Fan comes from afar for final game at old stadium
Canadian now living in Thailand makes football pilgrimage to Regina
A Reed will be resplendent in a green-and-white No. 34 jersey for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ final game at historic Mosaic Stadium.
But Reed, solely for the purposes of this story, is Jim Reed — who has travelled from Bangkok, Thailand to Regina to attend Saturday’s CFL clash between the Roughriders and B.C. Lions.
His all-time favourite player, naturally, is Roughriders icon George Reed. In fact, Jim Reed’s treasured George Reed jersey is autographed by the legendary fullback.
“I hand-carried the jersey (during the flights),” Jim Reed said Thursday after visiting the former Taylor Field. “I didn’t want to put it in my suitcase. I was afraid it would get lost.”
The 63-year-old Reed flew, by his calculation, 17,511 kilometres to get to Regina. The journey took him from Bangkok to Sydney, Australia (where he visited his daughter, Arrisara) to Hong Kong to Vancouver to Calgary to Regina.
“When I found out that this was going to be the last game, nothing could stop me from coming,” Reed said. “If you’re a Saskatchewan resident who moves overseas, you’ve always got Saskatchewan in your heart. Taylor Field is a major part of my life.”
Reed attended his first Roughriders game in 1964 and last saw the team play in person on Nov. 28, 1976, when Saskatchewan met the Ottawa Rough Riders in the Grey Cup. He was at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto when Ottawa’s Tony Gabriel caught a touchdown pass with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give Ottawa a 23-20 victory.
“I don’t know where the Roughriders were on that play,” Reed lamented, a month shy of the 40th anniversary of that infamous date in franchise history.
Oct. 29, 2016 figures to be a celebration, regardless of the outcome, given all the memories that have been created at Park Hughes, Park de Young, Taylor Field and Mosaic Stadium.
Upon entering the stadium on Thursday, Reed pointed to the east-side grandstand and said: “I used to have a season ticket over there.”
Born in Toronto, Reed was raised in Regina, where he lived on Angus Street and attended Lakeview School and Sheldon Williams Collegiate. In 1979, he decided to see the world and embarked for Australia, where he resided until moving to Thailand in 1985. He is the CEO and group managing director for Destination Asia, a multi-faceted travel company.
Reed’s return to Regina began auspiciously. Spence Graham, who visited the stadium with Reed on Thursday, spotted Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant walking toward the parking lot after practice. Graham approached Durant, explained the purpose of Reed’s journey, and a cordial conversation ensued.
“He’s such a nice guy,” Reed marvelled.
Well before the game, the significance of the occasion has struck an emotional chord with Reed, who was choked up at times during an interview.
“I was not going to miss this,” Reed said. “I would have made the trip if this game had been in Greenland.”
“Well,” Graham observed while seated next to Reed, “you are in green-land.”