Soccer SuperFans

By: Eric Borsboom, Toronto

I grew up in Holland until the age of 10 when my family immigrated to Canada in 1981. I grew knowing only one sport; soccer. I played and lived soccer. The only other sport growing up in Holland was watching Formula One and every four years the Olympics of course. Soccer was bred into our blood at a young age, and at age 10 in Canada, no one was really interested playing with a young Dutch boy who could only play soccer, and do it a lot better than everyone else.

Soccer was a lifestyle for us and if you were any good, it could transform your life for the better. My father Frans, used to attend all the World Cup tournaments, and I remember when I was 6 watching him and my uncles leave Stuttgart to go and watch Holland play. In Canada it always baffled me how with our multicultural society, we would not have a super team who would have all the big nationally players on it.  For the last 10 years I lived in Tillsonburg Ontario, and helped develop the soccer program for the youth. The new soccer facility and sponsorship was helped very much so by me and my company. I have been wearing orange since the Olympics ended, but I have a weird suspicion that people think I'm rooting for the Philadelphia Flyers. My father Frans and his wife who live in Winnipeg, are leaving soon to go to Africa, they have tickets to 4 games, so he could be my on site reporter, his English is broken, but he will be there.

A group of us Dutch people get together in Tillsonburg and wear our colours eat cheese and drink Heineken and watch the games. Holland has always done me proud as a nation, and I like having that connection, especially when the World Cup starts.