Ardent CFL fan Bobby Dubeau has witnessed an assortment of touchdowns — including some that have taken place on the football field.
Dubeau has frequented airports across Canada with the objective of visiting each of the league’s nine stadiums within a mere 15 days.
If the 37-year-old resident of Delta, B.C. can make it to the final three venues without experiencing any travel-related snags or unexpected forms of adversity, he will ultimately land in the Guinness World Records.
The category: Shortest time frame required to attend a game in each CFL city.
For Dubeau, it isn’t a matter of breaking a record as much as establishing one.
With the football-related concept in mind, he applied online to the Guinness people and was informed four months later that his proposal had been accepted.
Originally given a target of 18 days, maximum, he whittled that total down to 17 before realizing that the feat could actually be accomplished in a potentially unbeatable 15.
The itinerary is as follows:
June 24: McMahon Stadium, Calgary — Saskatchewan Roughriders 29, Calgary Stampeders 26 in double overtime.
June 25: Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton — Toronto Argonauts 43, Edmonton Elks 31.
June 30: TD Place, Ottawa — Ottawa REDBLACKS 26, Edmonton 7.
July 1: Percival Molson Stadium, Montreal — Winnipeg Blue Bombers 17, Montreal Alouettes 3.
July 3: BMO Field, Toronto — Argonauts 45, B.C. Lions 24.
July 6: Mosaic Stadium, Regina — Saskatchewan 12, Edmonton 11.
July 7: IG Field, Winnipeg — Blue Bombers versus Stampeders.
July 8: Tim Hortons Field, Hamilton — REDBLACKS versus Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
July 9: BC Place Stadium, Vancouver — Alouettes at Lions.
Consider, too, that Dubeau was also at IG Field on July 22 when his beloved Lions (who he typically watches as a season-ticket holder) downed the Blue Bombers 30-6.
“That makes it 10 games in 17 days,” he noted during Thursday’s visit to Mosaic Stadium.
Factor in the Lions’ 22-0 home-field blanking of Edmonton on June 17 and Dubeau will have attended 11 games in 21 days when all is said and done and, crucially, documented.
Verification is required in the forms of videos, witness statements and a travel log.
As well, he has been encouraged to send along examples of media coverage that has been generated along the way.
Why go to all this trouble?
Well, for starters, he obviously loves three-down football.
“And I love travelling across Canada,” he said. “I’ll travel to Moose Jaw for fun.”
During a Halifax-to-Vancouver cross-country trek, back in 2018, Dubeau stopped in Regina and attended his first Roughriders home game — the Labour Day Classic.
He returned to the Queen City on Thursday and sat in Section 116 alongside Roughriders season-ticket holders Patti and Terry Lumsdon.
The Lumsdons are noted and devoted travellers in their own right. They faithfully drive to Roughriders games from their home in North Battleford, which is 400 kilometres away from Mosaic Stadium — “by far, the best stadium,” in the appraisal of Dubeau.
The wettest stadium? That was in Montreal.
The Alouettes-Bombers game was delayed for two hours by lightning and heavy rain. The inclement weather created some tense moments for Dubeau, because the game had to be played before his visit to Percival Molson Stadium could be counted as part of the world-record bid.
For a while, there were fears that the contest would be postponed — an outcome that would have poured water on his carefully calculated plan.
“My sister’s a lawyer,” said Dubeau, who works in real estate. “I asked her if there is any law to define what a game is. But I got lucky and they got the game in.
“Part of the process is that you need witnesses to say that you’ve been there. Therefore, I needed some people in Montreal to stay until 11:45 at night, following a downpour.”
As one who grew up in the Vancouver area, Dubeau is accustomed to rainy conditions. He is also highly familiar with the Lions, for whom he began cheering as a child.
For a while, his interest in football had waned, but his passion for the game was rekindled a handful of years ago.
At work one day on Vancouver Island, a football broadcast was audible in the background. The proceedings caught his attention and, before he knew it, “I had fallen in love with the CFL again.”
The whirlwind world record, he hopes, won’t be nearly as quick to fall.
