The dress code for B.C. Place on Sunday was red and white and almost every one of the 53,855 fans who filed through the dome’s doors to watch the Canadian women post a 1-0 win over Switzerland adhered one way or another.
Many wore official merch of FIFA 2015 Women’s World Cup, mostly red Canada T-shirts, while others did their best to ignore the hot temperatures on the first day of summer with acrylic soccer scarves tied around their necks. Others chimed in with Team Canada hockey jerseys and, to prove old wounds do sometimes heal, fans in Calgary Flames jerseys were not a rare sight. Those who didn’t own any sporting attire, wore shirts advertising domestic beer, car dealerships, record shops in distant towns and it was all OK because it ensured the satellite picture of Vancouver likely showed the city as a big, red dot that afternoon.
The occasional Swiss fan was spotted milling about the FIFA Fan Zone set up on the corner of Georgia and Cambie Streets but stood no ground against the sheer numbers of their opponents as their own colours were white and red.
Kathy and Hal Cronk, in their plain red T-shirts and mesh cowboy hats, were thrilled to be at the game. The couple, whose sons all played soccer through the strong Metro Ford ranks in Coquitlam and bought Hal’s ticket for a Father’s Day gift, said they couldn’t wait for the first whistle. Before they headed through the doors to wildly cheer an hour later when Josée Bélanger found the back of the net for the Round of 16 elimination match’s lone goal, Kathy leaned over conspiratorially: “I think this women’s team can beat the boys.”
Red and white went on the faces of Nicole Yuen and Frankie Lunot who set up their paint station on top of a garbage bin near Terry Fox Plaza. Both women spent most of their childhood years on the pitch and said it means so much to have the women’s World Cup in their backyard.
“Tickets are so cheap to the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the experience is the same as the men’s — everyone’s cheering for Canada and it’s such a great atmosphere,” said Lunot who has tickets to all the games at B.C. Place.
“People don’t appreciate women’s soccer,” added Yuen.
“Yes, people think it’s slower,” Lunot said, “And, in my opinion, if anything it’s faster because there’s a lot of urge to score all the time where men are more strategic in the middle. Men, they get hit and they’re down for 10 minutes whether they’re hurt, or they’re not hurt. The women play on, they have something to prove.”
And the women are doing a great job at carving their place in the sport. Sunday’s attendance numbers broke the record for a Canadian national team home match. The previous record was June 6 when 53,058 watched Canada’s opener against China at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.
Even EA Sports acknowledged the growing interest in women’s soccer when the Burnaby-based video game company announced last month gamers will soon have the option of fielding one of 12 women’s national teams in FIFA 16, the latest incarnation of the popular video game.
“It’s about time,” said Lunot. “A lot of guys were like, oh why? But it’s not just your sport. It’s everyone’s sport.”
Canada, ranked No. 8, will face sixth-ranked England in quarter-final action at B.C. Place Saturday which will be the first time in the tournament it faces a top 10 team. Keep those red T-shirts handy.
@rebeccablissett
