BARNSTABLE, MA — The Montréal Impact will play in their first ever Eastern Conference final on November 22nd versus Toronto FC in a bid to become the first ever Canadian team in a Major League Soccer Cup final. History could be in the making for the Québécois team, but the location of the game has left fans wondering whether their iconic bell will be able to make the trip with them.
On Friday afternoon the co-founder of Montréal’s 1642 supporters group Anthony Lizzi confirmed in an interview with Prost-Amerika that an agreement had been reached between themselves and the Montréal Impact to ensure L’Etoile du Nord will join 50,000 plus Montréalers in the “Big O” for L’Impact’s Eastern Conference final first-leg.
“The city connects with the bell. They understand what it is” Lizzi described of the “The North Star’s” importance, “Its a warm sound, a familiar sound every weekend [because of Montréal’s many churches], so when there’s a goal it only seems right that a bell should go off! [The sound] runs through the sound system through Saputo and on November 22nd it will run through the sound system at the Olympic Stadium”
The ringing of the bell has become iconic in Montréal soccer culture in a way that Lizzi and his co-founders never expected. The 1642 members acquired the bell from a dealer in Ohio and dates back to the 1880’s, the North Star’s mouth is 44 inches in diameter but the whole structure? That’s four-feet tall, and five feet wide.
FourFourTwo magazine in the United Kingdom published an article of fifty-three things every soccer fan should do before they die. Ringing the North Star Bell appeared at 19th on the list — a magnificent achievement for the 1642 and its members.
Simply erecting it in section 114 wasn’t enough for Anthony Lizzi and the other co-founders — among them his wife, Sonia — he said it was important that it resonated with the city, that it would draw in the established fans and add new ones.
This is why “Bell Ringers” cant be just anyone — they have to be famous Montréalers or Québécois. This was an important decision for 1642 Montréal as they wanted to make sure that the groups new tradition was one that “cross pollinated” with the history and traditions of the city.
And boy, have they succeeded.
“Who the Bell Ringer is” has become a very popular thing in Montréal, so much so that Lizzi and his group don’t even have to approach people any longer — the “ringers” come to them. Although sometimes, Lizzi says, fans become impatient when they miss an announcement deadline!
“Bell Ringers” have been everyone from Olympian Benoit Huot; the Mayor of Montréal; UFC Superstar Georges St-Pierre; and the Canadian Army, for which 1642 Montréal made a poppy banner. Benoit Huot has the distinction of having rung the bell the most times — five against Philadelphia.
“La Ville aux Cent Clochers” — the City of One Hundred Steeples — will only get to host one more game this Major League Soccer season no matter what the result on November 22nd. L’Impact and Anthony Lizzi will be hoping they hear bells ringing out from their church steeple that day, from inside “the Big O.”
The next “Bell Ringer” will be announced on Wednesday next week, but when pressed for an answer Lizzi would only say that “A lot of hard work went into getting this guy so I really don’t want to say. He’s a tough Montréaler, that’s all I can say. You’ll have to watch social media!”
Follow Scott Nicholls on Twitter: @scottnicholls
Follow The North Star bell on Twitter: @NorthStarBell15
