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Steve Sandor: Don’t turn your back on Canada’s team


Grizzly

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^I'm glad the dutch lost, as they were the adopted team of all the chachis who don't give a crap about canadian soccer(at least, that was the case in Calgary, can't speak for other parts of the country). I wore my whitecaps jersey to the bar for the netherlands/uruguay game and was sad to see it was the only blue shirt there.

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^I'm glad the dutch lost, as they were the adopted team of all the chachis who don't give a crap about canadian soccer(at least, that was the case in Calgary, can't speak for other parts of the country). I wore my whitecaps jersey to the bar for the netherlands/uruguay game and was sad to see it was the only blue shirt there.

Yeah, nothing worse than Chochballs.

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Great to see this kind of coverage from the Toronto Sun after years of reading snide anti-soccer comments from the likes of Steve Simmons. The one thing people maybe need to keep in mind is that soccer does not appeal to the same demographics as hockey. It is skewed very heavily towards recent immigrants in the larger cities and will probably continue to be for the next few decades. It should go without saying that if you choose to become a citizen or were born and grew up in Canada there is something seriously bizarre about not supporting the CMNT if you are a soccer fan (with three sets of MLS team season ticket holders getting first crack at tickets for home games from now on we are moving into a new era on that) but expecting people to completely turn off their emotions about the land of their birth or recent heritage like a light switch takes things a step too far in the other direction especially in a society that emphasizes multiculturalism rather than the melting pot.

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No problem, I had a bit of an over reaction to some Dutch fans that booed me in my Canada jersey on Sunday.

I do regret it. Mostly.

You gotta be ****ting me. There is no OVER REACTION to people booing a Canada jersey inside Canada. Fawtly Towers aside, I think the war would have come up if I had been there.

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Great to see this kind of coverage from the Toronto Sun after years of reading snide anti-soccer comments from the likes of Steve Simmons. The one thing people maybe need to keep in mind is that soccer does not appeal to the same demographics as hockey. It is skewed very heavily towards recent immigrants in the larger cities and will probably continue to be for the next few decades.

....

True, but maybe a bit incomplete.

It's been my experience (and maybe Winnipeg's isolation plays a part in this) is that the most encouraging part of being a long time footie fan is seeing the HUGE amount of casual interest in soccer amongst "domestic" Canadians. Including some of those amongst the ranks of the traditional N.A. sporting types.

I have long felt the way forward for growing Canadian soccer is tapping into this casual, and not entirely uneducated/ignorant soccer crowd, more so than trying to convert the more entrenched ethnic supporters (although I admit I can sometimes be amazed by an "immigrant" fans guilty knowledge of Canadian internationals).

And every major event reinforces my opinion. Never thought I'd see the day but if we aren't there yet it's coming. Canada is legitimately fertile ground for commercial soccer.

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I have long felt the way forward for growing Canadian soccer is tapping into this casual, and not entirely uneducated/ignorant soccer crowd, more so than trying to convert the more entrenched ethnic supporters (although I admit I can sometimes be amazed by an "immigrant" fans guilty knowledge of Canadian internationals).

I think the TFC experience has demonstrated that it doesn't have to be an either/or scenario and that high quality pro level soccer like MLS can pull in a crowd based on word of mouth as much as anything else. MLSE didn't have to do a huge amount of marketing where TFC were concerned because the latent interest in the sport was already there. Until recently following the fortunes of the CMNT has been a case of swimming against the tide regardless of your background but the pieces are now in place for that to change in a big way over the coming decade. Hopefully the CSA gets its act together sufficiently for a major sea change to happen during this qualification cycle, but even if they don't it should all unfold in the build up to 2018 pretty much regardless of what they do because having three MLS teams regularly broadcast on basic cable and regularly playing in front of crowds of over 20,000 is going to make soccer an integral part of the sports landscape that can no longer be dismissed as something strange and foreign.

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Three teams in Canada playing in the MLS will only help the growth of the game and hopefully will result in player development for the CMNT. It is not only necessary that games from the Canadian MLS teams be broadcast to a national audience, but they should also visit other Canadian cities for friendlies against other MLS teams and/or matches against high level local amateur teams. Teams from all levels of our national program should be encouraged to travel across Canada. With all the excitement over the WC, the CSA should seize the opportunity to extend the game into all parts of the country.

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Three teams in Canada playing in the MLS will only help the growth of the game and hopefully will result in player development for the CMNT. It is not only necessary that games from the Canadian MLS teams be broadcast to a national audience, but they should also visit other Canadian cities for friendlies against other MLS teams and/or matches against high level local amateur teams. Teams from all levels of our national program should be encouraged to travel across Canada. With all the excitement over the WC, the CSA should seize the opportunity to extend the game into all parts of the country.

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