U-Sector – The Original Toronto FC Supporters Group

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Monday, February 8, 2010

TFC will sport a star for winning the Voyageurs Cup

Apparently, Toronto FC is the biggest  collection of morons in the history of world sport, for (possibly) donning a star above its crest in commemoration of last year’s Nutrilite Canadian Championship win.

So says repeat Canada-baiter Bill Archer, who apparently hates all things Canuck so much that he finds the time to laboriously pore through every piece of available information on us in order to feel better about being a Crew supporter. All supporters of the Columbus Crew are supposed to hate all thing Canadian soccer, especially the stuff emanating from Hades’ lair also known as Southern Ontario, in case you weren’t completely up to speed.

His blog entry this morning has elicited the requisite guffaws and “yeah, Canada is, like, so stupid and stuff” responses from the lemmings other Crew supporters, as well as from the (other) unenlightened folk who incredibly take at face value anything that BigSoccer’s resident Fox News correspondent writes.

Sure, on the surface, a star over the crest for being the champion of a three-team tournament is ridiculous. But as soon as one delves into the Archer-free auspices of context, it soon becomes apparent that the symbolism is far more meaningful than the self-aggrandizing that Archer and ilk are accusing TFC of partaking in.

Firstly, the star was announced at the CSA press conference detailing this year’s NCC. That is a big point, because it shows that it was not simply Toronto FC choosing to award itself in some sort of footballing equivalent of autofellatio. The CSA awarded the trophy to Toronto FC, the CSA awarded the squandered spot in the CONCACAF Champions League to Toronto FC, and the CSA awarded the star to Toronto FC.

Secondly, the Voyageurs Cup, while short on history compared to many similar trophies around the world (including the hundred year-old Lamar Hunt US Open Cup), is actually taken seriously by followers of the game up here. The Voyageurs Cup itself represented a huge step in the evolution of soccer support in this country, as fans threw their own hard-earned money and created a cup and tournament for the top levels of the pro game here when no one else would. Now that the national federation, sponsors, and television has responded in kind, The NCC has quickly become the highest profile of the domestic cup competitions north of Mexico. That point must hurt someone like Archer, whose own team can’t even muster enough support to fill half its stands for the continental championship tournament, let alone the flies it draws for the US Open Cup.

Montreal wore a Nutrilite "scudetto" in 2009.

Thirdly, and here’s the rub, this star wasn’t simply created for TFC to big itself up, as BigSoccer’s Misinformation Minister is alleging. In fact, Montreal wore a similar scudetto-style patch in 2009 (see image left). CSA exec Peter Montopoli mentioned as much immediately prior to the unveiling of the star (which apparently replaces the Nutrilite “scudetto”)  above TFC’s crest on Thursday.

Where was the outrage and snarky, thinly-veiled bigotry on this issue last year? Oh right, Archer was pre-occupied creating “facts” about Canadians pissing in front of weddings that did not actually taking place. He was far too busy conveniently ignoring the number of Ohioans arrested vis a vis Canadians during the aftermath of last year’s infamous opening match between Toronto and Columbus.

My personal feeling on the NCC star is that it’s just another small step in legitimizing a competition born out of little more than the gumption of a few hardy soccer supporters nearly a decade ago. Yes, our tournament is small and limited, but (if the parties involved are to be believed) the plan is to grow it into something grander. Treating it as a “real” competition now rather than waiting for the rest of the country to catch up to the Big Three furthers the professionalism of the tourney, which is all we can ask for.

As long as the star is only worn during the NCC (and maybe the Champions League, because one leads directly to the other), and no more than one team sports it at any given time (ie. only the defending champs wear it, which seems to be the case), than the “spirit” of the symbol – be it a star or a scudetto – is intact and fully justified.

Posted by Rudi Schuller