For long suffering Toronto FC fans and supporters, the desire for a respectable product at BMO Field for many is being held up as a panacea to all which ails the franchise. There is a point that winning cures many ailments, but wins alone will not return the south stand into the bunker it once was and the new alleged friends in high places may not be so friendly after all.
The transition periods from the Maurice Johnstone era, to the Winter and Mariner “far from dynamic duo”, to the now defunct period of Payne, was fraught with disastrous signings, double speak and doldrums of futility becoming the norm.
MLSE bumbled lighting in a bottle, and with some supporters or fans who left, the atmosphere will never return to the same levels of participation. The particular importance of the dwindling supporters’ community was underscored by the deafening silence at the friendly played versus AS Roma in August as independent or FO recognized groups did not attend the match in force.
Many regulars at BMO Field are against the idea of TFC playing friendly matches as the club is once again bottom of the MLS barrel. Even worse, TFC tanked in the 2013 edition of the Voyageurs Cup which should have embarrassed the organization after a severely lacklustre effort against arch rival Montreal.
While Payne paid the price, it was Tim Leiweike’s now right hand soccer man Ryan Nelsen who openly mused that focusing on just the league would bring better results and now whose commentary on the subject has proven to be Monty Pythonesque as the club has been impotent all season.
Supporters have a case to be unhappy when it comes to friendly matches when their team does not play well in actual meaningful competitions. Indeed, not only would they have had to purchase another ticket for a game where TFC is almost guaranteed to lose but would also have to suffer hearing their Toronto neighbours rooting for Roma.
In fact, without home supporters, it was comical how Totti could have stood at centre half making himself a sandwich which presumably would have lead the AS Roma fans to bestow glorious praise for how he folded the mortadella before passing the provolone.
Yet a point made became a plot lost after the apoplectic response by the supporters’ community to half time interview between Jason De Vos and Kevin Payne. De Vos, growing in his role as an analyst and commentator, asked the tough but fair questions regarding upcoming DP signings and the meaning of having friendly matches.
Payne responded with comments about how the team was looking to acquire another Designated Player in addition to current DP fan favourite Mattias Laba and that efforts, despite in the past having failed, would have continued. Regarding the friendlies he stated the friendly matches would continue and supporters should 'get used to it’.
Most MLS teams play these matches and it does not seem to upset the MLS apple cart when they do. Expecting the TFC President to go onto national television hat in hand and ask supporters to forgive their transgressions for playing soccer matches remains ludicrous.
Despite the accusations, Payne and Leiweike were not on the same song sheet, it was the ‘get used to it’ comments which provided MLSE Czar Tim Leiweike the appropriate cover and enough backing of the falsely riled up supporters to fire the now unpopular Payne.
It is not shocking that a President wanted to put his men in place but what should really baffle supporters is that Leiweike has kept the tactically hopeless Nelsen in place with promises of Nelsen’s connections bringing in high priced DP talent as the only carrot to balance out his inability to outwit his managerial counterparts. Arguably, aside from the ‘get used to it’ statement, hiring Nelsen was the worst move Payne made and it is now Nelsen who apparently runs Toronto FC.
Lost in the aftermath in the firing of Payne, the ascension of the tactically inept but politically savvy Nelsen, or even midsummer friendly match, was the possible burying of soccer progress in Toronto. The most damning story emanating from the MLSE head offices in 2013 is the callous casualness with which Tim Leiweike is willing to pave over all the hard work done for soccer in Canada since 2006 by floating the idea of moving the Toronto Argos, participants in the eight-team CFL, into BMO field.
For over a century fans in Toronto desired a professional Soccer Specific Stadium (SSS) dedicated to grow the beautiful game and finally with the arrival of BMO Field in 2006 the game has grown immeasurably.
Soccer, once relegated to box score lines and minor columns regarding European leagues, now frequents front pages in print and online. Children in Toronto have a legitimate pro team to aspire to play for, in a legitimate league that has continually grown and improved, even if TFC has not.
Contrasted to decades of opportunity the CFL and American Football has had, soccer has not reached the zenith of its popularity and has only tapped into a small portion of its potential. Imagine if TFC had a decent team, people would have continued to pay English Premier League pricing because the demand for quality football is there, even if the product was not.
Indeed, not only has soccer continued to grow in spite of the inability of MLSE to put a half decent product on the field, we are beginning to see the fruits born out of the creation of BMO with new young Canadian talent developed in Toronto, playing for Toronto FC and playing for the National Team in Toronto.
Supporters may have been temporarily been bought off with the removal of Payne but the desire to have a professional team in Toronto appears more in jeopardy than it ever was before. Indeed, while a roof may be nice to have, what is the point if BMO Field if it is converted for primary CFL usage with soccer taking a second place, a plastic field installed and supporters forced to use temporary seating?
Despite the phrasing Tim Leiweike uses, the bold truth is BMO Field would become a CFL stadium temporarily accommodating soccer, not a soccer stadium accommodating rugby or American football.
The argument Rugby is played at BMO field and thus American Football would be ok is laughable. In Rugby, the entire field is used whereas in American Football each play begins in the middle of the field and every 30-40 seconds a group of ten or more men push each against other grinding up the middle of the park. Moreover, Canada Rugby only sparingly uses BMO Field and wouldn’t need to have continual weekly or monthly usage as the Argos would.
Friendly matches, even if unpopular in Toronto, are a tool which MLS teams frequently use and many teams play without penalty. Conversely, Tim Leiweike moving the Argos into BMO would drive a stake into the heart of the Toronto and Canadian soccer community, an outcome far worse than Kevin Payne’s meaningless friendly matches.
The ease with which Leiweike passed the Argos to BMO statement should be of great concern. Based on his own statements it appears he is hoping to use the acquisitions of a big name DP and a roof in order buy off the supporters groups with the trade-off being the acquiescence of them becoming second class residents in the home which ignited a rebirth of soccer across Canada.
For all stakeholders, whether it is young aspiring children, supporters of TFC or even the Canadian Soccer Association, keeping BMO Field soccer specific is vital to the survival of professional and international soccer in Toronto. BMO Field has been, and if it remains soccer specific, will continue to be a lynch pin in being able to enjoy, participate and grow the global game in a city where until only recently we finally had a place to call home.
We got used to it. Tim Leiweike should keep it that way.
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