The Vancouver Whitecaps' Easter celebrations this weekend were boosted by their first home win of the season against the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night.
But the joy at the 1-0 victory was short-lived when the Whitecaps returned to their training facility at the University of British Columbia on Tuesday morning. The club found out that someone had broken into the complex at what is believed to have been around 10:30 pm on Monday night and stole a large number of the players' boots.
Many of the boots were embroidered with names of children and family members, and personalized in other ways. Understandably, it's a situation that has left 'Caps head coach Carl Robinson seething.
"Overnight we had 32 pairs of boots stolen from our facility," Robinson told reporters at training on Tuesday. "Someone's managed to break in and steal my players' boots, which is not acceptable and not good enough. I've got players without boots that have got their children's names on them and mean a lot to them."
Whitecaps captain Pedro Morales, striker Octavio Rivero and defender Jordan Harvey were among the players affected by the theft, with Harvey tweeting out and Instagramming a picture of his empty boot locker at the Whitecaps facility.
Strangely, all the boots stolen were size 9 and size 10, and Robinson had a message for whoever it was that stole them.
"If anyone knows [anything] please give me a call," Robinson said. "If you want boots, I'll buy you boots, but please bring these special boots that these players wear back to me."
