Taking in the World Cup in Toronto in all it's glory...
And marking historic firsts for Canada as we make the second round.
When Canada first entered the World Cup in 1986, we could celebrate our appearance but not a game won and not even a goal.
In the 2026 World Cup we are hosting for the first time, won our first ever game and have made it through to the second round. There is also a good chance that if things go well, Canada could make it into the Round of 16, though I wouldn’t like our odds facing off against Netherlands or Morocco.
There are plenty of people who are hating on this tournament because they don’t like the cost or because they don’t like the game. Some people don’t think soccer is a Canadian game, but I’d disagree.
In fact, what I’m writing on here is a bit of interesting Canadian history.
As for the tournament, my advice, embrace it while it is here.
On Tuesday, I had a chance to take in Croatia vs Panama and it was a fantastic game with lots of offence from both teams.
Luka Modric got his 200th cap, meaning his 200th appearance for the Croatian national team. In this video the fans are playing tribute to the man who is most likely the greatest footballer they’ve ever produced.
History in the making…
Back in 1986, Canada being in the World Cup was such an event that for our second game, Canada vs Hungary. My English teacher did one of those moves that kids in the 80s loved, he wheeled a TV into the classroom on a Friday and told us to watch history take place.
I believe it was Mr. Galuska, but my memory could be foggy so if there any grads of St. Jean de Brébeuf in Hamilton who have better memories, drop a comment below.
By 1986 my young soccer career was ending, I was moving towards being a referee for our local club, Mount Hamilton Youth Soccer. I was 14 years old and telling grown men to get off the field and stop shouting or their team would forfeit the game.
I pulled that move a few times as a young teen. It breeds character having to face down an adult more than twice your age and tell them that they’re wrong.
One of the big differences between when I started playing soccer in around 1978 and now is not every parent has an accent. When I was kid, soccer wasn’t for Canadian kids it was for immigrants and immigrant kids.
Initially, my parents didn’t want us playing soccer. They came to Canada in 1968, we were all born here and they decided we should be Canadian kids, so we were put into hockey in the winter and t-ball in the summer.
As an adult, I love baseball and will spend hours watching the Jays, but as a kid, t-ball was awful and since my dad played soccer on the weekends with the other immigrant dads, I thought it looked more interesting.
They let me play and I was hooked.
Soccer hasn’t had an easy time in Canada…
When the game was first played here is apparently up for dispute with Wikipedia saying 1859 in a game between the St. George’s Society, which would represent Englishmen and what they say is a team of Irishmen. Canadian Geographic says the first game wasn’t played in this country until a game in October 1876 between the Carlton Cricket Club and the Toronto Lacrosse Club just steps from where I am sitting.
What’s interesting is that soccer was played in Canada as early as the club teams in Britain.
Sheffield F.C. is considered the oldest club in the world and was founded in 1857, just before our first game. The team my family has supported since their inception at St. Mary’s Parish in The Calton in Glasgow was only formed in 1888.
Despite our early beginnings with the game, it never really took.
Soccer, Football and Rugby all come from the same game…
The original football game is now the least popular, the bastard child is the biggest in the world and North American adaptation is the popular on this continent.
It seems that few people know this but all of these games come from Rugby in some ways which was the first of the three sports to codify their rules in 1845. In 1863, there was a split between what was known as Rugby Football and Association Football, or what we in Canada call soccer.
Soccer was originally an upper class game in Britain.
In fact, the word soccer comes from the upper class school habit of adding ER to the end of a word like calling rugby rugger. They didn’t want to call Association Football Asser, so they took the soc from association and eventually we ended up with soccer.
But once soccer became the game of the working class who were gaining more free time and looking for entertainment, the upper class abandoned it.
Meanwhile, as the split between Rugby Football and Association Football was happening in Britain, the groundwork for Gridiron Football - what is now played in the NFL and CFL - was being laid here in Canada, not the United States.
According to some reports, the first game of Gridiron Football was played at what is now known as Queen’s Park, the site of Ontario’s legislature, in 1861. At that point it was a field owned by the University of Toronto, and in reality it still is owed by U of T even though the Ontario legislative building has sat there since
In 1874 there was a two game series between McGill University and Harvard University where they played one game following the rules favoured by the other school. Harvard liked McGill’s carrying style and the oval ball they used and adopted some of their rules.
Football, as we play it in North America, grew from there.
So much more to say, and I’ve got games to watch today, and of course Canada to watch on Sunday.