America takes a big bite of British soccer

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America takes a big bite of British soccer and savours the taste

JIM MORRIS
Canadian Press


Wednesday, July 23, 2003

SEATTLE (CP) - America took a big bite of British soccer Tuesday night and seemed to savour the taste.

The question is whether Manchester United's 4-0 win against Glasgow Celtic, before a raucous, sellout crowd of 66,722 at Seattle's Seahawks Stadium, will be enough to increase the appetite for professional soccer in North America. "You have two of the biggest teams in the world playing here tonight," said Colin Chisholm, a native of Ayr, Scotland, who now lives in Portland. "If this doesn't get people excited I don't know what will." It was a game and a spectacle rolled into one. It was like going to a performance of the ballet with a circus surrounding it.

Two hours before kickoff Manchester United fans, dressed in bright red jerseys and wearing flags, were partying outside of the stadium. Two young girls had Union Jacks painted on their faces and their hair dyed blue and red.

Not to be outdone, green clad Celtic supporters did a conga line while a bagpipe band played.

A huge roar came from the audience as the two teams marched onto the field. Players from both sides acknowledge the crowd by turning and clapping. Flash cameras sparkled like stars in the night sky in the stands.

It took only seven minutes for the crowd to submit a thunderous cheer when Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the first goal of the match. Also scoring was Ryan Giggs, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and David Bellion.

The crowd was a record for Seahawk's Stadium.

The one player many people came to see was absent. Manchester United transferred David Beckham, one of the world's best known soccer names, to Spanish rival Real Madrid last month in a $41 million US deal.

"He was the main player it would have been great to see," said a Seattle native who gave his name as Jamyang and wore a sweater with Beckham's old No. 7.

Some of his friends sold their tickets, which ranged from $35 US to $135 US, when they learned Beckham wasn't coming but Jamyang wasn't deterred.

"You're still seeing classic soccer and have a chance to catch the English soccer fever," he said.

John Cannon came from Chicago with his six-year-old son Rory. The Dublin native has attended matches all over the world and loved what Seattle served up.

Unlike European games, the spectators were not separated. Manchester United fans sat beside Celtic supporters. Red and green jerseys formed a rainbow across the massive stadium, the home of the NFL Seahawks.

"It's a great atmosphere," said Cannon.

"Europe could learn a lot from this. It's the family atmosphere you get in American sports. It's something they are trying to catch onto in Europe and this is the way to do it."

His cousin Ritchie Cannon, one of around 10,000 Vancouver residents who made the three-hour trip to Seattle, still isn't convinced soccer can rival North American sports.

"How can you compete against American baseball and football because it's the culture," he said.

"In Ireland growing up sometimes people didn't work but they had the passion for football to get your release. In Canada you can always get work and be in Hawaii six months later."

Over 40 buses carried fans to the game from Vancouver, resulting in a three-hour wait at the border. Security at the stadium resulted in long lineups and some people missing kickoff.

Making the trip to the game were people like Jimmy Steel, a Saskatoon baker who has spent 25 years living on the Saskatchewan plains but his roots are still planted in Glasgow and heart pumps Celtic green.

"A lot of people in North America don't understand it, but we will go anywhere - anywhere - in the world to support our team," Steel, 42, shouted over the noise at Fado Irish Pub, where a television showed the black and white replay of Celtic's 1967 European Cup victory over Inter Milan.

An estimated 9,000 fans are expected to make the trip from Britain to watch one or more of Manchester United's four exhibition games in the United States.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs trek to Vancouver for an NHL game they don't bring hundreds of fans with their faces painted and waving banners. The Montreal Expos have trouble filling their own stadium let alone mounting an army of supporters on the road.

But true soccer fans will travel any distance, pay any price, to watch their team. If they can't get into the stadium, they'll cram pubs or congregate outside the stadium.

At last year's UEFA Cup final 80,000 Celtic fans invaded Seville, Spain. Only 30,000 were able to buy a ticket.

Steel, who joked he wanted to be a banker but became a baker when he spelled his profession wrong on an immigration form, said soccer is more than a sport, it's a lifestyle.

"It runs very, very, very deep," he said, between choruses of the Celtic team song.

"There is a lot of your upbringing and your culture involved in following your football team. Especially if it's a big football team like Celtic." Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager who is to soccer what Scotty Bowman is to hockey and Vince Lombardi was to football, said the short distances between most British cities allows fans to travel to away matches.

Following your favourite North American soccer team isn't so easy.

"If you play in Boston, then you play in Los Angeles, the travel distance is seven or eight hours, so fans don't travel," Ferguson said.

"In Europe, access for supporters is far easier, so you get rivalry in the grounds. That creates the competitive element that is missing in American soccer."

Soccer also is still considered a foreign game in America.

"The problem is, of course, America didn't invent soccer," said Ferguson.

"They did these other games (like football and baseball). It makes it difficult to break that stranglehold."

Craig Forrest, the former Canadian international goaltender who played for West Ham, remembers 12,000 supporters travelling to Old Trafford for an April 2000 game against Manchester United.

Soccer teams are compelled to open a certain number of seats for away fans, said Forrest. This differs from North America where professional teams concentrate on filling their buildings with season-ticket holders.

"It would be something special if you could get 2,000 Ottawa fans coming into a Leafs game," he said.

Manchester United has an estimated 53 million fans worldwide.

Peter Kenyon, Manchester United's chief executive officer, didn't rule out Manchester United playing in Canada sometime in the future.

"These things are put together around where our fan base is and where our business opportunities are," he said.

"We know we have a good following in Canada. When we're looking at North America again I see it's feasible we will be looking at a game in Canada."

After Seattle, Manchester United plays games against Mexico's Club America in Los Angeles, Italian club Juventus in New Jersey, and Spanish team FC Barcelona in Philadelphia.

© Copyright 2003 The Canadian Press