Our Gung Haggis girls, Linda and Wendy, hold up their souvenir towels with LA Galaxy soccer star David Beckham somewhere in the background down on the field - photo Todd Wong/L.Daly collection
We had a group of 11 Gung Haggis paddlers and 4 friends join us to go to the LA Galaxy vs Vancouver White Caps game featuring David Beckham on November 7th at BC Place Stadium. We were all there to see soccer superstar David Beckham, but the females in our group were more vocal about being happy to attend the game and especially happy to see Beckham. Julie, Wendy, Linda, Jenna and even Keng! When Beckham took off his game jersey to give to a young fan, they declared it a bonus seeing the topless Beckham.
David Beckham at centre field - photo L. Daly
I haven't seen a lot of soccer games. The last time was a White Caps game was back in the 1980's, and it was at BC Place Stadium. But in the large stadium, it was generally easy to pick out the blonde-headed Beckham. The man carried himself with presence. His image was often up on the large video screen. The crowd cheered when he got the ball. And... the entire arena got excited when Beckham took two corner kicks in the 2nd half - but neither were dangerous.
Soccer is a very multicultural sport. It is played almost everywhere in the world, probably even at the research stations on Anarctica. When I was growing up in East Vancouver during the 60's and '70's the best soccer players were the Italian and Portuguese-Canadian kids. They were usually taller and faster than me and my Chinese-Canadian friends. But sometimes we would get together and just have games with Asian kids - then we were pretty well all the same size and still having fun.
Over 48,000 fans attended the game, the 4th largest in White Caps soccer history. I saw people from many ethnicities and heard many different languages at the game.
Todd, Wendy, Jonas and Linda - sitting in the stands - photo Victor/L.Daly collectionAttending the game was a great way for our dragon boat team members to socialize during the off-season. While in the stands, we talked about how much we knew or didn't know about soccer. We talked about learning a new paddling technique, about going to different races - like Hawaii if one of us won that night's $35 Million 6/49.
"Having seen David Beckham play many times for Manchester United, I
found the Whitecaps game a very different experience. I think a lot of
it was down to the enclosed stadium. Although the crowd was far quieter
than your average Premier League crowd (who sing, shout, cheer and
stamp their feet at a deafening level, so you emerge after 90 minutes
with your ears still ringing) the atmosphere felt a lot closer and more
intimate in the indoor stadium. The pitch also looked smaller than the
Premier League standard, although that might have been my imagination.
"On the pitch, Becks was still Becks. He's slower than he used to be, but his right foot still has the magic. In the United treble-winning team, he didn't really stand out because the whole team were so good. In this match, he was clearly a class apart. He can still hit a cross with pinpoint accuracy, and send a ball two-thirds of the way up the pitch onto the toe of the player running for the pass. He's also still a consummate professional, and very much a team player: he never holds onto the ball when he can see someone in a better position.
"The match wasn't stellar football by any means (although the Whitecaps should definitely have won) but with the Beckham show in town, most people weren't really there for the football. Personally, I was there for the memories - and it was a wonderful reminder of the best United team I ever saw."
"On the pitch, Becks was still Becks. He's slower than he used to be, but his right foot still has the magic. In the United treble-winning team, he didn't really stand out because the whole team were so good. In this match, he was clearly a class apart. He can still hit a cross with pinpoint accuracy, and send a ball two-thirds of the way up the pitch onto the toe of the player running for the pass. He's also still a consummate professional, and very much a team player: he never holds onto the ball when he can see someone in a better position.
"The match wasn't stellar football by any means (although the Whitecaps should definitely have won) but with the Beckham show in town, most people weren't really there for the football. Personally, I was there for the memories - and it was a wonderful reminder of the best United team I ever saw."
A man proposed to his girlfriend on the video screen while the game was in progress during the second half. She said yes. But the biggest cheer of the night went to a streaker who ran up the East side of the field, across the North side, then down the West side before he was finally tackled.
The streaker had a good run. - photo L. Daly - Click on this link for the you tube video by Kay.Check out the story on Beckham star attraction for 48172 soccer fans in Vancouver
