David Beckham was booed in Toronto on Sunday night as his image was projected on the big screen at BMO Field. Becks was on the L.A. Galaxy bench wearing a suit and tie, and many fans, who had paid as much as $120 to see the world’s most famous soccer player play, started booing him. One wore a T-shirt that said: “David Beckham is rubbish.” Others held up signs that read: “Bench it Like Beckham.”
It’s hard to say whether these were hardcore Toronto FC fans or disappointed David Beckham fans, but the answer is probably both. Fans have shelled out a lot of money to see the icon in action, and when he doesn’t show — pronouncing instead that he’s a good ten days away from full match fitness — MLS fans start thinking that they’re not getting what they paid for. And you know what fans are like when they don’t get what they pay for.
“Once [David] gets on the field, it’s going to kind of go away, I think,” Galaxy coach Frank Yallop said after the disappointing 0-0 draw. It seems that the injury period is now another hurdle for Becks to overcome, now that the effects of the successful marketing blast/ Galaxy debut have worn off.