Chung chung craw, go the cranes

Varsity Rising

Back in the late 90s - back when the UofT football team still knew how to win a game occasionally - there was a building at the corner of Bloor and Devonshire: Varsity Stadium.

This was when the UofT had a brilliant idea: they woud tear down the decades old stadium, and build a new one in its place - perhaps even with the help of the Toronto Argonauts or the Canadian Soccer Association. Excited by this innovative scheme, they quickly set to work enacting the first part of the plan, before they had finalised the second half.

As things tend to happen, the second half of the plan fell through. Although the walls around the pitch still proclaimed it to be Varsity Stadium, for the better part of the next decade it was really just Varsity Field.

Recently though, things have begun to change. The field has become a construction site, and concrete mouldings that look to be the base for bleachers are going up. There are rumours of a new high-tech artificial turf that may be installed - which would allow the UofT Rugby Football Club to play their games there as well - being in the works.

It won't be the grand vision of a stadium that was originally dreamed way back when - professional football won't be played there, although the FIFA Women's World Cup may - but at least there's something more than a brick wall and dirt. Varsity Stadium appears to be rising again. (Now lets just hope Les Bleu can start winning as well)


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