Canadian soccer fans, and fans worldwide, were hit with an inevitable reality in late October. In a subtle Instagram post akin to her character, Christine Sinclair announced her international retirement.
Within 24 hours of her farewell tour announcement, Canada's leading supporters' group, the Voyageurs, organized an online fundraiser to produce one final tifo (banner) honouring her storied career. The registered non-profit has livened national team atmospheres for over 25 years, typically using membership fees and merchandise sales to cover costs.
The organization's president, Rob Notenboom, revealed that tastefully and successfully honouring Sinclair's final match at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver proved "a different animal." Alongside the occasion, tifo plans remain a secret before kick-off, which added pressure.
"It's a big, big event, and you only have a player like this not even once in your lifetime; there might be a player like Christine Sinclair only once in the history of the game," said Notenboom, a Regina resident. "Publicizing it was something we did for practical reasons but also a bit self-consciously.
"Now there's expectations. Not that there shouldn't be, just that we're a small group, we have limited funds, limited volunteer hours and a really short window. [Some tifos] have taken months to construct, to get all the material … we had six, seven weeks."
Over $2,000 was raised to ensure this particular visual held its merit. At the end of the Canadian national anthem, a three-part piece was unveiled over the tunnel, each roughly 35x50 ft. Sinclair was shown breaking through a Maple Leaf in celebration with her kit number, 12, on the flanks.
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"Because Canada is such a huge country, not everybody can get to the games [but] people still want to be involved. And this way, somebody can say, 'I had a role in doing this thing,'" Notenboom said.
Roughly 30 supporters nationwide communicated via text, email, Slack, WhatsApp, X/Twitter and Facebook to discuss the plans.
Annie Hart, a Toronto-based communications coordinator with 25 years of experience in design, gathered various requests and produced something glamorous yet practical. She and her partner are known as 'the Banner Factory' in the Canadian soccer scene.
"There's a lot of support from all parts of the country for this," Hart said of the process. "Getting 30 people to work together on anything can be a bit of a thing. But to have them working together to build a tribute is a pretty beautiful thing to watch.
"I have a personal mandate to connect with Canadian soccer supporters across the country. To help them embrace their vision and bring it to light to honour someone who has been absolutely transformational for our sport, I'm very lucky to have this opportunity."
WATCH | Sinclair makes her final exit from the pitch for Canada:
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Using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Hart spent up to six hours refining the style and colour in her free time before the group approved the design. Roughly a dozen fans in Vancouver then projected the image onto fabric and painted by hand.
Working until 2 a.m. to ensure the piece was ready on time was common, and over 20 people spent roughly three hours arranging the heavy yet extremely delicate banner the day before.
"The pressure is to give the right deliverable, to make sure they get the right artwork, and to do justice to their vision. But timing-wise, I don't need to sleep. My slogan is sleep is for the well-rested," Hart joked. "[Tifos are] our way of expressing how thankful we are and how much we support the players and respect them."
Lending to the atmosphere
Zach Meisenheimer, of Fraser Valley, B.C., was one of the supporters responsible for piecing together the final product. He quickly credited the talents and skills of the entire group involved for their determination to complete the task under pressure in their free time.
A trip to Germany in 2003 ignited his passion for animating Canadian stadiums.
"I long for that type of atmosphere, of vibrant, vocally unified, loud, and with visual elements," he said. "I thought, 'I can sit back and hope that that happens and see if, by osmosis, the culture continues to grow in Canada on its own, or I can get involved.'"
WATCH | Celebrities, athletes share messages of support with Sinclair:
Going against regular soccer culture and publicizing Sinclair's grand send-off plan was new to Meisenheimer, but significant funds were required to commemorate the significant occasion.
"Personally, my approach is to not talk about these things," he said. "[But] she's moved the needle for Canadian football in ways that others haven't, and she leaves behind an incredible legacy. In an ideal world, one would want to create a display that's worthy of that.
Notenboom echoed the same pride both Hart and Meisenheimer felt having the opportunity to applaud Sinclair one final time after 23 years.
"It's a little hard to comprehend [her retirement]. But I feel incredibly fortunate," he said. "The message is just how proud we are of her and how lucky we feel that we've gotten to experience so many great moments through her abilities on the field and for her classiness off the field.
"At the levels of football, she's at the very top. But beyond that, she's an amazing person and an amazing Canadian, and that's something that we really wanted to represent. We're so proud of her being one of us."
WATCH | Sinclair honoured in pre-game ceremony ahead of final international match:
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2023-12-06 16:21:29Z
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