Breaker Breaker

Was lucky enough to hit the airwaves today and talk shop on 'The Hook' with London's own Norman James on AM980. My alter, more positive, ego talked about the Reds and their game against Real Madrid. I've never done something live like that so I was a bit worried I'd be all "Deerrrr meeeehhh Ronaldo bllahahah" but I managed to string together quite a few sentences! You can check it out here.

The only thing I didn't get into, which I wish I had, was what happens after this game to 'raise the profile' of football in Canada. I don't think one person, one team, and especially one game can do this. It might in the short term, but ultimately it's developing successful Canadian players and Canadian teams that will grow the sport here. I can think on a personal level the likes of Paul Stalteri in 2003/04 at Werder Bremen, Julian De Guzman in 2007/08 at Deportivo and Christine Sinclair ... well for most of her career, as players who have raised the profile of the sport in this country. Teams like the 2002 U20 woman's team and the Montreal Impact's 2008 Champions League run received massive exposure. When Vancouver, and hopefully Montreal, join MLS, we will have three teams that get the nice glossy marketing and promotion that comes with being in the league. Maybe Hamilton, London, Quebec City or Victoria will get a USL1 team one day, and that would be amazing for the players and game here. But in terms of exposure and 'raising' the profile of the game, I still think the operative word is SUCCESS. Real Madrid won't come in here, wave a magic wand, and *poof* football is #1 in Toronto. This task falls on the players, team and organization - and when they are successful, by winning games and trophies, then I think we will see (well, continue to see) the game growing here in Canada.

So in celebration of the Real Madrid spectacle today I put on ...


MALAGA C.F.!! Anyone? Anyone? Come on, they have a player named POPO - nuff said.