‘We have to get behind the team’: Whitecaps fans rally as relocation rumours swirl

Barry Walker has spent every Vancouver Whitecaps game this season leading fan chants and holding up signs that read “STAY CAPS STAY.”

The 75-year-old superfan said the posters replace the ones he previously carried that said “Go Caps Go.” He swapped them out as rumours around the future of the Major League Soccer club grew in recent months.

“Of course we want our Whitecaps to stay. We don’t want them to go to another city, so that’s the intention of the signs,” he said in an interview Friday.

Walker, who said he has not missed a Whitecaps home match in 12 years, has made it his mission to increase fanfare at the games. 

“The crowds are getting more educated. They’re loving the team more and every year is getting a little better,” he said. “The last couple of years have been fantastic.”

Similar calls were made earlier this week by midfielder Thomas Muller, who encouraged fans to fill the lower bowl during games at BC Place.

The Whitecaps faced Sporting Kansas City at BC Place on Friday, winning 3-0.

An announced crowd of 21,777 fans attended the match, marking the 18th consecutive MLS game with more than 20,000 people at the stadium.

Throughout the game, the crowd was engaged, gasping at a near header goal at the 2nd minute, then jumping from their seats and erupting in cheers when Emmanuel Sabbi scored a scrappy goal at the 13th minute mark.

The same energy came at 23rd and 28th minutes, as the team scored two more before halftime.

Fan Kevin Schachter, 42, said it is “huge” for him to have a local MLS team in Vancouver where he can attend games live.

The Winnipeg native said he moved to Vancouver a few years ago and has become “quite a significant supporter since.” 

“I know there’s a risk of losing the club and that would be devastating,” he said in an interview. 

The team made its first MLS Cup final appearance last year, where it fell to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.

New Whitecaps fan Lauren Bugliarisi said it is her first year with season tickets.

“We started following closely after the end of last season when it was picking up and we were winning a lot after the playoffs,” the 30-year-old said in an interview ahead of kickoff Friday.

“It feels like the first team that I’ve followed that has gone far. It’s just nice to get to cheer for Vancouver and see us go far and be doing well.”

Bugliarisi said she feels the excitement around the sport has continue to grow this year as the FIFA World Cup nears. Vancouver will host seven matches in June and July.

“That’s part of the reason why we started following Vancouver as well,” she said of the tournament. “It feels like it’s going to be this next wave of sports for our city.”

Alison Martin, 31, sported a Whitecaps scarf as she made her way to her seats alongside her father. 

They’ve have seasons tickets since around 2015, she said, and have “pretty much been to every game since.”

“I love coming to these games. I find it’s the best sporting experience throughout the Lower Mainland, and now that we also have the (Northern Super League’s) Vancouver Rise, it is fantastic,” Martin said, noting she has seasons tickets to Rise games as well. 

“It just seems like every weekend there’s a soccer game.”

She said the fan experience has grown in recent years.

“It’s always just been so electric. I always tell people like if you want to have a good sporting experience come to a Whitecaps game,” Martin said. 

“If they left the city, it would be really sad and I think there would be a huge gap in the sporting community and the energy of the city.”

For some, including Schachter, it’s about soaking up every minute of live professional soccer in case the end is near. 

“If this is the last time we have a top-tier team, I want be here for every moment of that,” he said.

But Walker is doing what he can to prevent that from happening, and is encouraging other Vancouverites to do the same.

“I think people should know they should come here and watch the Whitecaps. Simple as that, because it’s going to help the team stay here,” he said. “We have to get behind the team.”