Lyrics

Calgary Libre! is the name of a local soccer team that Mark Vermin co-founded and has played on for a number of years. The team is what could be called a microcosmos of Calgary’s diverse communities.

Not only is Soccer a reflection of the animalistic pleasure and pain of life, but it is also an escape. When the struggles we engage in seem to become hopeless, we need these havens of freedom to play and forge meaningful friendships. And if we step back for a moment, we realize also all the good we’ve done along the way and all the potential that we have. The land beneath your feet is the heart of the game and it is on this soil that we attempt to move forward, to forge history and make the world a better place.

Historically Calgary has been a tragically conservative city, often associated with a backwards mentality. Indeed, Alberta’s oil wealth has made the cities of this province very wealthy, and with that wealth has come a decadent culture of waste and isolation. It has also drawn people to this part of the country at an alarming rate, causing an unprecedented population boom. However, the influx of cultures has opened Calgary up and has brought ideas that can challenge the long-held reactionary socio-political world view of this redneck wonderland.

Calgary is not just a city of faux-cowboys and oil barons. It is also a locale for free thinkers, radicals, artists and freaks. This is our home.

Viva Calgary Libre!

(Marek Vermin)