Crossing over
Pro team boosts interest in national sport (one line with head if fits)
The Calgary Roughnecks’ first season should be considered a success. Although the team has struggled on the floor, a growing fan base and raised awareness about lacrosse holds promise for the future.
Roughnecks fans have been without a home game since late January, but the team hasn’t disappeared from the spotlight. At a recent promotional event at Sunridge Mall, about a dozen players and a handful of cheerleaders were available for autographs and lacrosse demonstrations. Nearly 500 people showed up, many of them kids.
Brett Mason, a 12-year-old who started playing lacrosse last year, dragged his mother to the mall and waited in line for two hours for the team to show up. Like the majority of the Roughnecks’ young fans, he first saw the sport on television, then went to a Roughnecks game, and now wants to make lacrosse his summer sport.
Mason, who plays hockey, has been to plenty of Calgary Flames games, but the fast pace of lacrosse has made him a big fan of players like Kaleb Toth and Chris Panos.
"I like Roughnecks games even better than Flames games because I haven’t seen anything like this before," he says.
There was certainly plenty to see this year at Roughnecks games. The National Lacrosse League is unlike other professional leagues in that the approach to entertainment borders on feverish. Case in point: a heavy hard rock soundtrack fills the Saddledome from opening faceoff to final buzzer, public announcements come at any time and in-crowd promotions don’t require a break in the action. The most impressive sight, though, is the young boys who rip off their shirts and windmill them over their heads when the home team is doing well – a practice that has become a league-wide tradition.
Leah Campbell, events and promotions director for the Roughnecks, has seen this firsthand while roaming the stands during games. She says she is amazed at the fan reaction to not only the game in progress, but the party atmosphere.
"People are coming out because they like the product on the field, but they’re coming back because they like the whole entertainment package of the event," says Campbell. "The kids like watching the other kids and being part of the crowd. The non-stop action makes the whole scene alive."
The popularity of the team has carried over to older would-be players as well. Shawna Lucas, the registrar for the Calgary Major Lacrosse Association, says that there are now 18 new players between the ages of 17 and 20 registered – an unheard of response from that age group.
"When my son was younger (lacrosse) wasn’t visible at all," says Lucas, referring to the interest the Roughnecks have created. "It was a fluke that we got into it. We happened to be in the arena, saw a sign, and a friend of his played so he just joined up."
Those who bought season tickets to the Roughnecks this year have now received calls from the players themselves asking them to continue their support. It’s another difference the team has over other leagues – the professionals work hard outside the sport to ensure the future success of the franchise, even though they don’t get paid for the extra time.
"This is just the realization that they’re on a new team and the basic belief that the Roughnecks are going to be successful," explains Campbell. "So they give that time."
The Roughnecks lost Saturday night to Vancouver, and are tied for third (last) in the Northern division of the National Lacrosse League. Their record is 4-11. The last chance to see the Roughnecks play this season is Saturday, March 23 at 12:30 p.m. against the Vancouver Ravens. |
