MLS Soccer for the Toronto Tourist
Toronto FC gives you a taste of Euro-style soccer fun
MLS Soccer's Toronto FC is an attractive alternative to high-priced NHL and NBA games, with a rowdy, dedicated fan base and tonnes of enthusiasm.
THIS IS OUR HOUSE! THIS IS OUR HOUSE! The cheap seat shouts are deafening.
Major League Soccer's Toronto FC have had their house literally shaken to its foundation, as bolts that held together the galvanized metal grandstands, plummeted to the concrete during a game last year. Luckily, nobody was injured. It is believed the club's roughhouse fans stomping on the stadium's metal bleachers contributed to the structure being compromised. Toronto FC is a franchise unlike any other in MLS Soccer, with European-style atmosphere.
EURO STYLE SOCCER with a North American Twist
Toronto FC offers the casual and dedicated ‘footie’ fan alike a bit of Euro-style rowdiness, sans the violence and is the hottest sports ticket in town, especially once the NHL Leafs and NBA Raptors are ousted from the playoffs---the former usually occurring by early March.
Toronto FC capped their season ticket sales at 14,000, an MLS league record and tickets are hard to come by, David Beckham or no David Beckham due to the stadium atmosphere and often raucous fan base. Opposing players who find the 'back of the twine' often find themselves drenched in beer. Corner kick takers are completely showered with white streamers while the peanut gallery drum corps pound away—tomahawk chopping 'Who are you?' 'Who are you'? taunts.
FANS
The Toronto FC fan club, The Red Patch Boys, named after the 1st Canadian Infantry Division mobilized at the outbreak of World War II, march into the stadium en masse, gathering at local bars such as Shoeless Joes, faces painted, belting out Euro-style club songs and waving banners. These fans, with their infectious enthusiasm and numerous songs, lead the team and make life hell for opposition, from the southern end of the stadium. Unlike Blue Jays fans, who leave before the game's done, or Leafs fans, who are content to warm their hands under their arses, FC fans are rabid---and all this, for last year’s nearly league-basement dwellers. 'Dich Heads' wear prosethic penis hats in honor of the FC's forward, Danny Dichio and 'TFC', 'TFC' chants rain down onto the field.
FIELD
Toronto FC plays at the BMO Field, easily accessible by public transit via bus/trolley from the Bathurst or Dufferin Street Subway stops. Tickets are reasonably priced, there are great sightlines everywhere (20,000 seat capacity) and for a stadium, decent food options and dozens of Euro beers to wash it all down. Don’t forget to wear lots of red. At least half the fans sport FC scarves, which can be purchased throughout.
