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Impact and Whitecaps supporters pubs?


Guest Doyle

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We at Some Canadian Guys Writing About Soccer (www.canadiansoccerblog.ca) are looking to slap together a comprehensive list of Canadian Soccer pubs. We're trying to focus on Canadian soccer, so TFC, Impact, Whitecaps, MNT – that kind of thing. (Less interested in where groups of old Italian men congregate to watch the Roma v Napoli.)

That said, because none of us live in Montreal or Vancouver, we need help sussing out what the good supporters pubs are. Any help would be much appreciated.

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by masster

Vancouver = none

Not nice, not nice. He wasn't asking for pubs that turn off EPL and only show the USL Friday night game!

But I'll let the more serious pub crawlers amongst the Van fans to come out with it, despite the claim to a scorched earth in lotus land.

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When it comes to pubs, Vancouver's supporters have had it tough throughout the Swangard era. There are no venues within stumbling distance of the stadium that would allow us to meet for pre/post match bevvies on game day. We've more or less stuck with pre-game tailgates for the past few years, hoping to make the best of it until we move downtown.

This year the club launched a "pub sponsor" program, and one of the goals was to give the fans options for places to gather to watch Vancouver's away matches, whether it was televised or just a USL Live feed.

We rotated through about a half dozen pubs or so, and we were grateful for the opportunities.... problem is, most of our away matches are played on eastern time. That means mid-week tilts v. Montreal, Rochester, Charleston, PR, etc are usually right in the middle of Vancouver's work / business hours. The best turnouts for away matches were on weekends, because more people were off work.

I will say this though - Doolin's Pub bought 10 VIP season tickets last year and damn near used them all. Good on them for supporting the club that way.

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When it comes to pubs, Vancouver's supporters have had it tough throughout the Swangard era. There are no venues within stumbling distance of the stadium that would allow us to meet for pre/post match bevvies on game day. We've more or less stuck with pre-game tailgates for the past few years, hoping to make the best of it until we move downtown.

This year the club launched a "pub sponsor" program, and one of the goals was to give the fans options for places to gather to watch Vancouver's away matches, whether it was televised or just a USL Live feed.

We rotated through about a half dozen pubs or so, and we were grateful for the opportunities.... problem is, most of our away matches are played on eastern time. That means mid-week tilts v. Montreal, Rochester, Charleston, PR, etc are usually right in the middle of Vancouver's work / business hours. The best turnouts for away matches were on weekends, because more people were off work.

I will say this though - Doolin's Pub bought 10 VIP season tickets last year and damn near used them all. Good on them for supporting the club that way.

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I think being accomodating to supporters and being a Canadian Soccer Pub are 2 different things. I can't think of one bar/pub in the entire city that would show a Whitecaps game on FSWC or a TFC game or MLS game if we were not there asking them to change the channel.

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Ironic that you bring this up on the same day as the Whitecaps announce this:

http://www.whitecapsfc.com/archive/feature12100901.aspx

To help create awareness of the contest, 200,000 coasters will be in circulation in 33 Vancouver pubs - primarily downtown, with Commercial Drive and Westside Vancouver also targeted. In addition, posters will be displayed at each location.

“We’ve targeted soccer-style pubs and other sports bars in the Vancouver area during the busy holiday season, with something that doesn’t make a holiday gift suggestion – a breath of fresh air, we hope,” said Whitecaps director of marketing and communications Kim Jackman. “The waitlist gives fans a chance to make sure they don’t miss out when the public on-sale opens, and the contest is an extra incentive to act now.”

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Were Kerfoot to be given the green light to build the Waterfront Stadium, I'm sure that a few new bars/pubs would sprout up along Water Street in Gastown. These pubs would owe their existence to the stadium and the club, so would likely be very soccer-friendly. Alas, our city is run by a bunch of frigg whits and we've been held hostage by a bunch of whiny, self-interested twats for many years.

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The closest official* bar to Swangard is The Great Bear Pub which is about 3.5 km away. http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=175-5665+Kingsway&sll=49.238,-122.985592&sspn=0.057161,0.152607&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=5665+Kingsway,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia&ll=49.22595,-122.994175&spn=0.029989,0.076303&t=h&z=14

* Official meaning they are one of the officially pubs on the Caps Card (which gives you a discount)

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quote:Originally posted by masster

If you look back a year or two prior to the arrival of TFC in Toronto, would you have classified any Toronto bars as 'Canadian Soccer Pubs'?

There were definitely a few. The Duke of Gloucester and Scallywags come instantly to mind, and those bars have been around seemingly forever. Yes, their main business was focused on the EPL crowd, but they always gave Canadian matches equal billing whenever they were on.

The Duke is now the U-Sector's away game/winter home, and TFC/Canada games now take precedence over everything else there.

Your point is valid though, there are definitely more "soccer friendly" bars here than pre-TFC. Some, like "The Football Factory" at Bathurst/Queen, seem like they were built to cater specifically to the TFC crowd.

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There are no real pubs in Vancouver. There are restaurants that act as pubs but very few actual pubs. A few pubs downtown that cater to the tourist market such as Doolins and lessor extent Irish Heather but no pubs outside the downtown core that are true pubs where locals from young to older gather. You find restaurants that allow drinking and may have a bar area within their restaurant.

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