Centennial Hall in Norway Bay was full with football fans on Saturday afternoon ready to cheer on team Canada in their World Cup knockout match against Morocco.
The event was put on by the Norway Bay Municipal Association (NBMA), a group that organizes activities for the community throughout the summer.
NBMA President Pat Byrne said that they usually have an opening event around this time of year, and this season’s timing worked out perfectly with the World Cup match.
“This is a kickoff event, we’ve done different versions of it over the years. It’s really because all of the families come up to start the program,” he said. “A lot of them want to come and pick up their shirts, sign up for different programs and such. We used to set up the tables, we decided a few years ago to try and do an event around that. So this year coincidentally lined up nicely with the Canada-Morocco game.”
The NBMA’s social director Jamie Harris took the lead on the day’s event, with the help of the rest of the team. In addition to the game on the big screen, there was food and drink available as well as tables outside for NBMA clothing and program sign-up. During the half-time break, Byrne launched an appeal for volunteers for the summer programs, saying that they were on the lookout for more help. While the board is made up of 13 people, he said they have dozens of people who lend a hand with various activities and events each year.
“What we’re finding is though, as the demographics shift, there aren’t as many people up for the whole season as their used to and so there aren’t as many people available as there were in the past, so we’re having to rethink how we go about getting the number of people we need for all these events,” he told THE EQUITY.
The outcome of the game was not what the fans were hoping for unfortunately, as Morocco downed the Canadians 3-0.
