Disposition of Ownership Groups in CanPL

[Levi Oakey]

2 hours ago, rob.notenboom said:

That's interesting. What are they getting wrong, exactly?

To be honest, it's hard to tell. Some of us think more direct connection to the community would help. They feel like United met with people interested in starting support and then expected that group to do all the ground work (Forsyth's Machine). So they expected us to be the group to go shake peoples hands and tell them about United. It's not unreasonable but so far it hasn't happened.

To be fair to United they can only control so much in a rented facility and on an amateur budget. Although Barry McLean is from KW, he is also an international sports agent, so he is frequently out doing deals. Gill Heidary is the heart of the team and looks after the players like son's. But she also lives in Burlington and doesn't, from my experience, have a deep connection to the local community. The players love playing for United and we have had some players come back and live in the area. So that will help spread the word. We just haven't got the fan response we were all expecting.

[-Hammer-]

9 hours ago, theaub said:

fwiw, I don't think what Giovinco said about the pitch is any different than what we hear in other North American sports.  I found links of similar for baseball, hockey (more hockey) (even more hockey) and football (x2) with two seconds of google searching.  Let's not make it like this is some European thing.  Hell Jozy said the same thing, just worded a little more indirectly.

Shockingly, it becomes an issue when the media decides to make it an issue because they know they'll get the #CONTENT hits for any Argos/TFC issue.

 

Some of your links are a bit unfair, some aren't. One of them, no player actually said anything, it was a report someone in the media raised and everyone basically said nothing about it after meeting about it in house. Three of them, the players qualify their remarks by saying "Yeah, it wasn't ideal but conditions happen, it is why we did/started to do X, Y and Z." which Giovinco did not say. One of them was a legit complaint about overused turf that had a long history of visiting franchises complaining (something I've yet to see any outside team mention about BMO) potentially causing concussions. One of them however is completely fair and the player should have gotten derided for his comments, save that it got lost in the wash because of some objectionable reffing calls.
 

Fully agree, this isn't a "European" thing or a "North American" culture thing. I know Germany has had to deal with Russian artificial turf pitches and have said "Yeah, it's different but we're just going to need to make a few adjustments over the next few days, but after that, it's no big deal"

[Tuscan]

On 12/14/2016 at 8:07 PM, -Hammer- said:

I get if the place is a mud pit, or a weed field sure

Only in Jamaica do they play in the weed field

[-Hammer-]

On 12/15/2016 at 1:39 AM, GuillermoDelQuarto said:

Yea.  I mean I feel for them.  It must be irritating.  Just wish they wouldn't take it out on soccer fans, which I feel they often tend to. 

I do wish they would just adopt NFL rules and play some crossover games every once in a while, but I'm not really much of an NFL or CFL fan to be honest, and I guess the NFL has nothing to gain from this anyways.

Although I'm starting to find a soft spot for the ticats

He's the real truth of it Guillermo. There is some justified hate between the Toronto soccer community and the Argonauts with how BMO has shaken out. I don't know what it's like in other cities, but there is real rancor in Toronto between the two sports fans, and it gets fed all the time from both sides who take shots at each other, every opportunity they get with no signs of ever even trying to cooperate or tolerate the other. Outside the GTA though, I don't think it's as big an issue in my experience.

I can't speak for out west (having never been) nor Montreal, but in Hamilton at least, I know a large number of Battalion members are Ti-Cat season ticket holders too, or are at least occasional game goers to the Ti-Cats. My experience in Ottawa has pretty much been the same, with the Fury and the RedBlacks. As far as I could tell, most people I've met are all pleased or neutral to the RedBlacks and the sport with how it's come back in Ottawa. That said, having the same owner likely plays a big part in that.

[Kent]

On 29/12/2016 at 11:24 PM, -Hammer- said:

He's the real truth of it Guillermo. There is some justified hate between the Toronto soccer community and the Argonauts with how BMO has shaken out. I don't know what it's like in other cities, but there is real rancor in Toronto between the two sports fans, and it gets fed all the time from both sides who take shots at each other, every opportunity they get with no signs of ever even trying to cooperate or tolerate the other. Outside the GTA though, I don't think it's as big an issue in my experience.

I can't speak for out west (having never been) nor Montreal, but in Hamilton at least, I know a large number of Battalion members are Ti-Cat season ticket holders too, or are at least occasional game goers to the Ti-Cats. My experience in Ottawa has pretty much been the same, with the Fury and the RedBlacks. As far as I could tell, most people I've met are all pleased or neutral to the RedBlacks and the sport with how it's come back in Ottawa. That said, having the same owner likely plays a big part in that.

I think another thing is the difference between a soccer team coming in to a CFL stadium with artificial turf, vs a CFL team coming into a soccer stadium with natural grass.

Hopefully after having a season with a good quality field with both tenants behind us now, the Argo and TFC fans can learn to live with each other... at least until TFC decides to change from red to blue.