Seattle’s Invasion And The Lessons To Be Learned

We’d love to move on from Saturday’s defeat to Seattle. We really would.

Actually, we’d love to just move on to the end of the season.

Before we can do either though, there’s a point of much discussion which we’d like to address – namely, the Southsiders at Empire Field on Saturday evening.

A number of people have been critical of how the Southsiders were outsung by the ECS and Seattle fans and their performance on the night.

As a long time Southsiders, I’m not even to begin to sugar coat it. We were outsung in our own house by one of our fiercest rivals. Seattle’s fans owned Empire last weekend.

It’s not an uncommon thing in football though for the away support to be loud, boisterous and obnoxious as hell, and often they are much more vocal than the home supporters.

There is no doubt that the Southsiders heads went down during the game. The players have admitted that their’s did, so why should the fans be any different? Some will argue that it is the supporters group job to keep the support up for the full ninety minutes.

I disagree.

There are not many Leagues around the world where the supporters are cranked up to ten for the whole game. Coming from the UK, the singing, chanting and TIFO displays that we have here far exceed what I’m used to. It’s a welcome change but it doesn’t mean we have to be non stop.

Vocal support also has to be earned as far as I’m concerned.

The performance by the players on the pitch shapes the performance of the supporters off it and let’s be totally frank here, the performance of Whitecaps fans this season has been far better than the results, and at times efforts, from the team.

We had a lesser display against Seattle. So what? Deal with it people and let’s make sure that we don’t repeat it on Sunday against Portland.

I know that when the penalty went in, I was deflated and by the time the third goal crashed into the back of Joe Cannon’s net, I was pretty disheartened and could hardly muster up a chant for the rest of the match.

I also didn’t applaud the players off the pitch, as I didn’t think they deserved it. If you think that makes me a bad supporter then get a reality check. We’re not here to show blind faith. We need something back in return. We shouldn’t be sheep.

The atmosphere on Saturday and the noise from the Seattle support wasn’t helped by whichever brainiac at the front office decided to put the ECS under a fucking roof right beside the broadcast booth to amplify their noise both in the stadium and for the viewers at home. At least at BC Place we’re all going to be under a roof if it’s closed.

Watching TSN’s coverage, all you could hear was the Seattle fans. The fact that the Canadian station kept showing the American fans also didn’t help.

In the stadium, when we were singing, we couldn’t hear the ECS. Unfortunately, the rest of the stadium couldn’t hear us either for most of the game, only them.

People have complained about Seattle fans in amongst the Vancouver support. Who do you blame for that? The front office?

Frankly, I blame the Vancouver public who let Seattle fans get these tickets because they couldn’t be arsed going themselves or getting of their asses soon enough to buy them. You can’t blame the Club for selling tickets to whoever wants to buy them. The only exception should be no away supporters in the home team’s supporters section at any of the three team’s stadiums.

If you were a Seattle fan and not a member of ECS or Gorilla FC, then you weren’t going to get a ticket to the match, so you only had one other option. You can’t blame loyal Seattle fans for wanting to watch their team. If the situation was in reverse, I’d most certainly be buying a ticket amongst the Seattle support if that was the only way I was going to see the game.

Hopefully this will alert the Caps FO to the huge demand from down south and allocate a bigger section at BC Place for travelling support. Season ticket logistics may not make this possible though and having them placed in the upper tier above home supporters should be an immediate no-no. As usual with the Caps, the contingancy plan may not be in place.

The whole 500 away fans allocation and how it is handled needs to be seriously reviewed and revised for next season, but that’s an article for another day.

On Sunday, the vastly less obnoxious of the US Cascadians come a calling.

A lot of work has gone behind the scenes this week to try and get the Southside rocking and to create an atmosphere to be proud of at our new home.

Admittedly part of that was due to the fact that there was another ticketing fuck up. We haven’t reported this yet as it could actually work out as a benefit for the Southside, so we’ll see how things pan out on Sunday.

There are problems within the Southside with regards to creating an atmosphere.

We’re hoping that the move to BC Place will iron out some of these and the Caps seem to be a lot more receptive of ways forward involving Capos and megaphones, now that their shackles of the PNE have been removed.

The Southsiders now have four games to see what needs to worked upon next season but it should not all be up to this supporters group to build the right atmospheree at Caps game.

EVERY supporter is responsible.

There were a lot of comments from non Southsiders after Saturday’s game saying we didn’t bring it.

In case people didn’t notice, the Southsiders are not some performance artistes that you are paying your money to see. You want a better atmosphere, then play your part in getting it.

Not everyone wants to stand and sing. We fully accept that. We all support the Caps in our own way. Keep supporting them the way you are comfortable with.

Just make sure you do it and bring the noise and passion.

To nick a Canucks slogan, remember, WE ARE ALL WHITECAPS.

Vancouver’s Qwest For The Cup Begins Tomorrow

In the Kingdom of the Blind, the one eyed man is king.

In the Kingdom of the Bland, the Sounders front office are getting their paranoid draconian measures in place for tomorrow’s Cascadia Cup clash and members of Seattle’s ECS are getting hard ons at the thought of how much bigger and better their tifo display will be compared to ours.

That’ll show them pesky Canadians.

It’s amazing what a week travelling up the California and Oregon coasts can do to revive and refresh.

As I sit here in Rockaway Beach, the noise of the waves crashing into the unspoilt sandy Oregonian beach is a good backdrop for writing this pre match preamble. The Salt Lake debacle is almost forgotten. Almost.

My anger and jadedness at the display at Rio Tinto has been replaced by excitement and enthusiasm for the Caps first MLS encounter at Qwest Field tomorrow. I’m so looking forward to the match. The Southsiders and other travelling Vancouver hordes are really up for the game.

Let’s just hope the players are.

For if they can’t rise to the occasion of a Cascadia derby clash, where it’s not just points but pride on the line, then frankly they shouldn’t be a Whitecap and I don’t want them at the Club a minute longer.

Going in to the game, I don’t expect too much after watching the last two away games up close and personal. I would probably be very happy with a point tomorrow. Three would just make the perfect ending to a great vacation following the Caps.

What I want to see most of all though is some pride, some passion and total commitment from every single player that takes the field in a Whitecaps jersey tomorrow evening.

There is no place to hide and those that do will not be tolerated. I can accept defeat, not gracefully, but I will accept it, but only if we’ve had a proper go.

For weeks I’ve felt that we just haven’t got the breaks. That we have a great squad but one that just hasn’t quite risen to the occasion yet and when they do, boy, watch us go.

The last two games have made me re-evaluate these thoughts. Do we indeed just have a very below average squad and we’re where we should be? Let’s have the players prove that wrong in the next few games and most of all starting tomorrow.

Those Cascadia MLS followers that are expecting another barnstormer both on and off the pitch, like the recent Timbers visit to Qwest, may be a little disappointed tomorrow.

The ECS will bitch post-game that we’re no match for their tifo displays, are a disgrace to the fan culture blah blah blah.

Here’s the news now guys so you can start your wankfest super early – we will not be anything like the Timbers Army were down at Qwest.

You try getting all your shit into Empire, let alone over the border, in September, then we’ll talk.

It doesn’t help that the ticket allocation for the game have been farcical here in Vancouver. There’s not really too much need to retread old watery ground with this, but when you have tickets allocated willy nilly and families interspersed with Southsiders, it’s not going to make for the best atmosphere we could have generated.

I still have this dread that my seat is going to be surrounded by families telling me not to swear and to sit down. I’ve found very little Southsiders with seats anywhere near me.

The sensible thing would have been to put certain rows and a section aside for those that want to stand and scream and those that don’t. Sensibility and the Vancouver FO don’t make happy bedfellows of course.

We’ll enjoy ourselves anyway and make some noise for the boys, but it has the potential to look like a shit show.

Then we have the paranoid androids in the Seattle FO.

So we all meet up at 5.30, enter via a specific gate, stand around inside the stadium for two hours and then be held back for 30-45 minutes post game. Oh and whilst you’re at it, don’t even think of talking to any Sounders fans whilst you’re there.

I think I’ve been transported to China or at the very best, 1980’s England.

Of course, the Sounders FO have that sword hanging over us of do what we say or you won’t get tickets next year.

To them, I say fuck you.

Most of us will do as you ask, but take away the ticket allocation and you’ll have a bigger problem on your hands next year as we all head down and buy tickets in amongst the Sounders support.

I say most of us because when you have so many of us travelling via trains, planes and automobiles independently, you can’t herd that. Cars will break down. Public transport will be late. Border line ups will be horrendous. You also have a re-sale market where people will have bought tickets and have no idea that they’re meant to be at a certain point at a certain time.

None of this was meant to happen but it is.

For the Club and support that you would almost think invented “supporters culture” in the US, they haven’t got a clue. Such draconian measures only leads to people being pissed off at you, not wanting to work with you.

A final message to those of us travelling to the game. FFS behave. Don’t give these assholes any little thing that they can use to beat us over the head with in the future.

I love the Cascadia Cup. We have a proud history and record in it. The Cup is now bigger scale in MLS. We have a great chance to stake an early lead in the standings but we all need to do our part to make that happen – whether that be on the pitch or in the stands.

C’mon Vancouver. Do us proud.

Southsiders Growth Not Without Problems

The buzz around Vancouver Whitecaps in the city right now is tremendous and Saturday’s three goal comeback has only added to the enigma the Club have become.

Off the pitch, this enthusiasm and the gameday atmospheres have led to a surge in membership of the Vancouver Southsiders supporters group and the popularity of the supporters section behind the south goal at Empire.

This increase has not been without growing pains for the Southsiders.

Unfortunately for supporters groups in North America, they find themselves lumbered with the hooligan tag by some, especially the more ignorant non-football loving members of the media.

Supporters culture certainly isn’t for everyone and nor should it be. Football thrives worldwide because of the mix of the types of people attending games. Everybody supports the team in their own way and that’s how it should be.

The fear many have, especially in fledgling MLS markets, is that the slightest hint of trouble will be blown out of all proportion, especially when compared to the regular fights and incidents that happen at NHL and CFL games.

I’m a BC Lions season ticket holder, as well as with the Caps, and with no exaggeration, I have seen at least one fight at every one of the matches I’ve been to for the last three seasons.

Judging by some of the shit that went on on Saturday, this behaviour is also going to be coming to the Caps and, as with the Lions game, the bulk of this trouble looks like it’s going to be in the cheaper corner and “end zone” seats.

Unfortunately for the Southsiders, this is also where they are based.

Supporters groups will always attract a number of hot heads, people with misplaced enthusiasm and idiots who have seen too many films of football “firms”. It’s the nature of the beast. An occupational hazard.

For some, it’s how they supported their teams in Europe, where items such as flares and smoke bombs, as much as scarves and shirts, are an everyday part of the football supporters kit.

Some supporters groups in North America are allowed such privileges. Portland Timbers Army have an arrangement with the Club that sees buckets in place to douse the flares.

This is something which is a long way off from being accepted in Vancouver. I would doubt it ever will be by the authorities and stadium owners.

I love flares and smoke at the football. It adds an amazing atmopshere and visuals, especially at night games. I also accept we can’t do it at the Whitecaps. Others it would seem are not so ready to accept this.

In amongst all the joy from Saturday’s comeback were some pretty nasty tales of incidents around Empire.

There’s been reports of fights between fans, fights with security and aggressive scenes which would have boiled over into something pretty nasty if people hadn’t walked away.

Single game ticket holders abusing and threatening season tickets holders for standing, then security making the seasont ticket holders sit, is not supporting your team.

Letting off a fire extinguisher, with all the chemicals it unleashed on the unsuspecting people around you, is not supporting your team.

Lobbing down shit like near empty cups of beer at the people of the front of your section is not supporting your team.

Hitting people off the back of their head with a frisbee, who are watching and cheering on the players, is not supporting your team.

Also add into these incidents the fact that a number of people have tickets for the supporters section without either clearly understanding what they were buying in to or without having a clear explanation from the Whitecaps FO as to where their seats were.

People stand, chant, swear and waves flags in the supporters section for the whole game. If that’s not what you want from your gameday experience, you’re in the wrong section and you need to ask to be moved NOT spoil the enjoyment of your fellow fans who have bought into that section and that experience.

There’s some serious incidents that the Whitecaps, the Southsiders and PNE security need to address and quickly.

The Southsiders as a group are going to get most of the flak for incidents that happen in the south end as a whole. Members who act irresponsibly need to realise the damage that they are causing to the group. Non members who want to just act like dicks can simply get to fuck.

Growing so fast, so quickly, is going to make self policing impossible on the whole. The balance is now stronger security that clamps down on what needs to be clamped down on but without harming the party atmosphere and some of the minor things they currently let go.

I’m not even sure if this is a balance than can be struck. Having some security positioned at the back of the stands for the whole match would be a good starting point though.

The message to all my fellow Southsiders and those in the south end that want to have the football atmosphere we desire is this.

Don’t let the minority in OUR sections spoil it for the majority.

If you see shit going on, don’t get drawn in to it. Let security know. That’s what they’re there for. Or should be. If you’ve been affected by incidents, let the Caps know. They can’t change it otherwise.

These are hopefully just growing pains. We have an amazing Whitecaps team this year. That’s where all our focus should be, starting against New England on Wednesday evening.

Mon the Caps.

[For another take on this issue, have a read of this excellent article over at 86 Forever]

Vancouver Falls In Love With Whitecaps

“When I watch the Whitecaps, I go outta my head. I just can’t get enough”. And neither it seems can the rest of the Vancouver public.

After the years of anticipation, it was all over in what seemed like a flash. But it was epic (a word I seldom use) and worth every minute of that long wait.

When I got home last night I just wanted to gush out all my exuberance in the blog, but thought better of it. One swallow does not a summer make and all that. Time for some solemn Sunday reflections and not to get too carried away.

That said though, GIRFUY Toronto!

We’ll look at the playing side later, but for now we want to look at supporters gameday experience.

The whole day, the entire occasion was even better than I’d been expecting. Getting the three points, and in some style too, was just the icing on the cake.

A lot of the general feeling of contentment in Vancouver this morning is a direct happening of not just what happened on the pitch but also off it.

The atmosphere was electric and the excitement palpable.

Every supporter in the stadium was responsible for this.

It wasn’t just the Southsiders. All four corners of the stadium were bouncing, loud and proud as hell. It was a joy to behold.

Who would have thought that something as simple as the old-school call and response “White” – “Caps” chant could have not only been so effective, but also so deafening.

People have told me since I moved here that Vancouver is a “football city” and would embrace Major League Soccer with gusto. I had my doubts but was blown away by what I experienced yesterday. I never thought I’d see that here for a football match and I’m not alone.

Listening to the players post game, watching last night’s news reports, reading todays papers and trawling articles on the web, the one thing that is consistant is how much everyone enjoyed the occasion and the crowd were a huge talking point.

What’s even more exciting about it all, is that this is just the start. With the buzz yesterday created, the Whitecaps are soon going to become the hottest ticket in town outside of Canucks playoff action.

Even from just reading comments on Twitter, Canucks fans were saying that the atmosphere at Empire made them realise what hockey doesn’t give them.

No one who was at the game yesterday could not go home and wax lyrical to all and sundry about what a Whitecaps game is all about. That’s how we’ll grow the game in the city and the national TV coverage is how us and the TFC fans will help grow the game in Canada.

De-Ro was interesting after the game. Praising our fans, he made the just comment that he can only hope that people will come out to support the national team like that.

From a Southsiders point of view, the bigger surroundings led to some logistical kinks that need quickly ironed out.

Being all on the same page and in unison with the songs is a key to having an impact. It was loud as hell in our section but those just a few sections along couldn’t hear us in the wide open space. Even those a few rows up had no idea what we were singing.

We need to make sure that non members can know exactly what it is we’re singing, learn the words and tunes and join in on the ones that they want to. It’ll come. Early days.

Pre-match, at Oscars Pub, everyone was in full flow. The place was packed to the rafters and bar staff told us that they’d never seen the place with a crowd like that, even last year when the Lions had their first full season at Empire Field.

The Southsiders ‘March To The Match’ was also an amazing sight and it wasn’t just members of the group that took part.

As I looked around Oscars, the march and my section at Empire, I didn’t recognise most of the faces around me.

Every one of them though shared the same passion and excitement for the day, and season, that lay ahead.

The key now of course is to keep that excitement, those numbers and the amount of noise going and then to keep growing it. From what I saw yesterday, I don’t think we’ll have a lot to worry about.

Then of course there was ‘poncho power’.

The whole poncho thing backfired on the Club big time. Someone at the Whitecaps this morning must now be thinking “well that was a bad idea”. You don’t give sports fans, let alone football fans, something they can throw!

“Please refrain from throwing your ponchos onto the pitch” was not really a phrase I thought I would ever be hearing at the football.

It was fun watching the ponchos rain down from all four sides of the stadium. Almost as pleasing was watching the couple of attempts at a wave fail! (regular readers will know what a bugbear of mine this is)

Supporters like organic growth, not Club forced initiatives. It was good that the Caps wanted to do something to kickstart it, but I think it’s up to all us fans now to move this forward.

I lost my voice to the Whitecaps yesterday. The city lost their hearts.

[* You can find more photo’s on AFTN Flickr account. Videos will also be appearing on our You Tube channel over the course of the day, so check it out! *]

Supporters Culture Starting To Take Hold Of Vancouver

Some of you reading this will no doubt be getting sick of ourselves, and others, banging on about supporters culture.

We know it’s not for everybody and we readily accept and respect that. As long as you support the Caps and make some noise for the boys, that’s good enough for us. We all want the same thing and that’s to be able to cheer the good guys on to victory.

For those of us in the South end though, we’ll be taking that support to the extra level and with the noise we make and the sound that will be generated by the banging of feet on the metal floors, Empire is going to become a wall of noise.

Supporters culture is a key to the growth of the game on this continent. It’s what’s going to attract more people to come to the games in the US and Canada, especially the younger demographic that is so important to the future of MLS.

We’ve seen it in Toronto. We’ve seen it in Seattle. And now, it looks like we’re going to see it in Vancouver if last night’s Southsiders event at the Lamplighter Pub in Gastown was an indication of anything.

The event was a pre MLS celebration, with fans collecting their Southsiders membership packs for the year, taking in the first kick game between Seattle and LA, and, for some, picking up their season tickets.

The Lamplighter was packed to the rafters and was awash with Whitecaps blue and white and Cascadia green. It’s was a very pleasing sight to behold.

There was a buzz in the room the whole evening and the anticipation of the Whitecaps MLS debut on Saturday was immense.

Southsiders President John Knox whipped up the packed crowd, telling them:

“You are a part of something special. You are a part of the oldest Supporters’ Club in Canada. We started off small in numbers but are growing in leaps and bounds as you can see tonight”.

Numbers of the group are growing all the time, with the Vancouver public not just showing that they realise the importance of supporters culture, but also that they want to be a part of it.

Membership is expected to be higher than their current 350 mark as they go into Saturday’s game and then steadily increase after that. In the last couple of weeks, their Twitter account has added 500 followers.

This bodes well for the atmosphere at Empire.

The players appreciate this as well and Jay Nolly, Greg Janicki, Wes Knight and captain Jay De Merit all made appearances at the function last night.

De Merit made an impassioned speech where he told fans that the players need us as much as we need the players.

Feeling the buzz in the room last night, that’s not going to be a problem.

[*** You can find more pics from the event on our Flickr page ***]