It was a wet, rainy, soggy, windy, cold, (did I mention wet?) first-ever Burnaby Derby in League 1 BC, at the home of our newest rivals, Burnaby FC. (Or as they were quickly coined, based on the stylish logo, the “Burnabeagles” by our small contingent of pirates tucked away in the far corner of the pitch closest to the players’ entrance. (Strangely, furthest from the beer tent.)
The women’s game was first, which saw a number of reunions. Burnaby FC features several former Rovers (we miss them at Swangard), but it also featured the return of one of our favourites, Katie Bishop, from injury. If that wasn’t enough, our young academy player, 16 year old Katie Chan, was making her first start for the big club. (Is there a team in the league with more Katies than us?)
@residualimage/AFTN 
@residualimage/AFTN 
@residualimage/AFTN 
@residualimage/AFTN
There are more qualified folks than me who can describe the action on the pitch. After the Burnabeagles scored early, our Lavender brick wall, Kirstin Tynan, kept us in it, making several acrobatic stops. Conditions weren’t great, and at one point we got death-stared by one of the black-clad hosts for suggesting that she take care on the throw in due to the wet ball. (Later on, we made a similar remark to our former defender, Molly Quarry, who appeared much more appreciative of our helpful advice. We do miss Molly at Swangard.)
@residualimage/AFTN 
@residualimage/AFTN
Anyway, Devon Kavanagh knotted things up in 66, and it looked like that was how it would finish. I’ll spare you all my rants about a game with a clock not ending when the clock runs out, but then allows a referee to add as much time as they feel like at the end. Despite our howls of protest to the official, (and despite Burnaby FC not having a working game clock), play continued with a corner well after whatever “discretionary time” should have been allowed, and former Rover Mia Pante (we do miss Mia at Swangard) reached into our collective chests and ripped our still-beating hearts out (figuratively, gang) as she smashed home a rocket at the end of a bit of pinball in the box, just before the referee called it a day.
The players deserved better than 0 points.
More rain, a few more folks, and a distinct lack of food options marked the break between matches, as a few pirates dug into some fancy popcorn from the food truck on site, and shortly after we welcomed our top of the table, undefeated men to the soggy pitch.
In addition to the rain, wind, cold, we added dark to the process. We may have heard one of the professionals on hand to document the game in photos bemoaning the subpar lighting conditions, perhaps even comparing it to the conditions at a lower level of play. But we digress.
Not long into the action, the referee decided players needed to see that his yellow card matched the colour of his top, and Massud Habibullah was booked. Before anyone could say “this caramel popcorn isn’t bad” the referee decided that Massud didn’t quite see the matching garment and accessory, and showed him the yellow again. Sadly, the “Laws of the Game” dictate that he also had to show our talented scorer what other colour of condiment goes on a hot dog, and we were down to 10 men for the rest of the night.
It rained. (It did make for some pretty artsy photography by our man Tom. @residualimage on Twitter. I ain’t calling it X.) The Burnabeagles pressed for a goal. Justyn (Justyn, you’re so cool) kept the ball out of the net. We came close, as BFC cleared a ball off the line (the line-o decided that our judgement and angle couldn’t be trusted – we felt it was in). But at the end, the scoreboard showed nothing, because they didn’t have one working. So we were left to assume it was still 0-0. The surprisingly good League 1 app confirmed it. Our men remain undefeated.
We packed up our wet banners and flags, thanked our players for their efforts, and agreed that we all can’t wait to get back to Swangard, where the craft lager is plentiful, the scoreboard works, the lighting is sufficient, and you can get a stadium dog.
As Bernie put it, “We had fun. But we all left with one point and popcorn stuck in our teeth.”
