'Hands off our Whitecaps': Vancouver fans make big statement as relocation fears intensify
Vancouver Whitecaps fans showed up in a big way on Saturday.
Not just in terms of attendance, as an announced crowd of 27,589 packed BC Place for a lower-bowl sellout. But in the last Whitecaps home match before FIFA takes over the stadium for the next three months, the fans made a statement.
The march to the match was enormous, as fans held up signs saying “Save the Caps.”
Whitecaps fans begin the march to the match on Granville St. (Vancouver Whitecaps FC)
They’re urging anyone that’ll listen that the Whitecaps belong in Vancouver.
“We see you. Thank you, Vancouver,” the Whitecaps official account posted on social media.
If you were in the building on Saturday, it’s mind-numbing how someone hasn’t figured out a way to make this work.
The Whitecaps have been for sale for nearly a year and a half. We’re still waiting for a new prospective owner to step forward publicly with a plan to save them.
Relocation fears are beginning to intensify, as the vultures swirl above. Las Vegas is building a new stadium with designs of an MLS team to fill it.
“We have a part to play in this,” Vancouver Southsiders board member Wyatt Tierney told Daily Hive prior to Saturday’s match. “The Whitecaps are a community organization first. They bring people together.”
“We know that fan action works,” he said. “If we get out there, we mobilize, we action, we as a community, as a city, we know the ‘Caps are not going to go anywhere.”
Fans hold up “Save the Caps” signs before the match (Simon Fearn/Imagn Images)
Inside BC Place, the fan support was outstanding, as it has been for most of the Whitecaps’ time in Vancouver. Established in 1974, the Whitecaps entered MLS in 2011.
Saturday’s match against the Colorado Rapids was their 19th straight match with over 20,000 in attendance. The team ranks third in MLS average attendance this season — the club apparently not hurt by a front-loaded home schedule due to the FIFA World Cup.
Led by the Southsiders, fans were loud. Fans in the supporters sections and elsewhere held up signs saying “Save the Caps.” A large banner held up before the game said it best: “Hands off our Whitecaps.”
Multiple “Save the Caps” chants rang out through the crowd.
Whitecaps fans send a message: “Hands off our Whitecaps” (Simon Fearn/Imagn Images)
We won’t see the Whitecaps on the pitch at BC Place again until Aug. 1, as the club prepares to play nine straight road games — five in May before the FIFA World Cup break and another four in July.
They’ll do so as arguably the best team in Major League Soccer, with eight wins in nine matches this season.
Vancouver won again on Saturday, putting the boots to Colorado with a 3-1 victory.
“The atmosphere in here was electric today, it really animated the players… We are very happy for the support we’ve got so far this season and we’ve responded on the pitch,” said Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen said post-game.
“The way the support has grown over the years, to see 27,000 fans in the stand shows what this club means to the city and to the people,” added Whitecaps striker Brian White, who is in his sixth season with the club. “It means a lot to us to have their support week in and week out. They were huge for us tonight, it wasn’t an easy game by any means, and having them push us through those tough moments in the game really got us to the end.”
Whitecaps centre back Tristan Blackmon echoed those statements.
“They were incredible. I just saw on my phone that it was sold out, and it felt like that,” he said. “They’ve been so good to us, especially this year and at the end of last year we saw everybody showing up and showing out for us when we were making the playoff push.
“This year so far it’s been incredible, the support we’ve got from the community, and we’ve definitely felt that, especially today. If you were out there you felt the environment being super impactful in the game, and we felt every single fan today.”
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