

Posted by

Eric Anderton ,

February 23, 2015 Email

Eric Anderton



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@EricAnderton_

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For those who disregard and delete e-mails from Toronto FC without reading them, you may be unaware of the club’s open apology for missing the playoffs last season. In short, it read: “If Toronto FC lose 3 consecutive matches at BMO Field in 2015, all beer sold inside the stadium on match day will be half price until the next TFC victory at home.” If only, right? In all seriousness though, after a season where bloody big promises were marketed to sickening tedium and ultimately bitter disappointment, it begs the question: How is the club taking responsibility for what became of this season past? Alright, some new additions, and an incredibly expensive one at that, have been made to the squad. So what? That is the inherent purpose of a professional football club; to seek ways to strengthen the team from one season to the next. Tim Leiweke told us to “write it down” that Toronto FC would make the playoffs last year. That didn’t happen. Are we really supposed to just grab our scarves and head back down to BMO Field with more blind faith in the club? Until points are being put on the board more consistently, the fans are getting little in return for their dedication. Many supporters would probably argue that the club's priorities this off-season should be in strengthening the team. In my opinion though, player movement is (to an extent) irrelevant at this point. The club have built and dismantled teams so frequently, that it’s anyone’s guess which players will be remaining from the current squad when the BMO Field renovations are completed. It is at this time however, with shovels in the ground (thanks in part to Michael Bradley) that what BMO Field provides to supporters as a match day venue can be reevaluated. Herein lies the opportunity for the club to properly acknowledge the dwindling passion and respect in the stands. First and foremost, why not help out the minority crowd who seek to generate authentic atmosphere? Even if you put the general admission or safe-standing dreams on the back burner, there are still ways to help raise the decibels without the club being directly involved. Montreal came to town for our final game of the season in 2014 with a larger number of travelling fans than normal. The supporters’ section could have really kicked off that afternoon, but the distance between the home and away fans hindered any sort of interaction. If you’ve ever watched football abroad, you’ll know how electric the atmosphere can be near the supporter divide. Even if we’re just talking about 17 fans from Portland on an afternoon in July, bringing supporter banter side by side could be a surprising catalyst. From my understanding, sections 226 and 227 are places that are often used for group ticket sales. So by that logic, this was the only place for an expanded away section on that day against Montreal. We’re going to have a second tier on the east stand now though. What better chance to move the away section closer to the south end without disturbing existing season seat holders? Now what about the match day experience outside the ground? It’s pretty barren. Supporters and supporters groups have found places in and around Liberty Village to grab a pre-game pint or watch European games before an afternoon kickoff. In a way though, this is a response to the complete absence of genuine atmosphere outside BMO Field. Cross the pond to watch an English football match, and you’ll notice that the local pubs near the ground do often develop into special gathering places on match day. ‘Near the ground’ though means across the street. In Toronto, ours are far enough away that we can organize marches to the stadium. Something I’ve seen successfully implemented in the Netherlands, in places like Amsterdam with Ajax and Eindhoven with PSV, is the presence of a supporters’ pub outside the ground. Nothing overly fancy, the ones I mentioned come off more like a large shed than a pub. Imagine now, instead of the ‘Budweiser King Club’, a gathering place that isn’t commercialized or sanitized. No merchandise or semi-cheerleaders dancing on a stage sponsored by corporate partners; just drinks, tables, TVs, banners and flags. Since this is a supporters’ pub after all, perhaps actually let us use some of the profits towards supporter initiatives (tifos, choreographed flags or cards for mosaics, etc). Admittedly, the chances of seeing money from something that the club is involved with are very slim. There are also people who would resist this, perceiving it as ‘charity’ form the club. That said, I’d be more willing to pay the prices I do at concession stands if I knew some of it was going towards something meaningful. Now, for the more family-oriented crowd, perhaps open up BMO Field and the KIA Training Ground for scheduled tours once or twice a month. I’ve been invited to go behind the scenes at BMO Field once in the past. It’s not Wembley or Camp Nou, but it’s still my local team’s home. It could be great for some fans, young and old, to sit in the coach’s seat or check out the view from the press room. Especially with this fancy new stadium to come, I certainly could never afford to explore the corporate lounges on match day. Ultimately, the biggest club initiative for 2015 should be focused on showing respect to the fans. Acknowledge that promises fell through, but don’t just say “we’ll get ‘em next year”. Don’t wait for a superstar player or winning streak to fill the stadium on the back of a bandwagon. Give back to the supporters, but ensure to give us more than a winter hat branded with a corporate sponsor. Don’t make everything feel like a marketing initiative. Give us a club to be proud of, a club with humility that can admit to wrong doings. We are supporters, not customers. You can’t buy our love, but you can earn our respect back.