The AFC Toronto inaugural match at BMO Field was almost perfect.

Almost because the home team fell 1-0 to Montreal despite being the better side for the majority of the match.

The result made it somewhat bittersweet, but kudos to everyone who gave the two teams a standing ovation at the end of the match for playing an exciting game.

Other than that, the lower bowl of the stadium was jampacked with families and friends supporting their new professional women’s soccer team (and technically the new Northern Super League at the same time).

Many mentioned that on such a lovely afternoon, they probably could have opened ticket sales in the upper level.

Granted there was a smattering of support for the Montreal Roses, but the vast majority were there to see AFC Toronto.

There were almost 15,000 people at the match.

I took my daughter, plus one of her teammates and her sister. We sat in the Lakeshore Terrace (i.e. the southend Suppprters Section) and it was fantastic.

Clapping, chanting, and singing along with the AFC Toronto supporters groups, as well as just taking in a stupendous atmoshere.

We knew several people attending the match and made a point to say hi to as many as possible.

The soccer community in Ontario – particularly the GTA and central Ontario – are well connected to each other.

The soccer on the field was definitely energetic and there were many glimpses of the creativity, movement, and skill that should help grow the league as a whole.

Also, the passion and fight the teans showed was a great example for the thousands of young girls watching the match.

Too bad for us, but good for AFC Toronto that they were almost sold out of merchandise at the stadium.

The pregame lineups to buy merch were huge and we preferred chatting with our friends than standing in queue.

We’ll have to order some online as we’ll very likely attend another match or two this season.

AFC Toronto now moves to the much smaller York Lions Stadium for the rest of their home matches this season.

Chances are, they’ll be needing a home field upgrade sooner than later – especially with the level of support we saw on Saturday.

Here are some photos I took to commerate the day!

Thanks for reading! Ciao for Now!