Postgame rant TFC v Chivas

[trane]

i get the sentiment, but i believe the argument fails to hit the mark.
support will always be divided, different people support in different ways and that will always be the case. i compare it to the transmetropolitan's take on religion (this is the closest i will ever get to a religious topic, but unfortunately it's the best analogy i can find).

in the transmetropolitan "future", everyone has their own religion because no one person believes the exact same thing no matter how tight the dogma is. some people pray in public, some in private, some worship saints/texts/multiple deities, others don't. that's how i view support here. you'll always have people who believe that sometimes we border on cheerleading, some who believe that you should make a statement, some who support with their time, others with their time and wallets. what the transmetropolitan argues is that arguing any of these "personal religions" into the ground is pointless as they all follow the same set of basic principles.

in our case, we're all invested in TFC.
we're because in some way, shape or form, we care.

some of us have learned to stop caring financially and attending games or buying concessions, some of us haven't reached a point where it makes sense to them. some have stopped singing and started booing, others never say die. my point is, like it or not, TFC is the only team we have. they're toronto's team by choice, because it's impossible to argue that they would exist without the support groups like this (usec, north end, etc) provide them. the stadium cannot be filled to even half capacity with fairweather fans.


instead of picking apart the differences and discussing the support that divides us, i rarely see any posts about the support that unites us. let people support in their own way, sing when they want to, stand when they want to, and join in if you feel slighted to. the last thing we need with a team that's doing badly is the supporters starting to go at one another (i realize that may not have been your intention, you were simply stating your views). let's focus on why we're all here and stop looking for reasons why we shouldn't be.

Let me just say this it is not ( I will use the term that has been used) the activist supporters that attack the non activist supporters, it is almost always the activists supporters being attacked for being fair weather and disloyal.

[Rene Kingsriver]

I had to post this pic from Sportsnet, look at Dunfield's face

[Rhapido]

Supporters who support in a more traditional football way, i.e. no blind loyalty to the club, have left the group because they have not liked the suggestion made by others, that they it should be "TFC love it, or leave it"

Can someone explain "blind loyalty to the club"? Are these "blindly loyal" fans walking around as we speak saying this team is doing just fine, thank you? I'd like to know on the off chance I bump into one next time I'm at BMO.

[Rhapido]

There is not point in discussing this because you do not get it, and you never will. You were not raised in a football ONLY culture, and will never understand the reality for us that were, and that the team is more then a team to us, but a representative of our city, our country, sometimes our political and religious believes (which is not always good I admit).

Here, a team calls itself Toronto FC, and now the city is supposed to support every decision it makes blindly. No you proof to me that you deserve to be Toronto's team.
In Milano the two teams fight over who is Milano's team. Because the team has to work to be able to say WE ARE MILANO. It is not automatic that you have the support of Milano if you do not make the city proud. Supporters on the other hand of one club or the other demand that the club they love, do whatever it takes to make then and the City proud, and do not support blindly simply because they love the club. They are not cheerleaders, they are supporters.

Just a tad condescending, dontcha think?

I suspect Redcoat's point is that there are supporters who question the team's decisions AND CAN STILL show up at the stadium in support of the team. I am sure there are plenty in 112 that come home hoarse after the game, but still have enough left of their vocal cords to lament about how shite Dunfield is, how overpaid De Guz is and how Avila and Silva should be getting the starts.

One thing you will never, ever see in Milano is an Inter or Milan supporter so frustrated by his team that he turns to the cross-town rival in support. Once you become an Inter or a Milan supporter (and some become so at birth), you remain one the rest of your life. That's the way it is just about everywhere else in the world.

[Oldtimer]

One thing you will never, ever see in Milano is an Inter or Milan supporter so frustrated by his team that he turns to the cross-town rival in support. Once you become an Inter or a Milan supporter (and some become so at birth), you remain one the rest of your life. That's the way it is just about everywhere else in the world.

Well put. Or a Roma fan become a Lazio fan, or a Man City fan become a Man United fan...

[trane]

Rhapido and oldtimer,

Your comments make it clear that you have no clue about what I am talking about, it has nothing to do with supporting a crosstown rival.

And you trying to tell me how it works in my home country and city is bit funny. I have been an supporter of Milan since about 1975, when I was a boy in Milano, Italy. Anyway you have no idea of what you are talking about, I will leave it at that.

Again I am not telling you how to support you keep on telling me what it is to be supporter and I am telling you that it runs contrary to what I know is the reality in my home city and country.

By the way so that you understand the rivalry between Roma and Lazio is deeper then between Inter and Milan, we call each other cousins, we are rivals but there is not the same hate.
E

[Beach_Red]

Well put. Or a Roma fan become a Lazio fan, or a Man City fan become a Man United fan...

But it did take decades for those teams to develop that kind of following, didn't it? And doesn't each one of those teams have its own, distinct personality that is a reflection of the supporters?

Maybe someday TFC will have a personality and maybe it'll even be one that has something to do with the supporters and not just one purchased by the corporate ownership. In fact, what we're going through now is how that personality will be developed.

[Canary_canuck]

I moved to near Norwich in England when I was 12 and, as a family, we " adopted " the Canaries as a tangible expression of our commitment to our new community. This was very easy because Norwich, despite its many historic and architectural attractions, had virtually no other outlet for waving the local flag. This is still the case over 50 years later so the club enjoys a very loyal fan base and owners who are passionate about their team ( Delia Smith's " Let's be having you " rant personifies this thinking ). Toronto, by contrast is a massive, multi-cultural and young ( historically ) city so the ties that bind are more amorphous. There is also a gulf between fans and owners that is exceptionally wide ( perhaps matched now by the situation at Blackburn with similarly destructive consequences ). I really admire the " never say die " supporters, they are the lifeblood of any club but with so many other options ( including Sportsnet World ) I have chosen to dispense with the frustration and heartache until a more football focussed FO is in place. Call me a fairweather fan if you will ( something I have never been hitherto with lifelong attachments, often tested, to Norwich and Manchester City ) but I hope one day my sons and I can rejoin the faithful who are keeping the club alive nothwithstanding the ownership situation.

[Oldtimer]

By the way so that you understand the rivalry between Roma and Lazio is deeper then between Inter and Milan, we call each other cousins, we are rivals but there is not the same hate.
E

I know that, a friend of mine is a Roma fan. The hate runs deep.

[tfcleeds]

Try being a Leeds supporter...I support them, week in, week out, even though they're shite. And I know that short of a gazillionaire buying the club, we will NEVER win the Prem League title as long as I live. Promotion to the Premier League and maybe the odd cup run will be as good as it ever gets for us.

[__wowza]

I know that, a friend of mine is a Roma fan. The hate runs deep.

a friend and i are on opposite sides of the old firm. i hear ya.

[Oldtimer]

Try being a Leeds supporter...I support them, week in, week out, even though they're shite. And I know that short of a gazillionaire buying the club, we will NEVER win the Prem League title as long as I live. Promotion to the Premier League and maybe the odd cup run will be as good as it ever gets for us.

I understand how you feel.

I know an elderly English gentleman whose club in England hasn't won anything in probably decades. He's not a supporter or a die-hard TFC fan, but he is a SSH. He was more upset last year about having too many evening games than he was about the TFC's record. To him, having an afternoon of footy followed by some time in the pub with his pals is what is important. His home club in England doesn't win, and he enjoyed football there, so why not do the same here? Evening games wrecked that because it was too late to go to the pub afterwards.

[tfcleeds]

^He could have always gone to the pub beforehand...But yeah...one of the frustrating things is that the kickoff times are all over the place. Although once in awhile it is nice to have night games in the summer when it is cooler in the evenings, but I don't mind afternoon kickoffs myself.

[Torontotonto]

[QUOTE=Torontotonto;1473492]Never expected it to get this bad, however after the epic night at Rogers Centre and advancing in CCL, it was an early peak to our season, then our field general Frings goes down in Seattle, then Frei in training, I got that old Toronto feeling that seems to encompass all of our teams when we are finally looking forward to a season full of promise.

"Through the Highs and the Lows"
Cant get much lower from here I hope.
Onward and Upward Boys...

Success in VI.
how about,
Success in Game VI. <---This...Come on you REDS
might be more appropriate for now.

Edit

[Derko]

Well put. Or a Roma fan become a Lazio fan, or a Man City fan become a Man United fan...

That's called loyalty, is it not, which unfortunately most Toronto fans (all sports) are not. They are, I don't like the term, but bandwagon jumpers that Toronto media has brainwashed fans to be, in my opinion.