With a newfound roar in her voice, Canada's Sinclair readies for a 6th Women's World Cup
For years, Christine Sinclair has done her talking on the soccer pitch. But no more.
This is a column by Shireen Ahmed, who writes opinion for CBC Sports. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
The first time I saw Christine Sinclair upset was at the London Olympics in 2012. I was watching Canada's women's soccer semifinal against the U.S. with my family. All my children knew who she was and we watched her score three goals at Old Trafford in stunning fashion that day. She was breathtakingly bold as a striker and on target.
I knew her to be an exceptional player, but I knew that she was also measured in how much emotion she displayed after a match was over.
After Canada endured what I think is one of the most devastating and bizarre calls (yes, I stand by that) by Norwegian official Christina Pederson. Canada lost the game in extra time. Sinclair was furious.
"We feel like we didn't lose, we feel like it was taken from us," she said following the match. "It's a shame in a game like that that was so important, the ref decided the result before it started."
Sinclair was suspended four games and fined $3,500 for what FIFA labelled "unsporting behaviour towards officials."
The Canadian team, and many of its supporters, were furious. If our beloved skipper was upset, then there was a damn good reason for it. That's because we trust Sinclair. She is the captain you can rely on and who is dependable. The results may not always go the way we want, but Sinclair's character is solid and so are her principles. Her role as leader has evolved over the past 23 years with the senior national team but she remains a stalwart of the team.
WATCH | Can Canada emerge from World Cup Group of Death?:
Having just turned 40, she has scored more goals than the greatest soccer greats: Messi, Pele, Marta, Mia Hamm. She is a three-time Olympic medallist (one gold, two bronze), has played and scored in five World Cup tournaments (USA 2003, China 2007, Germany 2011, Canada 2015, France 2019) and is about to embark on her sixth when the Women's World Cup kicks off on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand.
This soccer phenomenon from Burnaby, B.C., is a household name in Canada and has one of the most recognizable faces in this country. But for those who know her, she would prefer to not be the centre of attention. She prefers playing the beautiful game to press conferences or interviews.
Sinclair is so private that in a recent podcast episode, longtime Portland Thorns teammate Meghan Klingenberg said that "Sinc" (as she is lovingly known) is "the most private person I've ever met."
Klingenberg recalled that, for a while, Sinclair's own club teammates didn't know where she lived in Portland and would tease her about it. In that same podcast episode, Diana Matheson, another longtime friend and teammate, reiterated that Sinclair is private but also "wicked funny" and stepped up to her role on the Canadian team, especially with younger players who are often too in awe of her.
"As she got older and embraced that leadership role … [she] intentionally put effort and energy into making sure she connected with those new players," Matheson said.
But despite that wish for privacy, Sinclair's passion and love for football has thrust her into the international spotlight. She plays in front of thousands of people and brings joy and delight to soccer supporters around the world. She is known to be a dedicated but quiet leader.
In a podcast with CBC's Piya Chattopadhyay in December about her memoir, Playing the Long Game, Sinclair said: "I'm a shy person. I'm pretty quiet unless I really know you… And I go about my business. I work hard."
Her replies or her own description of being one of the greatest athletes this country has seen are factual, clear and measured. She will willingly talk about the team or a game — before she talks about herself and her own accomplishments of which there are many.
Even her memoir, co-written with Stephen Brunt, states that emphatically in the first line: "Talking about myself has never been something I liked to do. For anyone who has followed my career, that won't come as a surprise." She has described the book-writing process as "painful" because of how it contradicted her preference to live quietly. But the book also shone light on her family and her beloved parents, both now deceased.
Sinclair's mother, Sandra, died a few months after the Tokyo Olympics after a years-long fight against multiple scelorsis, and Sinclair had asked her if she could write about her battle with the disease. Sandra encouraged her to go for it. We got a peek into Sinclair's journey as a daughter and a sister in a way we hadn't before and her experience as a player. Perhaps this emboldened Sinclair for what would come next.
Those who have followed her 20-plus year career have seen her grow as an outspoken advocate of equality in the game, and she has become even more vocal in the past year about the different treatment between Canada's men's and women's teams by Canada Soccer, which oversees both teams.
I can't recall a time when Sinclair was as forthright about the treatment of the women's team as she was ahead of the Men's World Cup in Qatar in November.
"As a female player on the women's national team … I've played in five of these, and just to see some of the things out there, like from the [Canadian Soccer Association], it's almost like they've forgotten that the women have been in seven straight, which is sad," she told Chattopadhyay.
Sinclair has a tremendous following and her voice is impactful. She is aware of this and has said that she and her teammates also want to leave soccer in a better place than when they got there. That means advocating for girls and supporting the creation of a professional league in Canada.
She stood alongside Matheson for the official announcement of Project 8, which hopes to launch a domestic league for women. She remains committed to ensuring that girls across Canada get to play the sport they love and are not considered second-class citizens in the beautiful game.
WATCH | Sinclair, Matheson on launching Canadian women's league:
"I pride myself on the impact I can have on younger players," Sinclair says in an interview on this week's episode of Soccer North on CBC Sports (to be released July 7).
And protecting the women's game is part of Sinclair's fearless leader persona that we have seen climax in the last few months. Alongside teammates Sophie Schmidt, Quinn and Janine Beckie, she addressed the issues with the federation. Sinclair becoming a mobilizer in a labour dispute movement was not quite something we all had on our proverbial bingo cards. The impact of Sinclair leading the team to calls for change was incredible. She is a person of few words and her words carry a might we see from generational talents.
Following that tournament, Sinclair testified in front of a parliamentary committee with so much candour that it arguably created a shift in public trust of the federation. If Sinclair was insulted then, again, there was a reason to be displeased, and she forced herself to speak out.
She put the needs of the team — and of soccer for girls and women — ahead of her own comfort. She isn't trying to be a martyr, this is just who she is. We might not know her on a personal level, but Canadians respect the hell out of her and what she has done for this country.
Sinclair also told Soccer North "there's no other group I'd rather be going to battle with on and off the pitch." For her to be as succinct about what needs to happen is powerful.
I overheard an experienced soccer writer once say that the people who have covered Sinclair the most understand the best that she is not to be underestimated.
This may or may not be her last major tournament, but I hope that Sinclair remains unapologetic and a leader in this space for decades to come in as many or as few words as she wants.
Soccer North is back with a focus on the Canadian women's team as it prepares for the FIFA Women's World Cup. Join host Andi Petrillo and special guests on Friday for insight and analysis leading into tournament.
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