite well. quote:Originally posted by Cheeta immigrants from the British Isles are rarely found as supporting Central American or West Indie sides over say, Canada. Strange perhaps, but true. But that's just my experience, so if St. John's has a smaller latin immigrant population then much of the rest of Canada, all the better for our lads I'd say. quote:Originally posted by TOareaFan I may have missed it on the web page....how many does this place hold? The Telegram said seating capacity is 6,500 (10,000 including standers) Side note: People cram into King George for big games. During the 2002 National Challenge Cup Final, temporary bleachers held around 4,000 people, but the attendance estimates were closer to 10,000. People squeeze into this place anywhere they can. Standing up or sitting on the grass a few feet from the touchline, it didn't matter. People were even sitting on the roof of the change rooms, it was a Zoo. And that Zoo created an excellent atmosphere. I wonder if this will continue or will this venue become more professional by maxing attendence out at the official capacity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I don't think you're allowed to have that kind of seating (non-) regulation for official games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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