Toronto Fans Make Ohio Road Trip
Despite 2-0 Loss, Toronto FC Receives Massive Fan Support
Roughly 2,500 supporters of the Reds made the 700-kilometre trip to Columbus, Ohio for Toronto's Major League Soccer season opener against the Columbus Crew.
For many, the journey began before sunrise at BMO Field in Toronto as they awaited the arrival of 14 chartered buses to the Ohio capital.
The first five hours in bus nine were quiet. Aside from a 45-minute stop at Duty Free in Fort Erie and a less-than-convincing border security inspection, the majority of fans slept after the first showing of The Matrix passed.
Then, after a highway rest stop in the middle of Ohio farmland, beer after beer began to open. They drank a lot quickly, and why not – a pack of six tall boys cost a mere $8 Canadian, tax included.
As the bus approached Cleveland, they started to chant. It lasted about half an hour before they eventually settled down again and continued to drink.
Three hours later, the bus made its much-anticipated arrival at Crew Stadium 30 minutes prior to kick-off. Some were greeted with free beer from a clearly inebriated fan – only one of approximately 2,000 that gathered in a grass parking lot for pre-game celebrations. Some didn’t want to leave the party and decided to urinate along a fence that faced a church, leading to one arrest.
Those who decided to use the washroom continued the party there. One half of the washroom was filled with Columbus fans and the other with Toronto fans. A group of roughly 20 in the Toronto half began to chant “we don’t pay for healthcare.” And as the words echoed throughout the washroom, they decided to take their lyrics one step further by adding another verse: “hope you get drafted.”
The game was non-stop singing from Toronto supporters. They sold out the entire south end of the stadium, as well as a significant portion of the east end. A quarter of the stadium’s attendance was red, and they made our presence known. They chanted “this is our house,” sung at BMO Field during Toronto FC home games, and humiliated the home crowd by singing “C-R-E-W, sorry excuse for a ****ing crew.”
They showered opposing players with red and white streamers when they stepped up to take corners in front of Toronto supporters’ sections and, when the FC was down 2-0 late in the second half, they threw flares on the pitch perhaps to blind the opposing goalkeeper. The game ended 2-0 in favour of Columbus, not quite the result travelling fans were looking for.
Following the game a group of four arrogant Columbus fans decided to walk through the south end of the stadium, making anti-Canadian remarks and proudly waving their black and yellow scarves in the air. They left the scene drenched in beer, one of them with a bloody nose, and remained silent until they left the Toronto section.
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