I'm not naive enough to think there won't be problems with the club and the league as a whole. The name is trying to force an identity that doesn't exist, the stadium location is a huge detractor, the level of play will be lower than even I anticipated, having to fly across the country is a huge obstacle, and I'm not convinced that ownership is really committed on the soccer side of things. Hell, there's rumours that the Ottawa Fury's GM is on a mission to single-handedly destroy the league.
In addition to the (seemingly) consistent feedback on the problems, throw in things like the constant, incessant banter from Edmonton supporters, and other supporters groups hammering our group for not being ultra enough, and it kind of makes me wonder why I bother.
As for yesterday's game itself...
When I ran into Ian Allison, he mentioned they had sold around 1500 tickets, and I'd guess about 1200 were at the game. Given the many reasons people cited that they wouldn't go before the game (weather, stadium location, ticket prices, level of play), I think that was a decent crowd. Lots of people were buying Cavalry gear and there were huge lineups for food and beer, so that is promising as well.
I thought both supporters groups were fairly even in their boisterousness, which is a success in my books given that in April they outnumbered us 4 to 1 in our own stadium, which was an embarrassment in my books.
As for the venue, I'd say the experience was quite positive. The shuttle bus from the Somerset-Bridlewood station was remarkably efficient. All you have to do is park in the park n ride, walk over to the Spruce Meadows bus, and 10 minutes later you're walking through the ticket gate. Once passing through the ticket gates we were led through a heated merchandise building, which I thought was quite smart. Members got a swag bag which contained a Cavalry backpack, car decal and air horn. I can't say much on the stadium as it's very much unfinished, but the grounds outside of the stadium were tremendous. The view from the supporters section was decent, and the sunken bowl helped block the wind, which made the temperature more pleasant. There was some indoor seating with bleachers inside of a building on the East end, but most people chose to sit on the hill instead. My biggest complaint would be the significant amount of time it took to get food and drink at half time, and the lack of washrooms near the south end of the stadium.
I think there's a lot of promise with this club.
