For March 30th I'm going back just 2 years to 2019 and Vancouver Whitecaps match up against Seattle Sounders in the MLS.
One of the many advantages of knowing
Shannon Mcconnell-Ouellette
is having the opportunity to visit so many cool places (indeed some are downright freezing!) in North America. With her home being located not so far from Edmonton, Alberta, it was just a short hop to Vancouver (well okay, over 850 miles or about the same distance as my home in Warwick to Prague in the Czech Republic i.e. not actually very close at all!). Something had changed about Vancouver since my earlier visit though. There was a definite whiff of something in the air. An unfamiliar aroma that I found it hard to place until Shannon pointed out that what I could smell was legalised cannabis. Yes British Colombia, and indeed Canada, now allowed medicinal use of cannabis and, as a result, tiny stores offered free medical consultations with the likely outcome of a cannabis prescription. I can't imagine that there would ever be many such consultations that didn't end up with a cannabis outcome. Sore finger Sir? Stubbed toe Sir? Dandruff Sir? We have just the thing!
Vancouver had a lot more to offer besides the weed. The main reason for our visit was to see James Bay live at the University of BC's Thunderbird Arena. He was excellent!
I had already visited BC Place five years earlier but the venue retains a novelty value for me and I was more than happy for a chance of another visit. BC Place is a multi-sports stadium and, as well as being home for the Whitecaps, is also home turf for the BC Lions, Vancouver's Canadian Football team (think American Football but with bigger balls!), It was built as an indoor venue when it opened in 1983 but now has a retractable roof following refurbishment. When I said "home turf" I should clarify that the pitch is entirely synthetic and so wouldn't be allowed to host Football League games if it were in England. It was perfectly acceptable to FIFA for use during the 2015 Women's World Cup however so you do wonder when England's Football League will finally jettison its prejudices and enter the 21st Century (sigh).
Despite being in different countries, the Whitecaps and Sounders play in the same League. Known as the MLS, the acronym stands for Major League Soccer. The two clubs are actually less than 150 miles apart. It's not quite a local derby in English terms but, together with Portland Timbers, the three clubs do make an effort to stir up regional passions (there's a wonderful strapline of "Unrest in the North-West") and Vancouver describe Seattle as their "Cascadian rivals" (the area is close to the Cascade mountain range).
This wasn't the greatest of games and the nil-nil score line tells its own story (as does a 4 minute highlights video) but there was real VAR (Video Assistant Referee) drama at the end of the game when the referee initially awarded the Whitecaps a last minute penalty before being called to review and ultimately amend his decision thanks to the small pitch side screen. VAR at its finest and it's just a shame that the English Premier League still struggles with the technology.
CRB Match No. 2295
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