Blixtein
Active Member
Yup, we just beat the champions 1-0. Another crazy night at the stadium and Saturday can't come fast enough.
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Official Toronto FC Thread
- Thread starter Jarrek
- Start date
EnviroTO
Senior Member
It was another exciting game to watch. They have seriously improved since the first couple of games. I'm surprised the stadium had 19,000+ in attendance because I expected the rain to keep some season ticket holders home. I only hope this long home stint prepares them enough to win a few on the road.
Friends of mine that bought seasons tix to Toronto FC (hey Jarrek - you've got snaps of some of them in your USector pix) could not care less about the Leafs. This is not a one-horse town.
42
ShonTron
Moderator
Member Bio
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- Ward 13 - Toronto Centre
There certainly were not 19,000 in the stands, though that was the announced turnout. The rain and cold must have been pretty bad - and the enforcement of an umbrella ban was very tight, according to the Star's account here.
But the fans sure seem dedicated.
gbelan
Active Member
i say there was 15,000 for sure.i had my rain poncho but still got soaked.anyways after the game we went to shoeless joes at king+dufferin
were our awesome keeper and fellow canadian Greg Sutton showed up and enjoyed some pints and wings.the bar was hoppin!
were our awesome keeper and fellow canadian Greg Sutton showed up and enjoyed some pints and wings.the bar was hoppin!
Pep'rJack
Active Member
.
No way to treat soccer fanatics
Brollies not allowed and shelter scarce
May 17, 2007
by Dave Feschuk
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/214904
As soccer fans walked through the gates for last night's Toronto FC game against the Houston Dynamo, they were greeted by steady rain and persistent wind and a depressing mid-May thermometer reading of 8 C.
And then they got the truly cruel news: umbrellas were banned.
So anyone who brought one – i.e. anyone with a brain – had to either go home or stand in line to have theirs checked. It was no joke and there were no exceptions. And, yes, apparently there was a no-umbrella rule inscribed in the microscopic fine print on the back of the tickets – stacks of which, by the way, were being hawked at half price by scalpers outside.
It's a measure of the enduring civility of our society that most fans stood patiently (clinging to their umbrellas until the last possible moment) as they waited five or 10 minutes to give up their sightline-obscuring contraband. Nobody was happy about it and when word got out that the souvenir kiosks were sold out of $15 red rain ponchos, nobody got happier. (One employee said there was an inventory of fewer than 300 of the sought-after raingear.)
But such is the ridiculousness of Canada's national soccer stadium, a bargain-basement construction of concrete and galvanized metal that, even as a month-old hulk, recalls some of this planet's finest shanty towns.
There's not a sliver of shelter from spring storms or summer sun in the place, save for the line of luxury boxes on the West grandstand. The only other covered seats in the stadium mostly needed to be wiped clean of the work of wayward marksmen in the mercifully heated washrooms.
The proprietors obviously don't mind their fans soaked. Drunken revelry is one of the raisons d'être of the game's devotees; the beer company that's heavily invested here has a slogan that dubs its suds as "Part of the Game." At $6.25 for 14 ounces, it's the profitable part.
Still, the club sent its drinkers – er, season-ticket holders – a tone-it-down email in the wake of Saturday's first win, when police filled up a takeaway vehicle with presumably drunk-ish delinquents on a day when the field was showered with the giveaway seat cushions, an intervention that struck at least one man as excessive.
"S---, I've been hit with golf balls," said Mo Johnston, the Toronto FC coach who played professionally in his native Scotland. "I got hit by a (meat) pie in Celtic Park. And I was playing for Celtic.
"Where I come from, a Rangers-Celtic game" (with its inherent Protestant-Catholic tensions) "now that's dangerous."
In other words, Hogtown's now home to faux-Euro hooligans to go with the local club's faux-British logo and the field's faux-British food, specifically the chip butty, the signature as-in-England delicacy that amounts to French fries on white bread.
Those aren't inherently bad developments. Conn Smythe has never been awakened from his subterranean sleep by the corporate meetings known as Leafs games. (Although as exotic artery-clogging indulgences from the U.K. go, it says here the deep-fried Mars bar would have been a bigger hit.)
The fans who stuck around last night – and there were thousands of empty seats among the announced sellout of 19,132 – were to be admired. They were either die-hard soccer nuts or, like, totally hammered. But Toronto FC is marketing itself as fun for the whole family and the atmosphere might not be suitable for young'uns. Last night, unless the kids brought awfully good rain coats, the place was a common cold in the making. (Clearly a couple of canopies – in the finest corrugated tin, no doubt – would have cut into the proprietors' profit margin too deeply.)
Alas, there's nothing dry about BMO Field. The cutoff for beer sales was posted as the 75th minute. But by the 90th minute of a 1-0 win, neither the beer taps nor the rain had stopped. As a measure of the enduring civility of our society, only a couple of left-over seat cushions and some red and white streamers littered the pitch when the home team scored the winner.
.
No way to treat soccer fanatics
Brollies not allowed and shelter scarce
May 17, 2007
by Dave Feschuk
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/214904
As soccer fans walked through the gates for last night's Toronto FC game against the Houston Dynamo, they were greeted by steady rain and persistent wind and a depressing mid-May thermometer reading of 8 C.
And then they got the truly cruel news: umbrellas were banned.
So anyone who brought one – i.e. anyone with a brain – had to either go home or stand in line to have theirs checked. It was no joke and there were no exceptions. And, yes, apparently there was a no-umbrella rule inscribed in the microscopic fine print on the back of the tickets – stacks of which, by the way, were being hawked at half price by scalpers outside.
It's a measure of the enduring civility of our society that most fans stood patiently (clinging to their umbrellas until the last possible moment) as they waited five or 10 minutes to give up their sightline-obscuring contraband. Nobody was happy about it and when word got out that the souvenir kiosks were sold out of $15 red rain ponchos, nobody got happier. (One employee said there was an inventory of fewer than 300 of the sought-after raingear.)
But such is the ridiculousness of Canada's national soccer stadium, a bargain-basement construction of concrete and galvanized metal that, even as a month-old hulk, recalls some of this planet's finest shanty towns.
There's not a sliver of shelter from spring storms or summer sun in the place, save for the line of luxury boxes on the West grandstand. The only other covered seats in the stadium mostly needed to be wiped clean of the work of wayward marksmen in the mercifully heated washrooms.
The proprietors obviously don't mind their fans soaked. Drunken revelry is one of the raisons d'être of the game's devotees; the beer company that's heavily invested here has a slogan that dubs its suds as "Part of the Game." At $6.25 for 14 ounces, it's the profitable part.
Still, the club sent its drinkers – er, season-ticket holders – a tone-it-down email in the wake of Saturday's first win, when police filled up a takeaway vehicle with presumably drunk-ish delinquents on a day when the field was showered with the giveaway seat cushions, an intervention that struck at least one man as excessive.
"S---, I've been hit with golf balls," said Mo Johnston, the Toronto FC coach who played professionally in his native Scotland. "I got hit by a (meat) pie in Celtic Park. And I was playing for Celtic.
"Where I come from, a Rangers-Celtic game" (with its inherent Protestant-Catholic tensions) "now that's dangerous."
In other words, Hogtown's now home to faux-Euro hooligans to go with the local club's faux-British logo and the field's faux-British food, specifically the chip butty, the signature as-in-England delicacy that amounts to French fries on white bread.
Those aren't inherently bad developments. Conn Smythe has never been awakened from his subterranean sleep by the corporate meetings known as Leafs games. (Although as exotic artery-clogging indulgences from the U.K. go, it says here the deep-fried Mars bar would have been a bigger hit.)
The fans who stuck around last night – and there were thousands of empty seats among the announced sellout of 19,132 – were to be admired. They were either die-hard soccer nuts or, like, totally hammered. But Toronto FC is marketing itself as fun for the whole family and the atmosphere might not be suitable for young'uns. Last night, unless the kids brought awfully good rain coats, the place was a common cold in the making. (Clearly a couple of canopies – in the finest corrugated tin, no doubt – would have cut into the proprietors' profit margin too deeply.)
Alas, there's nothing dry about BMO Field. The cutoff for beer sales was posted as the 75th minute. But by the 90th minute of a 1-0 win, neither the beer taps nor the rain had stopped. As a measure of the enduring civility of our society, only a couple of left-over seat cushions and some red and white streamers littered the pitch when the home team scored the winner.
.
Jarrek
Active Member
Well, it was pretty close:
What I noticed, is that as the game went on, more people filled the stands.
There were also hundreds of people in the Carlsberg Beer Stands.
ganjavih
Senior Member
Wow, that's dedication. Looks like Toronto really is a footie town...
Tuscani01
Senior Member
Nice, not even the rain dampened the atmosphere. It looks like TFC may be building up its own loyal fanbase. The recent wins are certainly helping them too.
gbelan
Active Member
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Let me know if this the wrong place to post this; from the Globe:
Falling debris forces emergency repairs at BMO Field
PETER MALLETT
Globe and Mail Update
A senior Toronto FC official confirmed Thursday that the team is making emergency repairs to BMO Field because bolts and fasteners have fallen from the new stadium during games.
The stadium operator and team owner, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, insists the facility is safe and that inspections and repairs will be fully completed ahead of Saturday's game between Toronto FC and D.C. United. A fourth consecutive capacity crowd is expected.
“It is a big concern for us and the grandstand builder was very quick to jump on the problems and we are assuming that the problem has now been rectified and there won't be a reoccurrence,” MLSE executive vice-president of operations Bob Hunter said.
“In the last two days they have gone through and checked every connection and added additional locking [nuts]. During Wednesday night's game there were no more reports of falling debris. We expect to continue to put these locking bolts on and that work will be finished before Saturday's game.”
A vew from the bleachers of BMO Field before the first game played there between Toronto FC and Kansas City Wizards in Toronto April 28, 2007.
All three Toronto FC games at the new stadium have been sellouts, and the fans have quickly gained a reputation for their boisterous, passionate support for the new team. Fans have been stomping on the all-metal floors of the stadium and some reports say this has caused material to fall.
“We have found a total of six objects which fans have turned in to stadium staff,” Hunter said.
“We initially thought [the bolts] were not tightened well enough and could have shaken loose from the vibrations caused by rowdy fans, but they could also have been left over construction materials sitting in the rafters or support beams or a combination of both.”
Two witnesses told The Globe and Mail Thursday that they saw large metal bolts -- believed to be four to six centimetres in length -- falling from the grandstand and onto the concourse below during games at the $72-million BMO Field during games.
Telephone calls to grandstand builder Dant Clayton in Louisville, Ky., and city building inspectors were not immediately returned.
The stadium is owned by the City of Toronto. MLSE is the stadium manager and operates the facility on behalf of Exhibition Place and the City of Toronto.
One senior television executive who requested anonymity said one of his guests in a private box on the west side of BMO Field narrowly missed being struck in the head by a large metal object.
He said the guest, Queen's Park Rangers midfielder Steve Lomas, was shaken by the near-hit during last Saturday's game between Toronto FC and the Chicago Fire.
“My guest was white as a ghost when he returned to our private box and said the object whizzed right past his head,” he said.
All three Toronto FC matches at the new 20,000-seat facility have drawn capacity crowds, as did an under-20 exhibition match between Canada and Argentina last Friday. Television play-by-play commentators have often remarked how the entire stadium vibrates and shakes when rowdy fans jump and stomp on the upper deck of the stadium.
Another witness picked up a grey bolt near the top of the stairs in the lower west grandstand directly below the upper deck during the under-20 match.
Both individuals who found the fallen objects turned them in to stadium security staff.
Hunter said the bolts were first noticed on the concourse by fans on the east and south sides of the stadium during Toronto FC's opening game on April 28 against Kansas City, and some loose construction material was found in the grandstand underbelly by inspectors.
However, more reports of objects falling to the ground last weekend prompted MLSE and the stadium constructor to do a more thorough inspection.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At this rate, we might just need a new stadium for popularity and safety reasons...
AoD
Falling debris forces emergency repairs at BMO Field
PETER MALLETT
Globe and Mail Update
A senior Toronto FC official confirmed Thursday that the team is making emergency repairs to BMO Field because bolts and fasteners have fallen from the new stadium during games.
The stadium operator and team owner, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, insists the facility is safe and that inspections and repairs will be fully completed ahead of Saturday's game between Toronto FC and D.C. United. A fourth consecutive capacity crowd is expected.
“It is a big concern for us and the grandstand builder was very quick to jump on the problems and we are assuming that the problem has now been rectified and there won't be a reoccurrence,” MLSE executive vice-president of operations Bob Hunter said.
“In the last two days they have gone through and checked every connection and added additional locking [nuts]. During Wednesday night's game there were no more reports of falling debris. We expect to continue to put these locking bolts on and that work will be finished before Saturday's game.”
A vew from the bleachers of BMO Field before the first game played there between Toronto FC and Kansas City Wizards in Toronto April 28, 2007.
All three Toronto FC games at the new stadium have been sellouts, and the fans have quickly gained a reputation for their boisterous, passionate support for the new team. Fans have been stomping on the all-metal floors of the stadium and some reports say this has caused material to fall.
“We have found a total of six objects which fans have turned in to stadium staff,” Hunter said.
“We initially thought [the bolts] were not tightened well enough and could have shaken loose from the vibrations caused by rowdy fans, but they could also have been left over construction materials sitting in the rafters or support beams or a combination of both.”
Two witnesses told The Globe and Mail Thursday that they saw large metal bolts -- believed to be four to six centimetres in length -- falling from the grandstand and onto the concourse below during games at the $72-million BMO Field during games.
Telephone calls to grandstand builder Dant Clayton in Louisville, Ky., and city building inspectors were not immediately returned.
The stadium is owned by the City of Toronto. MLSE is the stadium manager and operates the facility on behalf of Exhibition Place and the City of Toronto.
One senior television executive who requested anonymity said one of his guests in a private box on the west side of BMO Field narrowly missed being struck in the head by a large metal object.
He said the guest, Queen's Park Rangers midfielder Steve Lomas, was shaken by the near-hit during last Saturday's game between Toronto FC and the Chicago Fire.
“My guest was white as a ghost when he returned to our private box and said the object whizzed right past his head,” he said.
All three Toronto FC matches at the new 20,000-seat facility have drawn capacity crowds, as did an under-20 exhibition match between Canada and Argentina last Friday. Television play-by-play commentators have often remarked how the entire stadium vibrates and shakes when rowdy fans jump and stomp on the upper deck of the stadium.
Another witness picked up a grey bolt near the top of the stairs in the lower west grandstand directly below the upper deck during the under-20 match.
Both individuals who found the fallen objects turned them in to stadium security staff.
Hunter said the bolts were first noticed on the concourse by fans on the east and south sides of the stadium during Toronto FC's opening game on April 28 against Kansas City, and some loose construction material was found in the grandstand underbelly by inspectors.
However, more reports of objects falling to the ground last weekend prompted MLSE and the stadium constructor to do a more thorough inspection.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At this rate, we might just need a new stadium for popularity and safety reasons...
AoD
Tuscani01
Senior Member
Yup! Construction should start ASAP... Lets tear down the island airport and build the stadium there. Then we can finally get that bridge we have been waiting for. (pedestrian of course)
MetroMan
Senior Member
That pub was packed! Thumbs up to Sutton for showing up although I don't think he got to eat much.. lol
I think that BMO Field and Toronto FC will become an incentive to locate pubs at the CNE grounds. King St. isn't that far, but a pub located in one of the CNE buildings would be better.
I'd love to see the EX grounds become a more integral part of the city and TorontoFC and BMO Field seem to have become a facilitator of that vision.
I think that BMO Field and Toronto FC will become an incentive to locate pubs at the CNE grounds. King St. isn't that far, but a pub located in one of the CNE buildings would be better.
I'd love to see the EX grounds become a more integral part of the city and TorontoFC and BMO Field seem to have become a facilitator of that vision.
Jayomatic
Active Member
Hopefully this will bring more great pubs to that area of town. Perhaps some future tenants for waterpark city. Would be great to see lakeshore or fleet street become this grand avenue with all sorts of pubs and patios.
wyliepoon
Senior Member
Seems like every building with BMO's name on it is falling apart these days...