Mountain Girl

Hi,

Just wondered whether Calgary will have a few places to watch the world cup this year and whether anyone can recommend a place.

iaink

It will be pretty early in the morning (breakfast time) you know to watch live. I dont know if the bars will be open.

Butch Cassidy

Assuming theres the same level of interest as I found for the FA cup, your best bet is the Ship and Anchor on 17th Ave SW

Shreddy

I can't speak for Calgary, but here in Vancouver there's a neighbourhood on the east side (Commercial Drive) which is the old, traditional Italian/Portuguese/Brazilian immigrant 'hood (aka Little Italy). During World Cup, all the bars and cafes are open, regardless of the game time/zones. The liquor licencing folks even waive regular serving hour restrictions, so if the games are on at 2, 4 or 6am, it doesn't matter. The 'hood becomes World Cup Central for the whole city.

It's interesting to note that the liquor board doesn't even do this for HOCKEY (although with World Cup/Stanley Cup hockey, there's never the big time zone differences). Their reasoning is: FIFA World Cup only comes around every four years. Euros and Brazilians (including 4th, 5th 6th generation immigrants) are all VERY passionate about their game, obviously...if they didn't allow unconditional bar/cafe openings, there'd be anarchy...they'd just stay open with 'blinds drawn' anyways. So they allow it.

I'm not sure if smelly was asking specifically about Calgary, or about World Cup football in Canada in general. Here on the West Coast, it's a HUGE deal, but confined to that one neighbourhood, sort of by 'community agreement'. (Bars downtown have 4am closings anyway; 4am closings are only 2yrs old, this will be the first World Cup as such, so maybe this year it will be wider throughout the city.)

At any rate, I know I CAN'T WAIT!

Mountain Girl

sounds brilliant. I bet the attmosphere is great.

I am moving to Calgary in three weeks, we have left our place in London and are currently staying with family. I was just pondering the things that I might miss about the summer here and one of them was the world cup fever.

Wayner

The Ship and Anchor is probably the best place, you'll probably get a full English breakfast at half time too .

Alternativly you can watch it on TV www.wcup06.ca

Shreddy

Hey, good luck to 'ya mate. I hope everything works out for you. (If ever 'in doubt' about your decision to move, just head up into the Rockies an hour out of Calgary and 'commune' with the grizzly bears...they'll straighten you out. The quintessential Alberta reality check/psychic 'cleansing'. Or, drive south of town for an hour to the area where "Brokeback Mountain" was filmed, and go spotting for 'men in tents'.)

But back to the World Cup. My first advice to you as a soon-to-be nu-Canuck/football fan is: note those game times. They're actually not too bad this year (Well, I suppose it depends on how one looks at it. I personally like watching with copious amounts of ale with my friends in bars...)

Example: First Round: 10 June. England vs. Paraguay. 5:30 am Pacific 6:30 Mountain (Calgary) start. Myself, I've taken, um...'vacation' time for this entire tourney. For other working stiffs? Could be a problem. Other start times seem to be in the 6:30/7:30/11:30 am range PST (add an hour for Mountain). All finals 11:30 am.

So, looks like a lot BreakfastBeer 'n serious wet-brunching from my vantage point. Even with these times, tho, I'm still curious as to how our city/liquor board will be handling it...people are gonna' want to be in pubs.

I suppose if all else fails for me re: these pesky game times, there's always The British Ex-Serviceman's Club here in VanCity. Just in case you were wondering, this place has absolutely nothing to do with "British Ex-Servicemen", nor is it a 'private club' (anybody can 'join'...just officially 'sign in', then order pints accordingly).

Rather, this pub/'private club' was started 20yrs ago by one, single, lonely British ex-pat/ex-serviceman who managed to secure a 'legion'-style liquor licence so he could...(drum roll)...WATCH WORLD CUP FOOTBALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WITH 200 OF HIS MATES! It's since evolved into the best Brit ex-pat pub in Vancouver.

Anyway, cheers mate. Good luck in Cow Town!

Shreddy

smelly: One final note. I didn't really read your above quote very carefully the first time...I just want to reiterate these game times in relation to your "world cup fever" statement. I'm probably repeating myself here, but I suspect this could end up being your first pangs of homesickness over here unless you grasp this.

In London, these games are going to broadcast LIVE on every single TV in every single pub, bar, restaraunt, news agent, etc. at 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the afternoon GMT. Londoners will be getting off work (probably early) and heading straight to the nearest local; the entire city will be firmly entrenched in the moment, it will be inescapable, it will be "world cup fever" to the tenth power. (Damn, I wish I was going to be there myself...)

In contrast, these games will be LIVE at 5, 6 and 7 in the morning local time here in the continental West. There'll be "world cup fever", but you'll have to seek it out, or 'make it' yourself. See what I'm getting at? I mentioned in my above post, I'm off work for the duration. So are all my hard core friends. We ARE "the fever". We'll be in packed bars with our pints, but as another poster mentioned, we'll be having breakfast as well. And while we're doing so, millions of other non-fans will be walking/driving to work, starting their day, not giving a toss.

It's gonna' be disorienting for you, but try not to get homesick over it. It's just a time zone thing, and it certainly ain't gonna' be London on a game day afternoon, dig?

By the way, I just talked to a friend of mine who used to live in Calgary. As Wayner suggested, The Ship and Anchor is definitely the place to be. Like the The British Ex-Serviceman's Club here in Vancouver, it's a seriously dedicated footie bar; it'll be packed to the rafters, BUT GET USED TO BEER WITH YOUR 7AM FRY UP!

And for god's sake, don't think about London. It's pointless...