In 2026 as co-host, Canadian soccer fans will be able to cheer on their own team in the World Cup. Until then, a peculiarly Canadian quadrennial sporting tribal dance continues in a nation of immigrants.
Rudi Ranogajec was among those packed into the jammed Croatian Cultural Centre in Gordon Head, which erupted with passionate cheers Saturday as Croatia defeated host Russia on penalty kicks in the 2018 World Cup quarter-finals.
“I feel amazing, and relieved. This means so much to our community,” said Ranogajec, a guitar player for the band Obala. “There are more Croatians outside Croatia than inside.”
Ranogajec was born in a refugee camp in Italy, as his parents fled communism in the former Yugoslavia. “This is unbelievable. It brings everyone together in our community. Croatia also made the semifinals in 1998. We want a new generation of Croatians on the Island to experience that,” said Ranogajec, a former soccer player, who won the Jackson Cup Island championship in the 1980s, with Victoria Croatia.
Sidney bank manager Roko Nikolic, who also played for Victoria Croatia, celebrates his dual cultures with a tattoo on the back of his right leg of a Maple Leaf hovering over a Croatian flag. “My ticker can’t deal with this,” he said, as the game went to penalty kicks.
Realtor Rob Cvitanovic was among those clad in Croatian national team kit anxiously watching the game in the hall. “The World Cup is great because it brings unity in the world. But this was stressful – my heart was at 96 beats,” he said, while glancing at his smart watch. But the day ended in happy relief.
Meanwhile, the Island’s English fans awoke early for the first quarter-final game Saturday. Those not bleary-eyed on their couches began lining up outside the Irish Times pub on Government Street at 5:45 a.m. ahead of doors opening an hour later.
More than 300 English supporters eventually piled in, despite the wee hour, to celebrate as their homeland advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 1990 in hopes of winning it all for the first time since 1966.
“We had 100 people lined up outside even before our doors opened. It was extremely busy and jovial,” said pub manager Dylan Hagreen, as England comfortably defeated Sweden.
“We ran out of coffee within 15 minutes.”
But not to worry, beer sales began at 9 a.m., about 15 minutes after game’s end. Perfect timing.
“More than 90 per cent of the crowd was cheering for England, so a lot of pints were flowing right after the game,” said Hagreen. “There was a small group of Swedish fans in the corner, but everybody got along.”
With an 11 a.m. start for Wednesday’s semi-final against Croatia, and taps open, pubs and bars around town should be bathed in the red of St. George’s Cross. “It’ll be jammed by 9 a.m.,” Hagreen said.
As would be expected in a city named for the greatest monarch of Empire.
Across town in Gordon Head, there will be a rival watching party Wednesday in the Croatian hall.
But all will be quiet in the Edelweiss Club in James Bay, the venue of so much joy among German-Canadians the last time around in World Cup 2014. That’s the way it goes in sports.
Meanwhile, Canada’s other founding culture will have its World Cup semi-final moment on Tuesday at 11 a.m. with France playing Belgium in an all-Francophone World Cup match-up in the penultimate round.
Cvitanovic, meanwhile, saw host Russia’s run as a good harbinger, even as he was happy to see it end with a Croatia victory. “Does it mean Canada can get this far in 2026,” he wondered.
