Match Thread: July 10, 2022 - Valour v HFX Wanderers

[gwsmith63]

25 minutes ago, K Edgar said:

Akio makes it to the BBC!!!

https://www.bbc.com/sport/av/football/62127436

At least the pertinent information is given; League, teams and player. 

[jonovision]

Other than during last year's bubble in Winnipeg, where attendance was prohibited and then restricted, there has not really been a time where Valour have gone on a decent run. This current 3 game win streak is probably their longest aside from then. I think, to a point, if they continue to pick up results the crowds will follow.

[K Edgar]

 

[PegCityCam]

11 minutes ago, jonovision said:

Other than during last year's bubble in Winnipeg, where attendance was prohibited and then restricted, there has not really been a time where Valour have gone on a decent run. This current 3 game win streak is probably their longest aside from then. I think, to a point, if they continue to pick up results the crowds will follow.

Win streaks are nice but their quality on the pitch since AJB's return has been what's drawn me back to being interested again. Wins are always going to draw but the more attacking, pace-driven style and improvement in defensive organization is what people really want to see. Valour has had many more chances to score and have been much more easy on the eyes for the last 3 matches. Again, wins will always bring crowds but winning aside, the product is what will keep them coming. Good on Akio for taking his lumps and onesoccer for being proactive in spinning this towards the positive side of things.

[K Edgar]

[Cheeta]

What I REALLY want to know is how smug of a grin is Jenkins wearing around the office today.

Especially, you know, whenever he gets anywhere near Wheeler.  Hoooo boy!

 

[Bison44]

Was Wheeler sticking it to Valour again??

[jonovision]

4 minutes ago, Bison44 said:

Was Wheeler sticking it to Valour again??

Wheeler will just be mad that ten times as many people will have watched this clip and heard Jenkins' call than have ever heard him say "O Canada, oh baby!"

[m-g-williams]

1 hour ago, PegCityCam said:

Biggest crowd by 500 I'd say. People forget that half the lower bowl af IG is at least 10K in seating (maybe even 11?). So a crowd of 3 to 4K looks tiny, especially when many hang around in the concourse like you said. My guess for this game would have to be 3.5 to 3.7K. True summer months, "nice" weather and free beer for supporters i hear? 

I forget the origin of the quotation (I want to say Lord of the Rings?), but this seems like a "too little butter spread over too much bread" situation. Is there any talk of limiting the number of sections opened in the lower bowl for Valour matches so the crowd is more concentrated?

We've been doing this at Lansdowne for Atletico, and even just blocking off an extra two sections on either end really helps create a more intimate atmosphere. For matches where the ticket sales warrant opening them up further, then you can always do so.

I love the work being done by Red River Rising in the Trench, but having them so far away from the rest of the crowd just seems to be counterproductive. 

[Bison44]

Unless things have changed this season, but they used to only open up half the sections, ie one side.  They opened up both when they had big crowds (8-10k+ in the first year).  When I was 2 sections over from the trench, we got involved in the chants and had a couple kids with horns leading the noise back at them...they didnt seem far away and you could hear them all over the stadium.  

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

43 minutes ago, K Edgar said:

If he'd used his left foot it was a literal tap in. Using his right foot from that distance in that sort of way defies easy explanation in decision making terms. I've seen players facing the goal send shots over the bar from amazingly close in and greedy players stop the ball from going in and then proceed to miss but never anything quite like that where he was striking the ball that hard completely the wrong way if he wanted it to cross the line.  

[Wippersuna]

Valour blocks off one side of the stadium. They have 16 total sections actually opened, but it's probably still a couple too many. I sit in the second from the end on one side (opposite the Trench), and the areas around me are usually fairly empty. I also feel like with the numbers in the Trench having gone down fairly significantly, moving them in towards the middle would go a long way. That said, it might also feel even smaller due to everyone crammed together? Either way, the big stadium isn't optimal but it is what it is.

I will say though that, as someone who goes to every match, the crowd yesterday seemed significantly larger. I'd be surprised if it was only 500 over the normal crowd. Probably much closer to 1000 unless I'm crazy (which I will be now that I've typed this).

Edited July 11, 2022 by Wippersuna

[PegCityCam]

1 hour ago, m-g-williams said:

I forget the origin of the quotation (I want to say Lord of the Rings?), but this seems like a "too little butter spread over too much bread" situation. Is there any talk of limiting the number of sections opened in the lower bowl for Valour matches so the crowd is more concentrated?

We've been doing this at Lansdowne for Atletico, and even just blocking off an extra two sections on either end really helps create a more intimate atmosphere. For matches where the ticket sales warrant opening them up further, then you can always do so.

I love the work being done by Red River Rising in the Trench, but having them so far away from the rest of the crowd just seems to be counterproductive. 

A yes, Bilbo Baggins the old gaffer having tea with Gandalf🧙‍♂️. Not sure to your question but if they can push it to 5K I think it would start to look and sound pretty decent. PDS was quoted as saying how much the crowd helped and that it looked to him to be the best crowd of the season. So if he's making comments like that with a crowd of not even 4K I don't think it would take many more fans to make things respectable. The product now speaks for itself and with a playoff push and some more local promotion I believe it can happen. 

Edit @Wippersunais probably right about the 1K bump. Not crazy👍...I did say 500 more than their best to be fair 🙃

Edited July 11, 2022 by PegCityCam

[jonovision]

25 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

If he'd used his left foot it was a literal tap in. 

I remember a Marco Bustos gaffe from his Valour Days where he also basically cleared a ball of the opposing goal line because he's so inept with his right foot. I'd love to find that clip but can't remember the opponent.

[jonovision]

14 minutes ago, Wippersuna said:

I will say though that, as someone who goes to every match, the crowd yesterday seemed significantly larger. I'd be surprised if it was only 500 over the normal crowd. Probably much closer to 1000 unless I'm crazy (which I will be now that I've typed this).

https://valourfc.canpl.ca/home-match-5050/

If 50/50 proceeds can be taken as a useful proxy for butts in seats, it will be the biggest crowd by some margin.

I'd like to say that one solution to making the crowds denser in such a large stadium would be to make the seating area shorter instead of narrower. Tarp off the top 10 rows of each of the sections currently sold. But I don't think WFC wants to bother with tarping or paying staff to tarp, and it is nice to have those back sections available to sit in for summer afternoon games like yesterday.

The best solution, of course, is to have more people at the games.

[red card]

Armen also said the biggest benefit is that it builds relationship. Davies with B/R. And this one for the first time, ESPN FC got in touch.

 

[johnyb]

2 minutes ago, red card said:

Armen also said the biggest benefit is that it builds relationship. Davies with B/R. And this one for the first time, ESPN FC got in touch.

 

Not really sure how it works, but doesn't Twitter "pay" OneSoccer some kind of commission for the amount of traffic they draw? 

[PegCityCam]

10 minutes ago, johnyb said:

Not really sure how it works, but doesn't Twitter "pay" OneSoccer some kind of commission for the amount of traffic they draw? 

*CSB

[SpursFlu]

Video blew up in Brazil 

Reaction seems to be a mix of match fixing and Canadians don't even have a basic understanding of the sport lol

I believe all publicity is good publicity in this instance. Who cares

Edited July 11, 2022 by SpursFlu

[Soccerpro2]

2 hours ago, jonovision said:

https://valourfc.canpl.ca/home-match-5050/

If 50/50 proceeds can be taken as a useful proxy for butts in seats, it will be the biggest crowd by some margin.

I'd like to say that one solution to making the crowds denser in such a large stadium would be to make the seating area shorter instead of narrower. Tarp off the top 10 rows of each of the sections currently sold. But I don't think WFC wants to bother with tarping or paying staff to tarp, and it is nice to have those back sections available to sit in for summer afternoon games like yesterday.

The best solution, of course, is to have more people at the games.

I agree regarding the Crown size. It was much bigger than I've experienced all season.

 

I don't want sections tarped, I'd prefer to have no one sitting directly behind or in front of me. I doubt I'm alone in feeling that way.

[Aird25]

2 hours ago, johnyb said:

Not really sure how it works, but doesn't Twitter "pay" OneSoccer some kind of commission for the amount of traffic they draw? 

I'm skeptical this league relies on revenue from social media to survive, but I admittedly have absolutely no idea how profitable it might actually be

[m-g-williams]

10 hours ago, jonovision said:

For me, there's nothing more suspicious about yesterday's moment and something like this: 

 

No claims of match fixing in the comments. Shit happens.

Agreed. It was a dumb mistake, but that's all it was. 

The notion of match-fixing here doesn't hold much water. Valour still won the match in the end, so Akio would have had no motivation to clear the ball if a Valour win was the intended outcome from the start. If there was some other nefarious reason for the goal not to go in at that point in the match, then certainly no one told Oxner, Riggi or anyone with One Soccer based on their flabbergasted reactions (even Akio looked pretty dejected after that). And after the match-fixing scandal of CSL 2.0 in the 2000s, methinks folks with the CPL would be smart enough not to go that route. 

Sometimes shit just happens.

[PegCityCam]

Akio's gaffe was the "inspiration" to Jay Onrait's Top 10 "What Were Ya Thinkin?!" this evening 🤣😭😑

 

[jonovision]

20 hours ago, PegCityCam said:

Biggest crowd by 500 I'd say. People forget that half the lower bowl af IG is at least 10K in seating (maybe even 11?). So a crowd of 3 to 4K looks tiny, especially when many hang around in the concourse like you said. My guess for this game would have to be 3.5 to 3.7K. True summer months, "nice" weather and free beer for supporters i hear? 

Official attendance from CanPL site given as 3607. Nice work! Biggest crowd by 400. Do you spend all 90 minutes counting spectators?

[PegCityCam]

58 minutes ago, jonovision said:

Official attendance from CanPL site given as 3607. Nice work! Biggest crowd by 400. Do you spend all 90 minutes counting 

Have really been working on my people-counting skills because, ya know,