What it means to me/you/us.

This game is just enormous to me. I will admit, I am sat in my lounge watching the game on the telly and I cannot be there. I wish I could.

Besides being a TFC fan, I'm a Stoke fan. I'v never seen my team - my homeland team - win a major trophy. In fact I've never seen any team I love win anything really of note, other than the Autoglass trophy (Google it) at Wembley in 1991. I came to Toronto six years ago and despite my typically snobbish British attitude towards North American sports and particularly a similar attitude to MLS, it was a revelation to experience the alternative sporting environment and possibilities and I put aside my silly predilections and went to see the Jays, the Raptors and at great expense, the Leafs.

I came to love baseball and particularly basketball and I watch the Jays and the Raps on a regular basis - on the telly and inside the arena - on a regular basis. I can't afford the Leafs. For the record, 'football' just doesn't do it for me and I have no interest, negative or otherwise towards any CFL or NFL franchise.

But football without the inverted commas, or soccer as I have begun to accept as a name for the game is my first love and TFC was the team, the club, the franchise - whatever you choose to call it - has become something I absolutely fucking love. I wasn't born into this club like I was Stoke. I was taken to Stoke when I was three. I was photographed in the Stoke City FC onesie and wearing scarves before I could talk. There was no other team I would've been allowed to love. I was born a Stoke fan. Maybe even brainwashed into being so.

But I became a TFC fan through my own free will, and that matters.

I have a four year old daughter who is born of a baptized Catholic father and a mother of Jewish descent. This gave me, us, the quandary of which faith our daughter would be raised to follow. Like many, we opted to give her the option herself and she remains damned until she chooses (I use the word 'damned' firmly tongue in cheek if anyone takes offence).

I can very easily equate this to my love of TFC and how it has become to be. I had no choice but to take Stoke to my heart, and she will be forever there. I did though, choose TFC because she appealed to me. Not my father, or my tradition. Me alone and love her for it.

In a nutshell, Stoke is my mother. She formed my love for the beautiful game that is football. TFC, however is the one I chose to be my wife, or she chose me. Two loves. One love. Different loves. Just love.

That's what it means to me. Your turn.




A

Great personal story.

As for myself, I played soccer as a child growing up. I drifted away from the sport as I became a teenager as my parents never really watched the game and as for European footy, it was practically unheard of on North American tv then unless your really searched it out. Hockey was my love growing up and my hopes lived and died with the Leafs. When we were awarded a franchise and started in 07 I admit I didn't follow it. I was busy with life and other matters and never paid much attention. Then 2010 rolled around and I was given a pair of tickets to the Arabe Unido CCL game. It was a cold October night at the tail end of another disappointing season. I can't remember the exact attendance for the game but I am sure it was no more than 10,000. Probably less given the fact we were essentially done for the year. I remember the players coming out of the tunnel for the game and I thought it weird that the anthem was not being played (I was ignorant to the proceedings) when the crowd broke into "O Canada". From that moment on a spark had re-ignited inside. Watching that game that night took me back to the joy I had playing as a child. The atmosphere was just what a jaded Toronto sports fan like myself needed at that time. It was something fresh, new, unspoiled and genuine.

When I got home that night I immediately inquired and purchased my seasons tickets for the following year. This club grew and grew on me, game by game and minute by minute. Even through the brutal years from 2011 - 2013 my loyalty and love never wavered. It was tried to the limits many times, but just like a fight with you children or spouse, the love you have keeps you there through thick and thin. My wife and I are at every game and I bring my son whenever I am able. He enjoys the games but the emotional connection with the game and club has not fully blossomed yet. This franchise, this team has become my everything. I still love my hockey and my Leafs but it is not the same as what this club means.

Three times in my life have I been brought to tears watching a sporting event. The first was the 2014/2015 World Junior tournament final in Toronto when Canada beat Russia 6-5. The second was when we clinched a playoff spot last season and the third was right before kick off against Philadelphia in the knockout game. Watching TFC play triggers every emotion inside me and it allows me to forget everything else for 90 minutes and focus solely on the club I love.

That is what it means to me.

K

This game means a lot to me. To get to this point, you probably need a little bit of background information.

I honestly didn't know TFC existed before my buddy called me one weekend Back in '09. "Are you watching the game?" He asked. Back then I was just finishing elementary school and didn't watch or play any sports. I guess he called out of pure boredom. "No, what game?" I replied. "Toronto FC" he said but in a way that sounded like he was telling me a secret. So I turned on CBC.

That's the exact moment my obsession began. I remember seeing Chad Barrett, Jimmy Brennan, Amado Guevara and Dwayne De Rosario bless the field with their hard work and almost fluid movement. I even remember the less memorables: Fuad Ibrahim, Demetrius Omphroy, Kyle Davis to name a few. My earliest memory is almost like a video in my head. The sun beating down on his bald head, he misses a chance. He immediately looks to the bench and spins his pointed index fingers around each other. Chad Barrett was subsequently subbed off.

I also remember seeing the RPB in action for the first time. It was something I'd never seen before. Until then, spectating at sports events was sitting down and alternating between cheering and groaning. It was so foreign to me, and I liked it. I wanted to be a Red Patch Boy.

So the years went by. Manager after Manager, Player after player. Preki's supposedly rock solid defensive play, Aron Winter's failed Ajax Northwest. The latter being the last ditch attempt at stopping the so called "Revolving Door" that had developed and a system that I had emotionally invested in. Friends that I watched games with at BMO and on the TV just stopped following the club saying that it wasn't worth the time, but not me. It's funny, because those same friends are coming to Wednesday's game talking about how they were "there since day one". I had adopted the supporter title despite never spending a game in the bunker. Even when Kovermans' infamous " Worst team in the world" interview aired, I never gave up hope that the club that I love would one day become great again.

So came the legendary day: TFC clinched it's first ever playoff spot, and it was a 401 Derby no less. Game day came, and we imploded. I'll never forget the sinking heart feeling that I had.

Fast forward to tonight (technically last night since I'm writing this on the red-eye Megabus back to Toronto right after the game). Tonight meant redemption. A chance to get back at the embarrassment from last year. Although not the result I had in mind, two away goals is better than nothing.

It also validated my Supporter title. I used to say I was a supporter just because I watched the games and occasionally bought Bunker tickets through StubHub. This was my first ever away game trip, and I know it won't be the last.

It meant that I could be myself. I'm not the type of person to do things by myself. By that I mean I'll never go to a movie, buy shoes or even get takeout by myself. This playoff series made me realise that my love for the club can't be bound by my anxieties. All of this year's playoff games, I've attended solo.

Most importantly, it was a reward. This Eastern Conference Finals is what I've been wishing for since Montreal joined the league. This series is the reward we deserve for sticking with and singing for the FC, even when things looked grim.

That is what this game meant to me.

My story is quite similar to yours StokeTFC.

I'm Scottish, a born and bred Hibs fans, was taken to games by my dad when I was 3 and I have zero recollection of those games! I had no other choice than to follow Hibs. They won the Scottish Cup in May this year for the first time in 114 years, I couldn't make it to Glasgow for the game, so sat hunched over my I Pad watching, When we scored in the last minute to win 3-2 I admit I cried a little bit and I don't think anything will ever beat that.

I emigrated here in 2013 and was aware there was a soccer team in the city, my first year here I didn't bother to go to a game and very rarely bothered watching on TV, it kinda felt like I would be cheating on Hibs by going to watch another team.

I'm a bit different to you in that I followed MLB(and the Jays) for a few years before I moved here, probably because I played softball in the summer. So following the Jays was my thing for the first year here and I still go to a few games each year.
I enjoy watching hockey and get my fix a couple of times a year with the Marlies(I refuse to pay the prices the Leafs charge)
On a side note, I also shocked myself by starting to watch CFL/NFL on TV, a sport I thought I would never have any interest in and I have attended Argos and Bills games.

Back to soccer, my dad came to visit in June 2014 and wanted to go to a game, so I bought us tickets and went to my first game. Well I loved it! From that 90 mins on TFC became my 'other' team and I go to about 6-8 home games each year and even did my first road game in Montreal back in April. I have toyed with the idea of a season seat but I live just far enough away from BMO to make mid week games difficult to go to (not next Wed though, am leaving work early!!)

I have a passion for this team now that I never thought I would have and I cannot wait for the game next Weds back at BMO, especially after they came back last night and got 2 away goals.

So that's my TFC story so far......

My story goes way back, yes I'm old, my dad came to Canada when he was 18 back in the late 1950's he never attended a soccer game back in the old country or I doubt he had ever seen a game even on TV back in the old country, but he played the game on the playground and probably would read about it in the newspapers back home. However, when he got here he started to follow whatever little semi pro soccer was around in the Toronto area back then. When I was around 6 I remember him taking me to see some games of the local pro soccer team of that time the Toronto Metros back in around the early 1970's that played in the old NASL which was the top North American League in those days and it was from those early days as a kid attending those games that I was hooked on soccer. I was also a Leaf fan and the other sports but soccer was always my main love. I kept following whatever pro team and league came around over the years the closest team that came around that felt big time was when the Toronto Blizzard came around in the late 70's playing in front of big crowds but the old NASl folded in 1984 and pro soccer in North America entered a dark period of different low level pro leagues until the MLS came around in 1996. When the MLS was born I started following it and I knew it was only a matter of time that Toronto would get a team. When that day came it was like a resurrection soccer was reborn at the pro level in Toronto once again, to be honest I did not think team would do so well like they did with the big crowds right from the start. The only sad part with TFC was the lousy results over the years until of course last season when finally the playoffs were made. This season and this playoff run has been special and you can see that this team is not your old TFC teams of the past, the old TFC teams would have not scored those two away goals like they did last night to keep them in this two game series and that's why I think they still have a good chance to advance to the MLS CUP final. For a lifelong soccer fan like me in Toronto the creation of the MLS and eventually TFC has been the best thing ever and now with a chance still alive of TFC winning it all it will be amazing if they did.

One of the great things about this Beautiful Game is the bond and how it allows us to evolve. I have long thought of what this game means to me and how it transcends being just a soccer game. Growing up all around Toronto in the 70's to early 80's, from Community Housing to Community Housing until we settled in Mississauga - the one constant was Soccer on the weekends. The Hispanic Community gathered and played at St Clair/ Caledonia, Royal York Stadium, Eglinton Flats and Lamport Stadium with religious fervour. I was fortunate to see many Professional Players from South America come to Canada for a new life and to be some of the first in the young sport of Soccer here. The NSL, NASL and the T & D League had some well run organizations and some amazing players made their way there. I remember going to see a Toronto Croatiavs Toronto Italia game at Centennial Stadium and it was a packed house. I remember going to watch The Toronto Blizzard, then the Toronto Nationals when they played the Montreal Manic and then the last incarnation of the Toronto Blizzard with some of the players that once graced the St Clair/Caledonia Fields. As the CPSL took form and we had the North York Rockets, Hamilton Steelers, Toronto Blizzard and Toronto Metro-Croatia all happening in the GTA - it was an exciting time.

But there was a common denominator. The was never any real financial backing of the leagues themselves. There were good teams and well run Clubs, but it never extended to the actual league. You can still see it in some strongholds in your own community as there is undoubtedly 1 major club that runs things.

Enter MLS - Major league Soccer. A very real, tangible and viable model for a Professional Soccer League. Arguably, the last great hope for North American Soccer.

May 12, 2007 - section 114 row 11 - I was there on a whim with a friend. Seat Cushion in hand - laughing at the fact TFC had yet to win, yet to score a goal, yet to really win our hearts. As the game had started, I called my Father to wish him a Happy Birthday and that I would see him on the Weekend. We spoke about the noise and I mentioned I was at the Soccer Stadium built on top of the Exhibition Stadium where we once watched a Toronto Blizzard Game with our Chilean Contingent. The times were different, the game was different...but the place is still Toronto. It was a nice memory and when he asked me about the game - I told him it was probably the first/last one I would come see. Then Dichio scored and amidst a sea of Seat Cushions invading the pitch, I ended the call screaming Happy Birthday! I never looked back and have been following/supporting this team ever since.

Season 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and now 10 - I have been to a multitude of games, watched shitty pixelated streams and flocked to a bar to watch this beloved band of brothers take to the field. Shirts, Hats, Scarves, Flags and yes...even Blankets are a mainstay in my apartment. This game also allowed me to bond with my son over the anxiety, the heartbreak and the sheer terror of the revolving door of players/management and constant playoff elimination. We make it out to 1 or 2 games a season together and we actually call it "our thing" (sigh). A true Father/Son moment that TFC has given me.
This year was also a tough one - as my Father passed away in March and just thinking that this Birthday was one I did not wish him a Happy Birthday - took me back to May 12, 2007 and that phone call along with the joy of the First Goal in the 23rd minute - it really is Massive.

I was a fan of MLS before TFC - I was a fan of soccer before MLS.

But, everybody deserves TFC because we all grew up here - we all struggle here - we all make friends here.

TFC is not just a Team for me - it's part of what I use to define myself and how I grow with those around me. It's a part that lets me jump for joy, discuss in great detail and passion, share a pint with a long lost friend, spend quality time with my Family...and now....hope that with this run....it would make my Dad happy to see my team win.

Cheers to you all - TY for being an amazing Supporters Group and letting me be part of history.

My Father came to Canada from Scotland. He got here at 12 years old and prompty began working on losing his accent so the other kids wouldn't tease him. By the time I came along, there was little mention of the old country - no indication of where he came from. He was a Leafs fan, thus so was I. My mother was a Canadiens fan, but that's a different story. Lets just say that some Saturday nights watching CBC got quite tense... :-) I never watched soccer with my Dad - I had no idea if he even liked it.

20 or so years later, I found myself looking down my nose at soccer. When I did watch soccer, I watched some admittedly bad stuff - diving mostly - and it just turned me off. By the time I was in my mid twenties, I was very dismissive of this sport. Along came a new girlfriend who would later become my wife. We had known each other for years, and I had met her father on a number of occasions. But this was going to be different, I had to find a way into the family if I wanted to marry her. In an effort to have an actual conversation with her father, I decided I should start watching the Euro that was on that year. I watched a lot of games and my would be father-in-law and I had some good talks about those games. Then it was watching the EPL, and Serie A, and a lot of GolTV (yeah, I was the guy watching that channel). I fell in love with the sport. I became acutely aware of the beauty of the game, but the actual turning point to my soon to be obsession was an EPL game where the ref carded a guy for diving. That was awesome.

Then along came TorontoFC. When they first announced the season tickets were being sold, I joked with my wife that we should buy a pair. She agreed, jokingly ( I thought ). We didn't get a pair, and during the season I tried a bunch of times to get tickets to even one game. I ended up getting a pair for the last game of the season - and we went. This is where I truly started to fall in love with our team. On our way into the stadium we were running late. We were walking underneath the supporters section and someone leaned over the railing and shouted "This isn't a RAPTORS game, get in your FUCKING SEATS!" Seeing the supporters in the south end going nuts, seeing our boys on the field, the whole experience was overwhelming, nothing I had ever seen at any other sporting event in my life. I was hooked.

The following season was a partial pack and joining the waiting list. Season 3 was full seasons and no looking back.There have been times that I wanted to give up, but with any relationship there is give and take. There should be some kind of counseling for this type of relationship.

3 years ago my wife and I joined RPB. 3 years of cheering with my TFC family - at BMO field and at Joe's, making banners, attending the AGM, it allows me to give back to the club what I get from it. The past two years have told me that the club is willing to give back. It is in my blood. I can't shake it. I tell my family that if they want my wife and I at their functions they should first go to Torontofc.ca and click on schedule. I miss games only when I have to. My fellow sectionmates are my adopted TFC Family, we share a special bond.

Game days are special to me. I try to get to my seats during warmup. I am for sure there for the anthem, when the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The sound of 30,000 people singing O Canada brings a tear to my eye every time. From the first kick to the final whistle I am on the edge of my seat. Then, when the game is over, I go home and watch it on PVR to catch every last little bit. Monday mornings are spent on the MLS website reading everything I can possibly get my hands on. Tuesdays are reserved for watching all the other games' highlights and Simon Borg's Instant Replay. Then comes the wait, where I hit the refresh button on the RPB boards with abandon, hoping someone somewhere posts something I can read. The off season is incredibly painful for me, and draft day is spent on dual monitors in my office, twitter on one, live draft on the other.

As the song goes, "It Happened Without Warning, I Fell In Love With You ..."

JF

Hated soccer for most of my adult life. Never grew up following sports other than the odd tennis match…figure skating doesn’t count...

Met my DH in ’89 who is from the midlands, England…a ManUnited fan since boyhood. Back then…couldn’t find a PL match on television…only certain pubs had the rights…this was a day-long…weekend excursion with the ‘boys’ every weekend…to be honest…I hated the sport …hated the noise, the broadcasters, everything about it…so DH suggested I pick a team and get involved so I wouldn't feel so left out…and so began my first love affair with boys in red…Liverpool FC (YNWA!) in the ‘90s. DH is still convinced I chose LFC just to spite him. Maybe so for a while because though I loved the history and personality of LFC, I still just couldn’t get into the games or understand my husband’s soccer love life.

In hindsight, I think none of the PL teams touched me because they weren’t ‘mine’. I’m Canadian and I found it hard to be passionate about something that I didn't feel belonged to me.
Canada had no team in the WC, and neither did any of the countries of my ancestors, we had no local team, and even though I chose LFC...it's not my home town. Not my country.

Flash forward to pre-sales for a new Toronto football club…I thought it might make for a great Christmas gift and so purchased our first pair of Season’s for DH. In return DH took me to the opening match and I was hooked…I will never forget the first anthem at BMO…my hair stood on end and my heart swelled and felt like it would burst. I still feel that way at every game and insist on being in my seat early with my scarf held high to sing the anthem loud and true.

Loving TFC is like being a parent. We ohh and aww and feel every bump and bruise…but everyone else around us at work or family just not understanding the intense fascination with the team. There are ‘inside’ jokes that only other TFC fans ‘get’…the cock-eyed look we give the tourists who try and fail miserably at getting a ‘wave’ started in the stands, the annoyance when they bring someone else in to sing the anthem and they fail to shut up and let us get on with it, the silly attempts at bringing in half-time dancers/show, Dichio chant, streamer rain on Beckham, the suburban soccer moms who are offended at the name of Bitchy, the anthem en Anglais in Montreal, the black cat crossing the field...and so many more.

The only thing we missed was being surrounded with people who share the love. Our friend James, brought us into the RBP family a few years ago and we finally have folks who understand the pride and joy of every goal scored, and pain of every goal conceded. Game day starts and ends at Joe’s. Second Christmas is SSH delivery day and second new year is the opening day march to BMO to welcome back the boys.

TFC is our ‘date’ night…no kids and no PL rivalries to deal with…finally common ground…a mutual love for the Toronto FC boys in red.

Having moved from Germany to Canada, in the late 90s, I lost my way with soccer for most of my elementary years.

Then World Cup 2002 happened. I was so enthralled in the spectacle that I decided, right then and there, that this is what I want to be a part of (It helped that the NHL had a lockout a few years later).

It was hard during those times. Though soccer started to become available on TV, there was no team that I felt a massive connection to. Like many others, I began to follow one of the PLs big 4, Liverpool FC. Eventually, I started to follow them for every game, getting together with other fans during my high school years. I started to feel a connection to the club and have ever since.

Finally, in my last year of high school, Toronto FC was announced. I knew immediately that this was a possibility to be part of that same type of spectacle that I saw during the World Cup those many years ago. I took an interest in MLS, found it weird, but an opportunity to support a local team nonetheless. To be honest, I just expected to go down to BMO Field and watch the game with a quarter of the stadium full, and no real atmosphere. Many of my friends, at the time, were adamant that the team would fold in a few years.

Fast forward to April 27, 2007 and I couldn't have been more wrong about my previous assumptions. RPB, U-Sector, among other supporters groups were young, but fantastic on the day. Years went by and the atmosphere got better, got worse during that dark period, and then better again. However, one thing I always noticed were that the various members of supporters groups and others always stayed with the team, despite the shit on the pitch. I wanted to be part of that group. I would hang around Shoeless Joe's for a lot of my college years and still do today.

I don't need to tell anyone here that following Toronto FC, for the last 10 years, has had its shares of ups and downs. What this club, players, supporters, kit-man etc. mean to me is a sense of camaraderie that can only be had by supporting a soccer team, supporting a soccer team that everyone has a real connection to.

We've had our shares of bad times, but as the saying goes "the bad times, make the good times that much better"

Our club is young, relatively speaking. We are the first generation making history with this team. It's these tales, of Toronto FC past, that I want to share with my children and grandchildren.

We are on the brink of something great, but whatever happens, I know that many here (as well as me) will be seen at BMO Field for the foreseeable future.


Update: My friends who said TFC would fold are all now Toronto FC fans (some active, some passive).

Honestly ... I am some sort of freak when we talk football.
A Canadian born and bred lover of the beautiful game who has never lived anywhere with a real footy culture.
As far as I know my family has never had any connection to Soccer ... no one else in my family ever mentioned liking the game but somehow I found it as a youngster way back before we even had any sort of kids leagues for me to play in.

I played with the "ethnic kids" (the children of the italians, brits and other mostly European families who had immigrated to Canada post WW II) in pickup games when and wherever I could while growing up.
I joined my high school team (considered a joke by most of the student body at the time) and played because I loved it. Then college and work got in the way until I found a bunch of characters at work who played at noon hours and after work for laughs.
When I married and had kids suddenly there were the TimBit leagues starting up and I volunteered to coach until my kids grew up and chose other forms of recreation for themselves and I got to busy to be involved as a coach or player.

Like all lovers of the game I died a thousand deaths following the Canadian National Teams as the Women progressed and the Men "spun their wheels".
And then suddenly the world changed. Setanta Sports started delivering footy to my TV and Computer and something called TFC appeared.
I made a pilgrimage to Toronto after a very nice group of guys'n'gals called the Red Patch Boys, who I found on an internet forum, welcomed me from afar and helped me get a pair of tickets at a reasonable cost so my son and I could attend a game.

Suddenly I was a "Ransom Pack" season seat holder making it to 4 or 5 games a season and helping to form the 75 Mile Bastards chapter of the RPB. Tailgates were a blast and I made many new friends.
Retirement meant money became tighter and my ability to attend as many games a season as I would have liked diminished. But no matter whenever I got to Toronto the RPB and Shoeless Joes continued to show me hospitality and friendship.
I couldn't stay away from the game as a player... it is just in me ... and I ended up joining a local rec league for Saturday morning mayhem which continues to this day.

Then in 2014 the unthinkable ... a professional soccer team in Ottawa ... a local supporters club ... and more new friends. This was followed by an invitation to join the Spurs Canada supporters which I did.
And now I sit, after watching the Ottawa Fury almost win the 2015 NASL Championship, waiting to watch TFC 2016 fulfill the destiny we all hoped for from the beginning.

Yes Nick Hornby was right ... “I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it.” and it's been grand!

Good article:

Quote:

---

The passion, pain and joy of being a Toronto FC fan

---

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle33291742/

I'll keep this short but I think it's more than a 10 year thing for a lot of us.

For me, I've waited all my life to support my own. For as long as I could remember I've cheered for others (Brazil, Chelsea, Madrid) never getting to cheer for my own. The one time that happened, my home country of Trinidad made the world cup and I was happy but I wasn't born there I didn't feel the 100% passion as my dad and my siblings who were born there.

Today this is more than for me. This is for my dad who came to this country in the 70s and has played a LARGE part in Toronto soccer as a coach and a referee. He has coached all over this city (Malvern, North Scarborough, Glen Shields, Vaughan) and even coached some of these guys (De Rosario, Serioux, De Guzman). Since I was a baby, he has dedicated his life to this game and I'm glad he gets to see what the outcome is. He was reffing a game when I was born!! He came to the hospital in his uniform lol

I took him to the NYCFC game and he was emotional, never thinking he'd see 30,000 passionately watching the game he loves. He'd never admit it cause he likes to objectively watch games but I think this is the first time where he's actively cheering for a team.

As far as the future goes, my 5-year nephew who plays every sport in the world asked me this week to take him to a soccer team next summer. He has become enthralled in soccer because of TFC. He watched the games at least 100 times and it makes me so happy to see how inspiring these guys are.

Ranting over but in short, this has been 24 years in the making for me but for my pop's...40 years of dedication to this game.

COME ON YOU REDS