(Hamilton) It’s 2:47 a.m. and a few hours ago, the Montreal Alouettes won their first Gray Cup in 13 years.
Hamilton is not celebrating. Unfortunately, this city has a lot to envy of others in the Canadian Football League like Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.
Hamilton has approximately the same density as Quebec. And even though my taxi driver from Toronto told me that “Hamilton is like Europe in Ontario”, Quebec City feels like a large modern metropolis compared to the old home Bulldogs.
Hamilton is like a very long Curé-Labelle Boulevard. Or a very long Boulevard Taschereau. Depending on your preferred shore.
And it is in this city that the Alouettes managed to surprise all Canadian football fans.
No professional team had offered a championship to Montreal since the Alouettes’ last victory in 2010.
Your La Presse representative therefore had privileged access to what happened once the curtain fell.
Seen from the press room, the scene was magnificent. On the last play of the game, a Winnipeg Blue Bombers player propelled the ball with his foot just in front of the end zone, with a Need 7, a sacrifice play to get seven points.
But an Alouettes player grabbed the ball and the match ended. All the Alouettes players took to the field, victorious. In the press box, French-speaking journalists were rushing to send a first version of a text that none of us would have thought of writing at the start of the season.
Once the first version of the text has been sent, we quickly put on our hats and coats, without forgetting the recorder and the notebook, to join the celebrations on the field and try to extract a few skin-deep quotes from the players.
We go down seven floors in the elevator. An elevator that has been abominably slow all week, by the way.
Once at field level, it was a race in the corridors of the stadium. Everyone was rushing there. As if we were in 1985 and Corey Hart was visiting the CKOI studios in Verdun.
Once arrived on the field, the trophy ceremony had already started and the confetti had already fallen. Each player came to the front of the stage and lifted the trophy, each in turn, as is customary.
Some players began to come off the stage to join their loved ones and that’s when the hunt for quotes began.
In this kind of moment, the hardest part is not talking to the players, but finding them. Everyone on the field is either a family member or an employee of the team. So the players blend in, because there are Alouettes uniforms at every turn.
In the Blue Bombers end zone there must have been over 150 people. You have to climb over the camera wires, try not to make a fool of yourself on television and above all let the players celebrate with their family, but by hanging them up just before they go to hug all their teammates. This was no easy feat, particularly when the 13 Dequoy delegation arrived.
We finally managed to speak with Philippe Gagnon, Marc-Antoine Dequoy, William Stanback, Kristian Matte and Tyson Philpot. Once the interview with the hero of the game was over, a Canadian League official informed us that Cody Fajardo was preparing to speak, but in the press room.
Which not only meant that the on-field interviews were over, but that we had to move quickly so as not to miss the game’s MVP.
So we set off again at full speed. So much so that my smart watch asked me if I was exercising.
Fajardo, champions cap on his head, spoke for around ten minutes. Ditto for head coach Jason Maas, his cheeks red from the cold. Afterwards, it’s time for the best part of the evening: the visit to the locker room.
Just as the door leading to the corridor leading to the locker room opened, the smell of cigars was aggressive.
A few steps and the closer we got, the louder the music was and the foggier the air became. And for the curious, this is not the last instrumental album by Gregory Charles that was playing in the speakers. File settled.
The locker room looked like a college agora in 1974. Smoke everywhere. Imagine the smell of a single cigar, but multiplied by 60. The place was lined with transparent canvases to protect the players’ locker. At the entrance, Shawn Lemon was smoking his piece while answering messages on his cell phone, cap on the side.
The players continued to congratulate each other in this victorious and poorly ventilated chaos. To the left of the locker room, players from the defensive unit danced without jerseys with ski goggles on their heads. On the right, players from the offensive unit, including several Quebecers, shared beer and cigars. In the middle, David Côté was enjoying a slice of pizza.
Luc Brodeur-Jourdain and Kristian Matte, former teammates, struck a pose. The Quebec players sang “Gagné, Gagné, Gagné, Gagné”, to the tune of “Olé, Olé” while pointing at center back Alexandre Gagné.
As he entered the locker room, Jason Maas was chanted “Happy Birthday,” because on November 19, the head coach was celebrating his 48th birthday.
And at the request of his players, he took the floor for a short speech. Message during which several impolite words were spoken. But the champions can afford it.
Then, at the center of the action, the unofficial captain of this team, Marc-Antoine Dequoy, called out veteran Kristian Matte, putting two fingers to the side of his mouth, like Rogatien.
With each victory, Matte hits a table the number of times that equals the number of points scored.
“How many points did we score? “, shouted the veteran in English.
” Twenty eight ! For one last time this season…” Dequoy replies before holding his breath, as if diving, before tapping the table 28 times.
And like a crescendo, the 28th strike was explosive. Matte took a bottle of champagne and opened it. And the party started again with a vengeance.
Behind, physiotherapists, video coaches and equipment managers were celebrating, but also crying a little. Because after all, it was their victory too.
The match ended at 9:43 p.m. and it was 11:10 p.m. when we returned to our seats in the press room. Dazed, but inspired.
A final version of the text was sent at 12:24 a.m. The stadium was dark and the lights were off.
The city of Hamilton was peaceful, like a fall evening. As if history hadn’t just been rewritten.
It’s 2:47 a.m. and a few hours ago, the Montreal Alouettes won their first Gray Cup in 13 years.
