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Varsity Rising

Posted by St Dan / July 5, 2006

Chung chung craw, go the cranesBack 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)

Discussion

5 Comments

lovely / July 6, 2006 at 07:32 am
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but i don't think i'ts been down for ten years... i went there in first year university, which is i think six years ago... so it's been down for five, i think.

also, are you aware that your LJ feed only takes the first couple paragraphs of these entries, not the entire thing?

-- lovely
St Dan / July 6, 2006 at 12:06 pm
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Hello Lovely:

As I recall, they tore it down when I was still at the UofT, which would have been the 99/00 school year. So still the better part of a decade.

And yes, there is a link at the top of the LJ feed that takes you to an expanded view, IIRC.
Michael / July 6, 2006 at 12:11 pm
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Wikipedia says around 2002. But they've been wrong before.
St Dan / July 6, 2006 at 01:09 pm
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Hmmm, maybe they didn't mean it as a compliment when they said I had a memory like a sieve. ;)

Although I wasn't even in the country when that happened, strange. Mea Culpa if I was mistaken.
UofTWatcher / July 6, 2006 at 03:17 pm
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They started tearing down Varsity Stadium in 2002 because it had become unsafe. There have been a number of plans and proposals through the years for re-development - the Argos / CSA connection was just one of many and ultimately couldn't meet U of T's needs. What's under construction now will have fewer stadium seats, but will be able to accommodate all kinds of varsity sports and includes a running track. It's been a long time coming but will be worth it.

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