Live Football
By Ronan Cordelle
Since I was a kid, live football has been a big part of my life. When I look back I have no idea when or what my first game was, it just seemed like I always had gone . Shelbourne FC is our club. My Dad and Grandad were fans before me and my Uncle played for Shels reserves back in the 60's. It created a wonderful bond with my father, it's something the two of us will always have. I have many vague memories of being in long lineups outside a battered football ground shuffling along and being allowed to jump over the turnstiles as they used to for kids back then. At half time on cold wet winters Dad would buy the only food available, which would be a bovril(beef broth) and a bap(bread roll).The standard of football wasn't brilliant and more often than not it was like watching pinball but it was wonderful and I was in awe of what was happening on the pitch and the crude language I would hear from the crowd that was not to be repeated at home.
As I grew older and was in my teens /early twenty I pulled away and went less often with my Dad. I was more worried about what's cool and what my friends thought than hanging out with my Dad on a Friday night. I now had other things on my agenda, parties to go to, girlfriends, DJ's to watch and everything else young guys do. It was way easier to sit in a pub and sink some pints while watching the world best on TV in the premier League on a Sunday nursing a hangover than standing in the rain on a Friday night watching part timers with 1500 other people in a half empty stadium.
As I got a little older and more settled, meeting up with Dad and going to the game became more regular when I didn't have plans. I lived quite close to a rival club of the one I supported and my house mate was a fan so we used to go there quite a bit as it was cheap and easy. Live football was back in my life again.
Roll on a few years and because of the recession in 2008 I decided to up sticks and move to Canada. Again I was partying like a man with no responsibilities and live football was low on the agenda. I went to see the team down by the lake occasionally but it never grabbed me. It was cold and impersonable, a little plastic and not what I was looking for. I brought my Dad a few times when he came over to visit me and it was extremely alien to him. A year or so passed and I had met my wife and was in a different stage of life, We had mortgages and bills to pay and staying in was the new going out. We had moved up north away from the big city and for a decade I settled into suburban life of cutting the grass, cooking dinner, walking the dogs, working my 9-5 and the odd vacation to but something inside me was yearning for the bovril, the 50/50 balls, the highs and lows, the elation of that one moment of magic in a dull game that makes it all worth while. It was an itch that needed scratching. When you emigrate there are memories and feelings that you hold dear and there was a hole in my life that had once been filled by live football.
We tried to start out own thing in my new adopted hometown but it was doomed to fail but for one glorious 3-0 defeat away. That had reignited my love for the beautiful game and I didn't want to lay dormant again. The upside was I had met some great people who share the same love for the game, I knew now that I wasn't alone in my pursuit of football without the glitz and glamour. I contacted an acquaintance who I had met through my football misadventure who was a York day 1 fan who got me tickets for my first Nine Stripes game at home to Masters in the Voyageurs Cup. The crowd was awful and it was an empty stadium and somewhere during the second half I turned to him and said "this is shit.....but I love it". It felt right and I had gotten a feeling I hadn’t had in years. I had been bitten by the York United bug and was hungry for more. I understood the club, the fans, the empty seats, the sporadic chants. Between then and now the acquaintance is now a dear friend and I think I have only missed 2 home games since and some of my best football memories are away days defeats with York at TFC and Forge in the pouring rain.
You can take you highly paid prima donnas, your var, full bowl arenas, millionaire footballers and shove them. I want a different thing, lads earning a living wage trying to chase their dreams, I want teams with local talent, I want real football fans in the stands who understand the game and don't chase the glory or the easy option of "supporting a team" from the comfort of an armchair. I want a club who is good to their fans and is open and honest as they can be. I want a CEO who jumps on Twitter Spaces with 10 of us on there to give us the low down, and I want a club where you are not just a number on a spreadsheet you are part of the club. I want a club where I feel myself and the rest of the SG's can really make a difference. All these things can be found at York United.
Pielands is 5,247 km away from where my football journey began but it's now the place I feel most at home. I now still cut the grass, cook dinner, walk the dogs, work my 9-5 and take the odd vacation but now I have an outlet to relive those early years and put on a footy shirt, stand with my friends, drink, eat pie, cheer, shout, cry, sing and everything in between. There really is no substitute for live local football and its just a pity it took me so long to realize
THE CORNER KICK
The Corner Kick is an interview series conducted by Nick Friend. For issue #1, Nick spoke with York United Goal Keeper Niko Giantsopoulos
NF: If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
NG: Veal Sandwich
NF: If you could have dinner with anyone alive or dead who would it be?
NG: Dan Bilzerian.
NF: Worse teammate to sit beside on a bus or plane?
NG: Lowell Wright.
NF: Who has the worst taste in fashion?
NG: Abzi.
NF: Who are you hiding the aux cord or bluetooth from?
NG: Isaiah Johnston (always plays angry music).
NF: If football players had a walk out song what would yours be?
NG: Olivia Rodrigo - Drivers License.
NF: Would you ever consider coaching?
NG: Yes. I’m currently finishing up with my National B Coaching License.
NF: Would you ever change our goal song? What would it be?
NG: I don’t mind it. Keep it.
NF: Who was your biggest supporter growing up?
NG: It would have to be my parents.
NF: What inspired you to choose to play football for a living?
NG: Enjoyed playing the game, and wanted to see how high of a level I could make it too.
NF: If you could choose one organization/charity for your fans to support, which would it be?
NG: The Breast Cancer Foundation is one that is close to our family.
NF: What has been the biggest hardship you have had to overcome to get to where you are now?
NG: Covid-19… have you heard about it??
NF: What motivational quote do you stand by?
NG: Keep it simple.
NF: Where would you like to see Canadian football as a whole in 5 years?
NG: Competitive national team that competes in world Cups, and having a domestic league that is established and continuing to grow.
NF: What’s something you want the SGs to try and do?
NG: Continue growing and get louder and louder!
York United Supporters Q+A
Answers by Namu Yoon
How did you first get into football or other sports?
York United to me is an underdog club, we’re a club that has already gone through a rebrand and we are located in the GTA competing with Toronto FC for fans, it’s not easy but it’s what makes this club special. The greatest part about being so involved with the club is that it is still in its early stages of a club, we’re laying the groundwork for future generations and creating a culture for the club that is our own. We will be able to tell our grandchildren about why the stadium is nicknamed Pielands or why our substitutes are sexier than yours, and that is what make this club so special for me
I got into footy playing as a kid ever since I can remember. I’ve played my whole life, 2-3 times a week, in various teams in Korea and Canada, and have made many friends through playing football/soccer.
I also play baseball and tennis as well, those were my first loves, and really any sport I can, but I’d been watching the WC and WCQs since 1994, followed my local team in Korea when it formed in 1997, and then got into European club football around the 2002 World Cup and never looked back.
I love all things related to football, whether playing, following, supporting, or playing FPL or FIFA with my buddies, but I’m also big into tactics and formations, and I love dissecting the different approaches clubs take throughout a match.
What are some of your favourite clubs or nations to support in football?
For clubs, I’ve followed my hometown club, Daejeon Citizen FC, ever since it was formed. With the hype around the 2002 WC in Korea/Japan, I also got into European club football then, and followed Valencia for a long time, since the David Villa and David Silva days.
I followed TFC since inception from Ottawa where I lived at the time, but the club that really got me into the supporting the local football scene was Ottawa Fury FC, which jumped from the USL PDL to NASL in 2014. This is where I learned a lot about supporter culture, and I continued supporting local football through TFC when I moved to Toronto, and now with York United.
For nations, I support Korea and Canada, my two home nations.
How did you find your current group/position related to football?
I’m with the York United supporters groups, with Centre of the Universe and with Northern Corridor. I had a hand in helping the Centre of the Universe group grow in its early days in 2018, as we had like-minded CPL supporters in Toronto who we united under the “Toronto CPL SG” group on Facebook. We jumped on the York 9 train when it was announced after, and then we’ve really grown again with new enthusiastic members reviving the group as the 2021 season began.
I’ve also joined the Northern Corridor group, as I made the move from North York to Richmond Hill into the northern Yonge corridor, and meeting some really great supporters who we all work with together in the same supporter section at YLS.
How important do you think CPL and YU are to the development of football in the GTA and beyond?
I believe CPL and YU play such an integral role in the development of footy in the GTA and beyond. There are more avenues and more opportunities available for all those dreaming of advancing footy in Canada, which can only lead to greater success for Canada as a whole. We went in one month from having 5 professional football clubs in Canada to 12, the numbers alone tell you that this is going to pay off both in the short term and in the long term.
It’s been incredible to see the explosion of new supporter groups, websites, podcasts, and journalists and players and fan accounts all come up across Canada due to the advent of CPL.
When and where did you first hear about Y9/YU/CPL?
I had been chatting about a potential CPL for years on the old Voyageurs forums, about its pros and cons and viability and such, every since way back when, at least 2015. I remember being one of the first people in the forums to call it a Canadian Premier League on the thread and everything haha.
It was such an incredible thing to see when the CPL was initially announced on social media, and Y9 was the first club announced.
What made you first get into Y9/YU/CPL?
Simply, I believe in the importance of Y9/YU and CPL to the growth of footy in Canada, and I believe its success is paramount for the sustained long-term excellence for the sport in Canada. Obviously, even without the CPL, the MLS clubs and the L1O clubs and all the youth clubs and NCAA and etc have all done an excellent job of contributing to Canada’s success at the moment.
But I believe that the CPL (and U Sports) will add even that much more over the short and long-term to the growth of this sport in Canada. With pro clubs coast to coast, we will have more players coming through to make an impact on the national team pool for years. And for that league to have a club in the GTA, and playing in North York where I was living, it was completely natural for me to jump on this team
What were your first impressions of Y9 or YLS or CPL?
I admit, the Y9 moniker at first was an eye-catcher, but it grew on me as the year went on. I thought we had awesome kits and badge, and I think having a unique name was fun, but it was still a name reminiscent of some of the Bundesliga clubs with the numbers in their club names.
YLS is cool, the location is pretty good for me, being relatively close to the highways, and an easy transit stop. I didn’t like the track that was there in the first year, but I really liked the supporter stand we used to have, and I saw Gen IX just absolutely kill it with the atmosphere there. The food and beer trucks added to a carnival atmosphere, and that’s truly what we want to strive to create, a carnival in the York Region.
What do you enjoy or like the most about YU or YLS or CPL?
I like the fact that YU reps the GTA and the York Region in the CPL, but it also reps North York as well. YU is probably one of the few rare entities that helps put a concrete identity for the York Region. I do also like that YLS is on the border between Toronto or North York and Vaughan. It kind of connects that world between the city and the suburbs, and as an immigrant, I’m always used to being in between or being a bridge between different places or different cultures.
I also like the fact that every fan and every voice for YU makes even that more bigger of an impact for a smaller club like YU, every fan is hugely appreciated, every YU fan out there is truly helping grow soccer in Canada. I also like the fact that CPL helps make natural easy rivalries to cities close by. We all know a huge part of being a TFC fan is its derby with Montreal, and rivalries are made even easier in a Cdn league, with YU fans generally giving no love to Hamilton or Ottawa fans, unless circumstances dictate otherwise. We might be rivals, but we are also CPL fans together.
What’s been your favourite experience at YLS or with YU so far? Share a favourite story of YU/Y9 with us if you like.
My favourite game of the inaugural 2019 season has to be the Montreal home game for the Voyageurs Cup/Canadian Championship. We had so many supporters and fans come for the match for $9 or for free, and it was a party everywhere, the supporter stand was packed to the brim with FCK MTL shirts everywhere, it was magical. And oh yeah a bunch of us jumped the billboards to go celebrate with the players when we went ahead 2-1 haha. I did the away trip to Montreal for the 2nd leg as well, it was an epic away trip, we had about 50 supporters/family/friends travel, and I still remember that trip vividly.
For 2021, the away trips we made to BMO Field and Tim Hortons Field were epic. Tim Hortons Field, it was easy to bring the noise, even in the rain, we were all singing for 90 no pause. For BMO, it was a very surreal experience being in the away section, with the added howling windy rain, but we had green smoke and YU supporters just filing up the section, it reminded me how much love fans have for YU and CPL.
Who’s your favourite YU player at the moment? Who’s your favourite YU/Y9 player from before?
My favourite YU player for 2021 was Max Ferrari for his hustle and dedication to the game, he doesn’t seem to have a weak spot in his game, he is truly a 2-way winger for both offense and defense. With this 2022 season having kicked off for a month, I’m really starting to appreciate our defense which has started on fire. All the players have been great, I’ll give a shout to Chris N’Sa, as I play RB like he does, and he’s shown just how much of a shutdown defender he can be.
My favourite Y9 player from the inaugural season was Wataru Murofushi, I loved his consistency and his metronome or conductor-like play, he really made the midfield tick, and he also had nice little cute through passes that would set the forwards free.
How do you think YU will do this 2022 season?
I think YU will do better than our 4th position from 2021. We finished midtable the past 3 seasons, but I think this is the season where we can break the hump. We have Martin Nash, who I already knew from Ottawa and lots of us are well aware of his work in Calgary, and we have all 7 of our internationals we signed up come in.
I think Martin Nash originally had a plan to give us even more flexibility in our shapes with both the 4-3-3 and the 3-4-2-1 that he talked about preseason, and we thought he will likely have our team press even more aggressively than Jimmy Brennan did. Jimmy did a great job putting the youth together and overachieved in 2021, and these players will take it up another notch for 2022.
Now that we have seen a month of YU in 2022, I think Martin’s changed his plans after seeing the preseason, and we have mainly stuck with a 4-2-3-1, with a bit of 3-4-1-2 mixed in. The key philosophy seems to be that all 10 outfield players are committed to defense, I truly see every player out there hustling on defense, and I think that’s contributed to our team defense starting the season so well.
What is one thing you’d like to see different from YU or YLS?
What I said in February was that I would love to see YU step up its marketing game compared to the previous 3 years, even from the pre-COVID days of 2019. I had hoped at the time that we will have seen YU ads on the TTC and GO, that we will have YU ads all over Highway 7 in Vaughan and R Hill, and along Finch or Steeles or Yonge or wherever in the Region and in North York. Looking now in May, I think YU went hard on TTC and on DAZN the last few months, and those were excellent choices. It still holds true, if we want the fans to come out physically to the game, then YU has to physically get out there with its branding and marketing.
With YLS, I had hoped in February that we would be enjoying a newly built supporters stand, and some food and beer trucks returning, and a bigger focus on a carnival atmosphere for matchdays, and now in May, I have seen that we mostly certainly have! The club staff have really gone their way to help make the atmosphere more lively on all fronts, kudos to them, only thing I ask now is a few more food and beer trucks. But seriously, I know it’s been very difficult for the club due to pandemic restrictions, so kudos to them for working through all of that, and we all know it will only improve from here on now.
What do you hope to see from YU in the near or long term future?
What are your thoughts on the big plans at Woodbine?
I’d love to see YU’s attendance grow as soccer fandom in Canada grows, especially for local football. Everything we do is with that in mind, including this fanzine. We are trying to do what we can to keep the supporter groups growing, while also spreading the word among our friends, teammates and family. We know YU and its staff are doing everything they can as well, and I hope they are backed in everything that they want to do, because we know how fanatic Toronto, the GTA and
the York Region is about footy, soccer fans are truly everywhere.
The Woodbine plans are incredible, we are truly excited as a fanbase by all the potential that may come out of this. At initial glance, this makes it easier to bring friends and family, as the racetrack/casino makes it a natural pre or postgame for all of us coming out to YU. I can even take the kids to Woodbine Mall, though I do remember hearing the sad news that the fantasy fair thing there has closed down, dang it haha. The fact that the stadium and training grounds may host the national teams and/or a women’s team as well is all huge for YU as well.
So when is YU winning the microwave plate? Any last words you’d like to share with fellow YU fans?
Why not this year ;) YU is here to surprise and disrupt the party, and COTU and NC is here for the party.
And for those reading, if you’d like to join the supporter groups, you can join us anytime, just feel free to walk on over or come say hi. Or, there is online chatter about YU everywhere, whether FB, IG, Twitter, Reddit, Discord, Slack, forums, we are chatting YU everywhere, so come join in, and let’s grow footy in Canada.
