I've still got my Andy Iro jersey that a friend got for me because I used to hate on him so much.
I've still got my Andy Iro jersey that a friend got for me because I used to hate on him so much.
The first RPB Terry Fox Headshave
Dichio's Army right after the head shave.
Luchador Mask day vs. Chivas
Chicago Trip
Danny D receives the POTY award in 2009
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
I've been here since day one.
I wasn't ever going to get TFC season tickets, I wasn't that interested. I'd been to a couple of Canada international games and there was hardly any crowd, so I didn't think the crowds would be good for a TFC game and atmosphere "nothing like I used to know back in England". It got to the end of December 2006 (it was around the 28th if I recall) and I get a call from a good friend who asked me if I wanted to get a season ticket with him. I thought about it and decided I'd go for it - but when I tried to call him back he wasn't available. I looked on ticketmaster and there were only TWO tickets available in the south end - one single in section 113 and one single in 117. I knew NOTHING about TFC at that stage and certainly nothing about the supporters groups and where they were located.
I picked a single in 113 as it looked a little more central. I think it was actually the last day you could actually get a season ticket. I spoke to my friend the next day and it turns out that he didn't get tickets - he had "changed his mind". So I got a ticket on my own and didn't actually know anybody else who wanted to go or had season tickets. I thought 'well, I'll go and see what its like and if its crappy I'll just have that one season and not renew'.
I then read about the RPB's and U-Sector and found out that the U-Sector was in 113. That actually worried me quite a lot as I normally attend games in non supports groups areas (my season tickets for Oxford were at the side of the field away from the rowdy people). So going to the first TFC game was nerve-wrecking for me - I knew nobody else attending and I was going to the "supporters area".
But that first game was unbelievable. Fantastic atmosphere and noise - I remember the boots stomping on the metal south end steps and it was deafening. The U-Sector and RPB's were great - not rowdy but enthusiastic and friendly and welcoming. I met several people in seats around me and they seemed nice people - some English, some Canadian. They have been next to me ever since in the same seats.
That first season - we all know on the field it sucked - but in the stands it was electric. I have some memories that will live with me forever from that first season - Dichio - seat cushions - the squirrel - that dude who tried to run on the field and shit himself(!) - that unbelievable goal from Dichio on the last day of the season. I was hooked for life. I think I've missed around ten TFC games ever since. I still have my original seat in 113, row 15 - although I've got two extra tickets so my wife and family can sometimes attend also - but I will keep the seat in 113 until I die (and my son will inherit it).
The years since 2007 are a bit of a blur - there have been some brief highs, and many lows. But that's part of being a football supporter. My "home team" Oxford United have spent almost their entire existence in the lower leagues apart from 3 seasons and one win of the League Cup at Wembley in 1986. I know that highs are brief in football supporter terms.
The game on Wednesday stands out as one of my best games I've ever attended. The drama was better than any movie I can ever imagine. It makes the last ten years seem like a second and it drowns out ANY low I've experience with TFC. Andy Welsh, Andy Iro, Aron Winter, they are all minor parts now - this game is what it is all about as a supporter.
I drink the toast with all the SSH who have been there since day 1. We deserve this and we should enjoy it. CHEERS
Yep, I remember hoping a 15 foot high wooden fence (in the rain) and sliding down and bonking my head. Then it was like "I must get to the door to open it before I black out" and everything started spinning.Originally Posted by Jack
Then Joe & Kim showed up with water and snacks. Love those two!
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They are amazing. And Joe sometimes joined us to play a match or two.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
whoa!
Doune me a media guide
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What, no jetsey?
and then who could forget....
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YES!
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Montreal.......remember the RAT?YES!
Follow me...... https://twitter.com/#!/aGeRoO76
"Just like JDG. It wasn't a post-and-in shot, but JDG is smart & experienced" - Carts
Carver's Army?
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Montreal.......remember the RAT?
hell yes!
wow... look at Matty! We're kids
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I fondly recall year one, when it was so rare to see anyone on the street wearing a TFC jersey that I would always greet and high-five them!
I remember my buddy Vic, post-game in the lounge, figuring out how to jimmy the lock on the draught beer keg after staff closed up and left. Handing out coffee cups full of beer until security kicked us out. Good times!!!
These posts elicit tears of laughter and of wistful remembrance.
This is a nice thread. I was thinking about the start of it for me. MLS Cup Finals 2006. Handful of RPB and Usector people at the first get together of TFC supporters. Maybe 30 people at (I think) Scallywags. The beginning of this mental TFC family we still have today. Glad I stuck around for it.
Wow. I have been here for all that. What a ride!
Cheers to all who have suffered since the start and to those brave enough to join us despite all the reasons not to!
Here's to Wednesday and here's to the Cup!
Oh KD and all his glory. Any chance video of him singing the national anthem in Charleston prior to one of the Reds Carolina Cup matches exists. That would be something to watch.
and then who could forget....
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
http://www.break.com/video/ugc/tfc-s...-ending-337625
O, Maple Leaf around the world, You speak as you rise high above,
Of courage, peace and quiet strength, Of the Canada that I love.
Remind us all, our union bound by ties we cannot sever,
Bright flag revered on every ground, The Maple Leaf forever
Haha it did happen!
@FluSH_RPB / IG: @Flush.rpb
The Legendary
RED PATCH BOYS
The first two or three years, there was all kinds of use of "FC", "the FC" (Anselmi used that a lot) ... Cathal Kelly called us the Torontos, which was seriously annoying
Something we did here that's just become part of the paradigm is make the name "TFC" stick. I don't know if someone has an interesting story about this, I suspect RPB leadership sold it to some players, and that turned the tide, but we fought for that name, and we made it stick. (I remember there being amazing unanimity around the name TFC, seems like we fought about everything else though!!)
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Dero scoring the winning goal here in the All Star game I thought was pretty cool (yes I know we had a protest).
And despite all his haters, watching Beckham spraying 60 yard passes on to a dime was pretty awesome too.
No one can forget the legend that is King Dave!and then who could forget....
TORONTO FC, 2017 MLS CHAMPIONS!!! (Still the greatest in league history!)
I kind of miss that - people yelling across the street, asking what the score was.
I've posted this a couple of times, but in 2008 I went to Lollapalooza in Chicago. We had a game on one of those days so I wore my jersey. Literally from the moment we walked into the park to the moment we left, people were chanting/singing TFC chants at me.
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
These older pictures of Joe's are throwing me off.
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
Who would have thought that by buying the cheapest single I could find in the stadium and then sneaking into 112 I would end up making a bunch of friends and memories?
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
Hope you guys don't mind, I haven't posted in a long time, been reading this thread and thought I'd like to share my bit...
Wednesday night I came down solo to meet the guys, and as I came up from the GO station, I had to stop and take a long look at BMO, I then text my buddy that was already there "Oh man dude! I just came out of the tunnel and had a flashback to home opener 2007!", his response, "same bro". I then thought to myself, tonight is for every up and down, and down, and down we ever lived through here in the last 10 years, for sticking it out and never going anywhere, because it was never an option, especially since it was always a guaranteed good time no matter the outcome! And a small part of me too said it was for all the people who in 10 years constantly said "you still waste your time and money on those losers?", YUP!
To be honest, I would've never imagined in a million years, we win the regulation part 3-2 and head to ET. But yet, I found it fitting. And as a part of me heading into that extra time kept telling me it was gonna end like every other season does, in bitter disappointment (especially after last seasons finish), there was another part of me that said, no chance man, we're gonna find the extra gear and crush these fuckers! I think the emotions I, my friends and every single other person around me experienced all night and finally erupting for those 2 goals were (not sure if I can explain correctly) like all 10 years of frustration, a bitter rival, etc, boiling over. I don't know if we'll ever get to experience or feel anything like that again, (I hope we do!).
No one knows what the 10th holds, but don't get me wrong, jobs not done yet, and if all goes in favour of us, Dec 10 will be a date more remembered and it will be a whole new set of feelings for all of us. I can't wait!
^^^^^^^
Felt the same way on Wednesday! I would have never imagined what happened! 10yrs!
There is a concept in behavioural psychology called the “peak-end rule,” which holds that our memories of any given experience are defined not by how we felt about it moment to moment, but how we felt as it ended and how it felt at its most intense. Say you go to Italy, and the first five days are blighted by rain, but the last two are ablaze with sunshine. You are likely to remember that trip far more fondly than had it been the other way around.
TFC supporter life is right now the all-time "peak-end rule" experience.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Who remembers when we ran Gate 3 after the games? Spreading the support and teaching chants to the masses!
A toast to one of the best Mid-Capos RPB ever had:
https://twitter.com/flush_rpb/status/805055638401323008
Last edited by FluSH; 12-03-2016 at 09:44 AM.
What ever happened to key-man he was great?
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Great love does not exist without joy and without great suffering ,that's why One club is worth only as much as its fans !