And You Thought MLS Fans Didn't Care

Eurosnobs give MLS a bad rap, but keep your opinions to yourself when Seattle and Toronto fans are about.

- Graham Parker

The main stand is turning a different shade of red. Toronto FC’s fans, as much a part of this underdog story as any player, are melting away to the exit gates. For the past few hours they have watched their team do absolutely everything but score, while restricting Seattle Sounders to precisely zero shots on target. Now, though, as the Sounders’ Roman Torres wheels off to celebrate the penalty that has won the 2016 MLS Cup Final, the sea of red and white scarves morphs into a sea of red seats.

But thinking back to what Toronto have packed into their short history – a history that at times has resembled a desperate gambler playing one more hand in a bid to recoup his losses – what’s remarkable is not the efficiency with which the Canadian supporters vacate their seats, but the fact they were here at all.

Duncan Fletcher, a podcaster and writer covering the team, told FourFourTwo before the game: “If I’m honest, I’m just going to enjoy today. There’s actually a sense of relief that we’re not a laughing stock any more. Whatever happens now, we’ve shown we’re a proper club.”

Fletcher is all too aware of Toronto’s inglorious past. His first blog, Cruel Geography, detailed how “supporting [your] local team means a lifetime of rarely alleviated struggle and misery”. As someone who hailed from and supported Darlington as a young man, Fletcher may have felt cursed when, having emigrated and wound up in Toronto, he discovered a local team no more capable of stabilising any emotions attached to them.