The AFC Toronto logo soared high, dancing in the wind outside city hall Friday afternoon as players joined Mayor Olivia Chow to raise the team’s flag ahead of its first home game of the season.
AFC Toronto’s CEO, Helena Ruken said she’s excited for the team to be back playing at home with a crowd of fans.
“My favourite part of the games is actually after the match when I see all the girls lined up along the rails and our amazing players being there and signing every scarf, their hands…”she told CBC Toronto after the raising.
AFC Toronto is fresh off the heels of a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Rise FC. The first-game win is a slice of redemption, as the last time the matchup competed was at the NSL championship last spring — Vancouver captured the title after Toronto gave up a one-goal lead. The soccer team will face the Halifax Tides at BMO Field on Sunday.
It’s yet another milestone in what’s been an eventful past few weeks for Toronto women’s sports teams, which have seen an outpour of support and enthusiasm from fans.
The Toronto Tempo had its first-ever game on Wednesday at Coca-Cola Coliseum. Though the pre-season tipoff resulted in a 83-78 loss to the Connecticut Sun, the Tempo’s debut saw an electric sellout crowd of 8,210 and long lines at merch stands.
The Hamilton-born-and-raised guard for the Tempo, Kia Nurse, scored the team’s first bucket. And, despite the loss, the crowd greeted the final buzzer with a standing ovation.
WATCH | Toronto Tempo lose first pre-season WNBA game to Connecticut Sun:
Toronto Tempo start inaugural WNBA pre-season with loss to Connecticut Sun
Connecticut Sun defeat Toronto Tempo 83-78 at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
The Toronto Sceptres fell short of a playoff spot in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) after a shutout game by the Ottawa Charge in April. Attendance for PWHL games this season increased 62 per cent from the league’s inaugural season.
Ruken said the women’s professional sports teams in the city share the same goal of giving athletes a place to play in Canada, so they work to support each other. For example, she said Tempo players attend AFC Toronto games.
“We lift each other up,” she said.
New teams bring new opportunities, experts say
The city’s women’s sports teams are relatively new to the city, which could be a draw for sports fans, said Alyson Walker, a board member for WISE Toronto, a professional network for women in sport.
She said it’s a way for people who are new to the sports world to become a fan of a team and makes existing sports-lovers feel like they’re getting in on the ground floor of what could become a long-standing institution.
“What you find with a lot of fans … is this sense of ownership [over the team] because they were part of building fandom. They were part of going to first games,” she said.
The teams’ popularity could have lasting effects across the city, according to Cheri Bradish, a professor of sports marketing at Toronto Metropolitan University. She said their success could lead to more sports infrastructure in the city, an increase in sports programming and open doors for more women to work in the industry.
“It creates that, ‘If you see it, you can be it’ attitude,” she said.
“It creates, hopefully, participants and athletes, who really can see sport as an opportunity and avenue for growth and a professional career, which [it] hasn’t been in the past,” said Bradish.
While the hype around Toronto women’s sports is growing, there’s been a push recently to make sure their representation in, and access to, spaces keeps up.
The new practice facility for The Toronto Tempo practice facility will be built on an “underused” parking lot at Exhibition place, the team’s president Teresa Resch and other officials announced at Coca-Cola Coliseum on April 17. (Oksana Shtohryn/CBC)
Toronto Sceptres fans are calling for the team to have more representation in the decor at the team’s home barn, the Coca-Cola Coliseum. Along with the Tempo, the team also shares the arena with The Toronto Marlies — AHL farm team for the men’s professional hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The rink’s decor heavily features The Toronto Marlies, including their logo which is displayed on centre ice.
City making moves to better centre women’s sports franchises
Ward 10 Coun. Ausma Malik, who is also chair of the Exhibition Place board of governors, moved a motion in April aimed at “better [recognizing] women’s sports in Toronto and at Exhibition Place,” by pushing for leaseholders at Coca-Cola Coliseum and BMO Field to display memorabilia and logos of the women’s teams.
“It’s important to me that women and girls see themselves reflected in the highest levels of competition and that includes in the arenas in which they play,” Malik said in a statement following the motion’s announcement, which council passed in April.
Malik, along with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Toronto Tempo executives, recently announced a new practice facility for the basketball team at Exhibition Place. The facility, which will include two WNBA courts, sports medicine and performance areas and player lounges, is set to open in time for the 2028 season.
Walker said as the franchises continue to thrive there will likely be more investments leading to women’ s teams getting their own infrastructure.
“I think the pain that we’re seeing and the challenge we’re seeing is a short term challenge,” she said.
“We talked a lot, even in the last few years about potential … and I think we can now all say confidently that potential has become actuality,” said Walker.
