A supporter space built by us, for us: Gill’s Story

As part of AFC Toronto's Pride Off The Pitch campaign, writer Kevin Hurren spoke with supporter Gill about helping build AFC Toronto's supporter culture from the ground up, creating spaces where queer fans feel they belong and the community she's found through the Vermilion Vanguard.

Gill was raised to be a soccer fan. AFC Toronto made her a leader too.

Her dad, a soccer coach, put a ball in front of her as soon as she could run. Even as she grew up and studied as a food scientist, soccer remained an outsized part of her life. “I always say that I'm not a sports fan, I’m a soccer fan.”

Yet as Gill–now 25–grew up, the more she recognized the fault lines in soccer’s fan culture, especially as she stepped into her queerness.

“My family started getting involved in Canadian supporters’ groups,” she says, referring to the fan group for Canada’s men's and women's national soccer teams. “But I didn't really feel comfortable in those groups. They’re supposed to be for soccer lovers, but you bring up women players in the chats and you’re attacked.”

So, Gill branched out. She eventually found an Instagram group dedicated to growing and supporting Canadian women’s soccer. It was there she first heard rumblings about Project 8–the effort to create a professional women’s soccer league. “I thought, I need to be on the ground floor of this because it’s something I've wanted to have my entire life.”

From there, Gill got to work. She began messaging social media accounts related to sports or women’s issues to find allies for the potential league. She started attending events around Project 8, some of which included Diana Matheson and Amy Walsh–former soccer players who were at the helm of the campaign.

When AFC Toronto was announced as the club for her city, Gill had one goal in mind: create the kind of supporters culture she always longed for. “Starting from scratch, we were able to make our own rules where we don't have to have the same negativity and in-fighting as other supporters’ groups.”

Fortunately, she wouldn’t be alone in that mission. Gill says that everyone involved with AFC Toronto–from the players to the staff to the fans–share her principles of solidarity and belonging. It’s why so many queer people got involved in forming the Vermilion Vanguard, AFC Toronto’s official supporters’ group. “Within the Vanguard I'm meeting older lesbians and I'm learning so much from them. There's so much queer history that I just don't know about, especially in women's sports.”

Do you remember your first AFC Toronto game?

Gill: I remember feeling really emotional. Both my parents were there, and my girlfriend came as well. To be playing at BMO field, which is somewhere I've gone to see games since I was so young. The epitome of going to a big game was going to BMO Field. To finally see my own women's team in my city play there–it was really cool.

What about a favourite memory from any AFC Toronto match?

Gill: I remember one November game it had started snowing nonstop. At one point, Diana Matheson herself came up to me and my group and was like, ‘hey guys, the grounds crew have been trying to shovel the pitch for the past 45 minutes–do you think you can come down and throw us some extra hands?’ We literally went down onto the pitch and were helping Diana and her wife Anastasia shovel snow. When the game was eventually cancelled, it was fun to have little snowball fights on the pitch.

How does being queer impact your experience as a fan?

Gill: My favorite thing is walking around at games and just seeing all the visibly queer people in the crowd. It's such a comfortable environment, and one we get to bring other people into. For instance, basically the whole Vanguard leadership team is all queer women, and then one straight guy who does our accounting. We've been able to kind of teach him a lot about queer culture and also women's soccer culture. It’s been awesome to see his growth from being a general supporters’ group member to now a women's sports guy.

What advice would you have for other queer soccer fans who are maybe nervous about coming to a game?

Gill: Just go to things alone. That's what I was doing when I went to all of these events by myself initially. I know that if you are not already part of these communities, it feels really hard to join–but everywhere I've been, it's been super open. When I visit other teams, like when I went to Halifax and was with their supporters’ group the Beacons, everybody is welcoming even though we’re rivals. Just go to a game, talk to one person, and then from there it'll flourish.  

Words by Kevin Hurren • For AFC Toronto

Check out the campaign on Instagram, @afctoronto, see here.