Grey Cup welcome
Cape Bretoners get to see iconic trophy
Cape Breton football fans flocked for the opportunity Friday to get up close and personal with one of Canada’s most prestigious sporting awards - the Grey Cup.
With this year’s championship game set for Winnipeg on Nov. 29, local football fans of all ages turned out to get their picture taken with the cup along with learning a bit of the cup’s history.
Sydney resident and local high school football coach Lorne Burke played the sport for 10 years and has been coaching for 25 years.
“This is the first time I ever got to touch it,” he said Friday.
Others were equally thrilled at having the opportunity to touch the cup and have their picture taken with the iconic award.
Sydney resident Jim Peers was also on hand and noted that he had attended three championship games for the cup in three provinces. Friday was also his first time to stand beside the cup.
Wendy Bergfeldt, of Sydney, was born a Saskatchewan Roughrider fan and the last time she got up close with the cup was in 1989 in Regina after her beloved Roughriders won the cup in a match that’s still talked about today.
The game produced some 15 Canadian Football League records and with 44 seconds left to play, the Hamilton Tiger Cats tied at the game at 40 but Saskatchewan managed to squeeze out a field goal to take the win.
Also on hand Friday was Dennis Dowell, of Hamilton, who for 19 years has been the keeper of the cup, taking it from one coast to another and into the Canadian north.
This most recent 18-stop tour concludes Saturday in Canning.
“This is really a piece of Canadian history. People respect this and I love bringing it to them,” he said.
Most recently, Dowell and the cup completed an eight-day train ride from Winnipeg to Churchill and it seemed even the polar bears in northern Manitoba took an interest in the cup and Dowell has pictures to prove it.
“I particularly love doing the schools. Children are the future of our league,” he said, expressing a hope that the East Coast will soon have their own team in the league.
The Sydney event was held at held at Belmac Supply Ltd. on Dodd Street as part of the Kubota Grey Cup national tour.