With tensions rising over the actions of the U.S. administration, how will Canadian sports fans react once the boo-birds cease their catcalls?
Gone are the days when thousands of Vancouver Whitecaps fans would flood across the border to represent their team at Cascadia games against the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers.
It’s dwindled to hundreds, then dozens in the past few years — though around 400 still attended one game at Seattle’s Lumen Field in 2024.
For last October’s wild-card playoff game, the Southsiders’ supporters group chartered a bus to ferry 60-odd members south to Providence Park, but for the upcoming season-opener in the same stadium, scratch the bus rental. They could probably make due with a Toyota Corolla.
“I think we’ve sold maybe five seats so far? As far as I know, there’s only like 20 (away) tickets sold total for that game. So it’s definitely down,” Southsiders president Peter Czimmerman said of the Feb. 23 fixture.
Sure, the state of the team plays a role in that. A spate of mid-pack finishes, the firing of a coach popular with the fans and the ‘for-sale’ sign stuck to the club are the most recent actions in years of erosion. The enfeebled loonie and ballooning inflation have also played their part in the attrition.
But the increasingly turbulent political climate south of the border has fans calling for a total and complete travel boycott.
But Trump’s recent attempt at bullying Canada with a tariff on goods backfired, becoming the final nail for Caps fans, and pretty much the entire country. It united the country in a way probably not seen since the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
Anti-American sentiment has surfaced in sports with Canadians booing the Star Spangled Banner lustily at events across the country.
While Sid the Kid’s Golden Goal against the U.S. in 2010 was part of a long-standing rivalry, it’s never escalated to the outright nationalistic animosity playing out across Canada now.
Ian Furness, host of the new Kraken Hockey Network, paid special attention during the anthems, and was unsurprised when there was no booing. He doesn’t expect it to change when the Kraken host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 5, though if there was a team that deserved booing by anyone and everyone, it’s the Leafs.
“I can’t fathom that happening,” he said. “I would be really surprised if that was the case.”
It’s not because the Americans are a magnanimous bunch. It’s mostly because they really don’t care.
“I just don’t think it’s a big deal for us here. I really don’t,” said Furness, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen who grew up watching the Canucks on CBC and has a Canadian mother. “Obviously it’s a significant thing in Canada, where they’re booing the national anthem. I get that. I think we all understand that, but down here, frankly, we’ve got enough issues in our country. We’re trying to find eggs right now. We can’t find eggs on the shelves. We’ve got enough stuff going on.
“I do a daily sports talk show. And it’s not something people have brought up — at all. For us down here, from what I’ve seen, it’s a non-starter.”
The Americans are, of course, fiercely protective of their national anthem. Just ask Colin Kaepernick. Or even Seattle Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane, who was inundated with hate for kneeling in solidarity that same year. Those actions were seen as an insult to the country.
The boos for the anthem aren’t directed at Americans but the current administration hell-bent on destroying its global alliances and the part of the country who elected Trump.
It doesn’t take a political science major to pick up the subtle clues that you’re in a different country when crossing the Peace Arch border, like the massive Trump billboard two minutes up the I-5.
And while the gulf is there, Furness doesn’t think it will be a permanent one.
“I would be sad if it affects fans coming down for Whitecaps and Sounders games, or Canucks and Kraken games,” he said. “We’re just now starting to see a little bit of a rivalry build up with Vancouver (Canucks).
“When the Canucks were here (last month), the atmosphere was probably as good as it’s ever been for a Seattle-Vancouver game. It was awesome. There were enough Canucks fans in attendance to give us a different kind of atmosphere. It was just a great atmosphere, and it was a great game, great party. Let’s build this rivalry. That’s what it’s all about. I hope it won’t go away. I trust it won’t be going away from our side, for sure.
“I truly understand the frustrations with people. I also understand, politics in the U.S. are never forever. If you disagree with something, just wait a minute or two, because it’ll probably change. And that’s kind of how our country works.”