Frick
02-03-2009, 11:06 AM
Dichio happy to finally call Toronto home;
'My Future Is Here'; Hopes to coach in North America when he retires
Joe O'Connor
Those "ice-hockey guys" really know how to skate. Danny Dichio understands that now. He did not always. Really, how hard could it be?
"I think the term is Bambi on ice," Toronto FC's veteran striker says with a smile, recalling his initial effort. "It is a lot harder than I thought, and I give a lot of credit to those ice guys -- them ice-hockey guys -- the way they skate around on the rink."
To be truthful, Dichio is not all that crazy about hockey. He does not watch it on television. Being from England, he does not get it the way most Canadians do.
He and his wife, Claire, and their three kids have been skiing at Blue Mountain near Collingwood. They have embraced most things Canadian. Dichio even bought himself a proper winter coat -- something he did not do last winter -- plus boots and a toque, because Toronto is not just the place where he works: It's home now. Dichio hopes it will be for a long time yet.
"My future is here," the TFC forward said yesterday at the first day of training camp at BMO Field. "We got our Permanent Residence [application] accepted, and as a family, we were really happy with that. We have done all our medicals, so we can't be kicked out of the country."
John Carver, TFC's coach, duly noted the change in his fellow Brit and started "taking the Mick" out of Dichio, and calling him a "proper Canadian" when he saw the 6-foot-5 soccer giant clad in full winter garb.
"That's one of the reasons we came over as a family," Dichio says. "It wasn't only just for the soccer, it was a new life."
It was a family adventure with a soccer theme. Major League Soccer is often where European playing careers come to die. Superstars do not move to North America in their prime. They come to play out the string, and Dichio, who started his time with Queens Park Rangers in England's Premier League in 1993, was no different than the rest when he showed up at TFC's maiden training camp in 2007.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the scrap heap. On May 12, 2007, Dichio scored the first goal in TFC franchise history. Ever since then, the team's boisterously vocal fans have been serenading him with the Danny Dichio Song at the 23:13 mark of every game.
Dichio, like Doug Ault, the late Toronto Blue Jays first baseman who swatted the first two home runs in franchise history, etched his name in TFC lore with one swift kick. And no matter what the future holds, the 34-year-old Londoner will always be TFC's first true hero.
Dichio says coming to Toronto has been like a "second breath" to his career. But now, coming off a season where he suffered a concussion and seriously contemplated retirement, Dichio may be down to his last gasp.
"I spoke to players and I spoke to coaches back home in England, and they said you will regret when you retire too young," he said. "While you still got a bit of life in your legs, you got to keep on playing."
Dichio hopes to coach in North America after his playing days are over. Maybe even in Toronto. It is not the English Premiership. But it is home.
"We have family coming over from England, and they say what a wonderful life we have got over here, and we appreciate that we have got this now, and we don't want to take it for granted," Dichio says. "My family keep calling me back home, and they'll say, 'You're an immigrant!' and there is nothing wrong with being an immigrant, nothing wrong with it."
joconnor@nationalpost.com
So does this mean he counts as a domestic?
'My Future Is Here'; Hopes to coach in North America when he retires
Joe O'Connor
Those "ice-hockey guys" really know how to skate. Danny Dichio understands that now. He did not always. Really, how hard could it be?
"I think the term is Bambi on ice," Toronto FC's veteran striker says with a smile, recalling his initial effort. "It is a lot harder than I thought, and I give a lot of credit to those ice guys -- them ice-hockey guys -- the way they skate around on the rink."
To be truthful, Dichio is not all that crazy about hockey. He does not watch it on television. Being from England, he does not get it the way most Canadians do.
He and his wife, Claire, and their three kids have been skiing at Blue Mountain near Collingwood. They have embraced most things Canadian. Dichio even bought himself a proper winter coat -- something he did not do last winter -- plus boots and a toque, because Toronto is not just the place where he works: It's home now. Dichio hopes it will be for a long time yet.
"My future is here," the TFC forward said yesterday at the first day of training camp at BMO Field. "We got our Permanent Residence [application] accepted, and as a family, we were really happy with that. We have done all our medicals, so we can't be kicked out of the country."
John Carver, TFC's coach, duly noted the change in his fellow Brit and started "taking the Mick" out of Dichio, and calling him a "proper Canadian" when he saw the 6-foot-5 soccer giant clad in full winter garb.
"That's one of the reasons we came over as a family," Dichio says. "It wasn't only just for the soccer, it was a new life."
It was a family adventure with a soccer theme. Major League Soccer is often where European playing careers come to die. Superstars do not move to North America in their prime. They come to play out the string, and Dichio, who started his time with Queens Park Rangers in England's Premier League in 1993, was no different than the rest when he showed up at TFC's maiden training camp in 2007.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the scrap heap. On May 12, 2007, Dichio scored the first goal in TFC franchise history. Ever since then, the team's boisterously vocal fans have been serenading him with the Danny Dichio Song at the 23:13 mark of every game.
Dichio, like Doug Ault, the late Toronto Blue Jays first baseman who swatted the first two home runs in franchise history, etched his name in TFC lore with one swift kick. And no matter what the future holds, the 34-year-old Londoner will always be TFC's first true hero.
Dichio says coming to Toronto has been like a "second breath" to his career. But now, coming off a season where he suffered a concussion and seriously contemplated retirement, Dichio may be down to his last gasp.
"I spoke to players and I spoke to coaches back home in England, and they said you will regret when you retire too young," he said. "While you still got a bit of life in your legs, you got to keep on playing."
Dichio hopes to coach in North America after his playing days are over. Maybe even in Toronto. It is not the English Premiership. But it is home.
"We have family coming over from England, and they say what a wonderful life we have got over here, and we appreciate that we have got this now, and we don't want to take it for granted," Dichio says. "My family keep calling me back home, and they'll say, 'You're an immigrant!' and there is nothing wrong with being an immigrant, nothing wrong with it."
joconnor@nationalpost.com
So does this mean he counts as a domestic?