Murray Wood: What the stars of the World Cup could learn from four-year-olds
Murray Wood says despite what his granddaughter's soccer team lacks in skill - or even understanding of why they're on t...
VANCOUVER — When Rob Notenboom first got involved with Canadian soccer supporters group the Voyageurs around 2005, he had no idea what it would grow into.
Now the president of the organization, he says fans have embraced the men’s national team during the World Cup in a way that’s exceeded his “wildest expectations.”
Thousands of fans have joined Voyageurs-led marches through Toronto and Vancouver, and on Wednesday they’ll be out in force again, marching to BC Place for Canada’s match against Switzerland.
Notenboom says the Voyageurs will be honouring Canadian midfielder Ismaël Koné, who suffered a broken leg in last week’s match against against Qatar, and they’ll print out 3,000 cpoies of Koné’s number 8 to display during the match.
He says the group has also been working on a banner to hold up during the game in honour of Koné.
Notenboom says the goal is to show players that supporters “have their backs 100 per cent.”
He helped lead the march in Vancouver last Thursday and said he did not realize how big the crowd behind him was until he saw videos the next day.
“It was just massive,” he said. “It was really something. We’re quite proud of that actually.”
The group has been planning its events in Toronto and Vancouver since around December, but Notenboom said he did not anticipate the swell of support that came when the tournament kicked off.
The energy generated by fans at the marches has been palpable.
Chanting, drumming, waving flags and smoke cannisters and dressed in red, thousands of fans joined the Thursday’s march down the “last mile” to BC Place.
Voyageurs organizers have been leading the crowds in cries of “allez les Rouges,” and other call-and-response chants.
Notenboom said Wednesday’s march, which assembles at 9:30 a.m. and will depart at 10 a.m. from around Quebec and Central streets, “will still be huge.”
“There’ll be tons of energy and the stadium itself will once again be this incredible sea of red,” Notenboom said.
Wednesday’s kickoff is at noon. If Canada wins or draws, they will be playing their round-of-32 knockout match on home turf in Vancouver.
Membership of the Voyageurs grew when the men’s national team qualified for the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022, but numbers surged again as soon as ticketing began for 2026, Notenboom said.
“It’s just such a moment, and so interest has never been higher. We can kind of barely keep up with it, but we’re more able to handle that now.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2026.
Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press
