Before MLS, there was the NASL

southsloper

southsloper

Active Member
Aug 25, 2015
148
Bah -- I'm ashamed to admit I was *not* a football (soccer) fan back then. Sure I was aware of the Caps then, but did not get to enjoy their championship season, nor the rest of their history during that era...
 
RRS

RRS

Member
Sep 26, 2016
67
southsloper said:
Bah -- I'm ashamed to admit I was *not* a football (soccer) fan back then. Sure I was aware of the Caps then, but did not get to enjoy their championship season, nor the rest of their history during that era...
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It was a different era, that's for sure. The Caps were getting 23-24,000 per match regularly, and selling out around 27,000 at old Empire Stadium. It felt like 40,000 fans each and every time. BC Place is a beautiful facility, but sadly it's cavernous space makes even a good crowd of 20,000 feel like half that number.
One summer day, when I was like 12 years old or so, my friend and I went to the local park to kick a ball around, and who shows up to play an impromptu cricket match, but the Whitecaps. Spoke with Bruce Grobelar briefly, watched for a while... best summer day I can recall.
 
T

TKBC

Established Member
Aug 21, 2015
1,256
BC Place is a terrible venue. Nearly impossible to get me to go back and watch a game there having grown up watching games at Swangard. BC Place is terrible. Whitecaps HAVE to get outside!!
 
Admin

Admin

Administrator
Feb 23, 2015
392
Empire was awesome - had season tickets back in 79/80/81

They used to have youth teams play before matches - we played a couple of times (as well as being ballboys)... the crown on empire was so much that I could only see the head of a team on the touchline across the field.

I had season tix for MLS first year... the temp stadium at Empire was soooo good, as soon as they moved to BC place, the aura was gone for me. Haven't been to a game since.
 
RRS

RRS

Member
Sep 26, 2016
67
Admin said:
Empire was awesome - had season tickets back in 79/80/81

They used to have youth teams play before matches - we played a couple of times (as well as being ballboys)... the crown on empire was so much that I could only see the head of a team on the touchline across the field.

I had season tix for MLS first year... the temp stadium at Empire was soooo good, as soon as they moved to BC place, the aura was gone for me. Haven't been to a game since.
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LOL -- haven't thought about that crown in decades! Absolutely right, it must have been at least 4 feet from highest to lowest point looking across the field. The only thing I don't miss from Empire were those @ss-numbing benches for seating. Thankfully, the team had promo seat cushions, which helped a ton!
 
easoccer

easoccer

Established Member
Aug 27, 2015
862
TKBC said:
BC Place is a terrible venue. Nearly impossible to get me to go back and watch a game there having grown up watching games at Swangard. BC Place is terrible. Whitecaps HAVE to get outside!!
Click to expand...


I rather enjoyed going in july with the lid open, except for the direct view to the sun I had.
 
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