Kian Gadsby
When in Rome, you do what the Romans do. So, when I was studying on international exchange in Canada, it felt right to join the masses and immerse myself in the culture of the city and follow the sports teams that enthral the locals.
Specifically, I have spent the first half of the last academic year at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The city is a hive of sporting opportunity, and despite a poor start to the campaign from their beloved Canucks, the obsessive support for the team paired nicely with imperious campaigns for BC Lions, Whitecaps FC and the successful launches of both the Rise and the Goldeneyes to create a fervent atmosphere.
With a short time constraint, limited funds and an annoyingly unfavourable schedule (namely the Canucks doing road trips every day that I was free from the shackles of my academics), I was not able to experience everything. However, those opportunities that I was able to capitalise on were amazing and I thought I would share my experience to prove how enjoyable and worthwhile going on exchange can be and hopefully inspire someone to apply and live out their own dreams.
My first experience was different to any I can have back home. Less than two weeks into my exchange, I was invited to head downtown to attend BC Lions against Ottawa Redblacks in a critical Canadian Football League match.
For those wondering, Canadian football is very similar to American football – so similar that they appear indistinguishable to the untrained eye. The sport had the stop-start feeling that it is renowned for, with regular breaks for timeouts, reviews, restarts, adverts and, *checks scorecard* ah yes, a cheerleading break.
However, these are part of the spectacle and add to the charm of the event. Frequent fan interaction games made the breaks fly by, and although it was three hours between kick off and the final whistle, the match felt much shorter. This was aided by the fact the Lions comfortably won, which also made the atmosphere strong with supporters celebrating; happy with how their team had played.
With American Football growing but yet to take off the ground in the UK, this was a unique opportunity to experience a sport that is currently unavailable to watch at home, at least at the professional level.
A day later I was back at BC Place, this time for Vancouver Whitecaps, as the team took on Philadelphia Union in a pivotal MLS clash.
Having supported the team by watching games in the middle of the night from home for the past eight years, it had always been a dream of mine to go to watch them play and that played a large part of my decision to apply to go abroad. Those dreams came true, and then some, as for my first match a Thomas Müller hat-trick inspired Vancouver to a thumping 7-0 win over the league leaders.
Overseas, MLS supporters also have a reputation for being bad, with an iconic video of a Seattle Sounders fan yelling, ‘Fight! And win!’ the only time most English fans have seen anything of the culture across the pond. However, that was not the case with the Whitecaps as BC Place was rocking for the entire game, with supporter groups like Vancouver Albion and Vancouver Southsiders generating noise levels akin to those seen in domestic games back home.
On the field the team were having their best ever season, as they shattered a plethora of records and comfortably rattled off critical victories to finish 2nd in the Western Conference across the regular season. Despite promising that academics came first, it was easy to get swept away in the excitement, so I ended up attending every home game and even joining the supporters’ bus down for the away game in Seattle. That trip was a phenomenal experience, with 250 passionate supporters roaring their team on to a 2-2 draw which was enough to secure the Cascadia Cup, a trophy awarded to the best team in the Pacific Northwest.
Remarkably, the highlight of my time supporting the Whitecaps was yet to come.
Rather than mimicking most European leagues, the MLS operates on a schedule similar to the NFL or the NBA, with playoffs at the end of the season determining the ultimate champion opposed to league position. Although they were fairly popular before this, it was in this spell of games that the Whitecaps truly grabbed the attention of the entire city.
In the first round, the side broke the record for most fans at a home playoff game when they thumped FC Dallas 3-0, before they faced former Tottenham forward Son Heung-Min and his LAFC side in the conference semi-finals.
That game was the most excruciatingly painful, exciting and nerve-wracking match I have watched in my life.
From 2-0 up and cruising at half time, Vancouver allowed their visitors, who had knocked them out in the previous two editions of the playoffs, to get back into the game, with an inch-perfect added time freekick from Son saving his sides’ season. The Whitecaps then had a man sent off and another forced off injured, but staring into the abyss they held on. Inspired by all 53,000 of the fans, who roared every time their nine-man team touched the ball, they kept the ball out of their net against all odds with a heroic final stand and forced an unlikely penalty shootout.
When Son’s opening penalty reverberated off the upright, the roof came off as the fans finally believed they were on the verge of victory. The team obliged, sending the Whitecaps on the way to their first ever Conference Finals which they went on to win. It’s easy to criticise the playoff format, but one thing a successful run does is captivate the city.
The entirety of Vancouver was obsessed with the team for that period, with team colours and crests in all corners and across all streets. Even though my role was very small, it was a glorious feeling to have even played my part in their success. As someone who could be described as obsessed with Vancouver sports, especially the Whitecaps, going to sporting events was always my ambition and definitely the best way for me to make the most of my exchange.
Kian Gadsby
Featured image courtesy of Kian Gadsby. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy Kian Gadsby. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of Kian Gadsby. No changes were made to this image.
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