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FC Edmonton - Edmonton Supporters Group Discussion

ESG Shawn

By ESG Shawn
in Canadian Teams & Leagues

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Trillium Newbie

Trillium

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Well... the inaugural meeting of the "Edmonton Supporters Group" went pretty well. When I got there, RiverCity and Carl_Valentine were already working on our first banner. As expected our group was small... there was basically 6 of us at the beginning of the match. After a bit of a rocky start we started to find a bit of a groove and things went much better in the second half. Somehow one of the ball-boys moms ended up sitting in our section and thought RiverCity was going to get us arrested for yelling at the ref... <sigh> we've got a long way to go...

Still, not bad for a first time out. We had fun anyway. By the end of the match our ranks had swelled to 12 people (not counting the soccer mom) and included CMT player, Eddy Sidra. Nice of the players to give us a bit of a nod at the end.

The game itself was fun... final score 3-0 Edmonton FC. The Montreal keeper was red-carded right near the end of the game for handling the ball out of the box.

Don't go all machismo.. if you have a soccer mom sit with you .. explain things, teach.. encourage... some fo the best torcida groups in brasil are the one's with strong female presence...

Usuallly they have diffferent tee.. shirt and cartoon logo.. along the lines of superwoman etc.. its fun and its makes it better.. dont look down on your soccer mom.. encourage her to come out to see the games on her own .....with her soccer mom friends no-husbands and no kids...

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TFCRegina Newbie

TFCRegina

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Well... the inaugural meeting of the "Edmonton Supporters Group" went pretty well. When I got there, RiverCity and Carl_Valentine were already working on our first banner. As expected our group was small... there was basically 6 of us at the beginning of the match. After a bit of a rocky start we started to find a bit of a groove and things went much better in the second half. Somehow one of the ball-boys moms ended up sitting in our section and thought RiverCity was going to get us arrested for yelling at the ref... <sigh> we've got a long way to go...

Still, not bad for a first time out. We had fun anyway. By the end of the match our ranks had swelled to 12 people (not counting the soccer mom) and included CMT player, Eddy Sidra. Nice of the players to give us a bit of a nod at the end.

The game itself was fun... final score 3-0 Edmonton FC. The Montreal keeper was red-carded right near the end of the game for handling the ball out of the box.

Good to see the supporters group doubled in a single game! :D

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strobe_z Newbie

strobe_z

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Don't go all machismo.. if you have a soccer mom sit with you .. explain things, teach.. encourage... some fo the best torcida groups in brasil are the one's with strong female presence...

We did have some female presence in our section, but I'm not sure where the soccer mom thought she was. She asked us if the club was paying us (we probably did look a little corporate actually because the only shirts available were the same ones the staff had... but it was nice of the club to give us something), and she also told us not to taunt Colo-Colo when the team bus pulled up (they came to check out the "competition", but only stayed the first half... guess the 5 of us heckling them chased them off).

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strobe_z Newbie

strobe_z

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It was a good time. Being at Foote Field did bring back some sad and painful memories of the Aviators, but I will say that FC Edmonton seemed to go out of their way to make sure the fans were happy. It was quite a welcoming environment. My biggest complaint is really just the pitch. The grid iron lines confuse me and my first though upon seeing it up close was "I wonder how many artificial christmas trees died to make this thing?" We couldn't set up our "supporters area" behind the nets because there's a rule about setting up stuff in the End Zones... and the hills behind them were a LOOOOONG way away from the action.

For a first time out it went alright. We were a bit ambitious IMHO in the first half trying to engage the crowd... Sergio was asked to put his whistle back in his pocket because it was interfering with the game whistle. The beginning of the match was so quite (minus the six of us in the corner with the drums...) I was sure we could've had a conversation with the people in the far stands in a normal talking voice. Still, I think I had more fun last night than ANY of the Aviators games I went to (with the possible exception of the night we scored almost our only goal of the "season" on a penalty against Montreal).

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gkhs Contributor

gkhs

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Thanks for the pics. There really isn't any soccer field capable of welcoming 2k people in Edmonton?

+1 on this question.

Is there not a grass pitch with a small stand right next to Foote Field?

(Apologies if there isn't one...there's a limit to what one can tell from Google Map's Satellite images.)

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strobe_z Newbie

strobe_z

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I found some pictures from last nights match, and our very own River City makes an appearance in one of the pictures. http://www.pbase.com/tracyk/2010_06_16_fcedmonton_soccer

Nice of them to take a picture of Sergio with his switch blade out...

As for the stadium issue... no there's no real other choice of soccer stadium. The grass side of Foote Field only has seats for about 1000 people and the field is short and has no soccer lines on it as is. I've sat on both sides at a soccer match and as shocking as it sounds, the grid iron side is the lesser of two evils.

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jloome Newbie

jloome

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Nice of them to take a picture of Sergio with his switch blade out...

As for the stadium issue... no there's no real other choice of soccer stadium. The grass side of Foote Field only has seats for about 1000 people and the field is short and has no soccer lines on it as is. I've sat on both sides at a soccer match and as shocking as it sounds, the grid iron side is the lesser of two evils.

Atmospherically, Clark is much nicer. The front of the park actually feels like a proper park. The stands are insufficient, but that has to be addressed in either place. Plus, Clark has way better parking and just-as-good LRT access, as well as being close to poorer neighbourhoods that appreciate cheaper tickets.

And long-term, both sites have enough room to convert to a proper park, if Tom could negotiate the required renovations with the city or university. The eskimos have two other practice fields, so they can't really complain (although they have major pull and would doubtless cause headaches.)

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rico Newbie

rico

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Hey did we think of a name for the supporter group? Also Global, CTV, and CBC was there and videos? At general admission section CBC was filming and interviewing but i think CTV left not sure what Global did

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Grizzly Newbie

Grizzly

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Atmospherically, Clark is much nicer. The front of the park actually feels like a proper park. The stands are insufficient, but that has to be addressed in either place. Plus, Clark has way better parking and just-as-good LRT access, as well as being close to poorer neighbourhoods that appreciate cheaper tickets.

And long-term, both sites have enough room to convert to a proper park, if Tom could negotiate the required renovations with the city or university. The eskimos have two other practice fields, so they can't really complain (although they have major pull and would doubtless cause headaches.)

Yes looks like a terrible stadium. It also seems like it might be hard to get the University to modify it properly because to get a decent soccer stadium they would either have to convert the football stadium or the track and field stadium. By looking at satellite of Clarke Stadium it also seems to have two pitches both of which seem easier to convert to a proper soccer stadium. They really need to put some effort into getting a proper stadium built because it will be hard to get people out to matches or look professional in a stadium like Foote Field.

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strobe_z Newbie

strobe_z

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Hey did we think of a name for the supporter group? Also Global, CTV, and CBC was there and videos? At general admission section CBC was filming and interviewing but i think CTV left not sure what Global did

Both CTV and Global had late nigh news clips on the game... unfortunately for some reason, Global has editted all the sports out of their News Late Night web archive... (is it because they can only show clips the day of the games for news purposes?) I couldn't find a link to CTV's video online either. I didn't check CBC 'cause they didn't have a late night news broadcast.

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strobe_z Newbie

strobe_z

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I was wondering if the supporter group is going to try to get together for the colo-colo game I want to go but not sure if the co-workers are going or not

We are... not sure about the details just yet. There was some talk of meeting up at the End Zone pub down by Commonwealth stadium (it's right across the street) first. Just out of curiosity... you can't go to the game unless your co-workers do?

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strobe_z Newbie

strobe_z

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I've got a suggestion, bring your co-workers TO the supporters section :D

Seriously, anyone is welcome. The only rule is that you have to yell loud and proud. No sitting on your hands. Even if your co-workers don't come, you won't be alone.

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Johnnie Monster Newbie

Johnnie Monster

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Hey guys,

Just wanted to wish you well on behalf of the Southsiders. It's not that long ago that we were just 7 or 8 guys standing behind the net, with the rest of the stadium wondering what the hell we were doing.

Division 2 is a tough sell, and some snobs will thumb their noses at what you are trying to do because it's not "big league." Screw 'em. Football is football, and a proper supporter cheers the best available to him. If you guys lead by example, others will join in sooner or later.

One word of advice: If the club isn't producing scarves in a timely manner, get busy on ordering your own, even if it's something generic that just says "Edmonton". That way you can sell to the moms and kiddies who wouldn't necessarily be joining your group.

We made the mistake of waiting for years while the Whitecaps (under former owner David Stadnyk) completely dicked us around. We got fed up and sorted it out ourselves.

We presently deal with Ruffneck Scarves. The smallest order batch you can do is 75, and then you have the option of having them produced in Europe (5 weeks turnaround) or China (8 weeks turnaround, but they often throw in extras for free). Unit price comes to about $12.50 each, and the quality is excellent. You should have no problem selling them for $20 a piece.

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