Rodrigo Calderon of Toronto says being a local sports fan has been part of acculturating to Canada.Galit Rodan
After coming to Toronto from Turkey to study marketing at George Brown College, Soner Sezer quickly developed a love for watching NBA games.
“I came here and saw that the Raptors were in the NBA, and I got really excited. They just feel like the team of the city, maybe even the country, because they’re the only NBA team in Canada.”
Being a Toronto Raptors fan isn’t just about rediscovering his love for basketball, which Sezer played in high school. For newcomers to Canada, being a sports fan can help develop sense of belonging. While hockey still feels too foreign to him, Sezer speaks the language of basketball.
“Following basketball is a way to make friends and have conversations. I am really bad at small talk. I love the people here in Canada, and they are really good at small talk,” he says.
Whether they watch games, own the jerseys and hats, or just look up the scores to stay current, many newcomers say their fandom of local teams helps them to find a community.
For Rodrigo Calderon, becoming a fan was a way to connect with his adopted city of Toronto as it began waking up from pandemic restrictions and closures. He and his wife arrived in early 2022 after he got a job offer.
“Everybody had been in a closed space and weren’t connected. I had a major itch to get out there and enjoy all the things there are to do. Sports was at the top of my list. I wanted to become a Toronto sports fan. I just didn’t know what team.”
Born in Chile, Calderon arrived in California with his parents as a small child. As part of DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program), he was able to work and had some protection from being deported, but he had no path to becoming a U.S. citizen.
“The program I qualified for, you have to renew every two years and that was about as far as we could look into the future at the time. I was sick of waiting. I wanted to advance my life in some way,” he says.
Calderon had his eye on Toronto because of how vibrant and diverse it is, he says. To find his Toronto team, Calderon “dated” different ones, including the Maple Leafs and Raptors. He settled on the Toronto FC soccer team because of the feelings he got attending the games.
“It felt like the right environment. It’s accessible. The product on the field is great. You can’t have a bad seat. It ended up becoming my favourite team to follow. I have what I call ‘poor man season tickets’. My wife and I have a rule that if I can find a ticket under $20 and we’re not doing anything that night, I’m going to the game.”
He has been to more than 20 games in the last two years, and his son Nico, now 14 months, has a little jersey signed by the coach and a couple of players. Calderon loves how the game gives him a reason to congregate and share moments with his fellow Toronto fans.
For Mariyam Ali, who lives in Mississauga, Ont., embracing sports as a participant has been a path to score new friends. She plays in the Sisterhood Softball League, a recreational league for Muslim women in the Greater Toronto Area.
Ali took up the sport after arriving in Canada from Pakistan because she wanted to meet new people and see how her cricket skills would translate to softball. The bleachers aren’t crammed with fans when she plays, but Ali quickly discovered her fellow players were the fans. “Canadians are welcoming and super courteous,” she says.
Her first softball game was an adventure. Ali missed a catch and was hit in the face with a ball, breaking her nose. “My husband couldn’t come because he was looking after our kids. This community, they were there for me. A few of them took me to the hospital. Later, they came with food. This made me feel at home.”