REGINA, Saskatchewan – Quebecer Alexandre Gagné is very happy with the Alouettes, but he will never forget his past seasons in the Saskatchewan Roughriders jersey, in which he felt like as big a star as a Canadiens player in Montreal from 2017 to 2019.

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Gagné, 32, illustrates his point with an anecdote that still surprises him years later.

“I was with my teammate Alexandre Chevrier and we were both having a quiet meal in a restaurant in Toronto before a game there,” he says. And we agree that we were players who played on special teams, we were not the most famous faces of the Roughriders… We had lunch, wearing civilian clothes, and when it was time to pay, the waiter informed us that the bill was already paid. When we turned around, some Roughriders fans who had traveled to Toronto for this game recognized us and wanted to pay for our food.

The story shows on many levels how much the Roughriders fans support their team.

“In the population, practically everyone is a fan of the Roughriders,” says Gagné. At some point in history [en 1997]the team went bankrupt and the city took over the club, which probably explains the community’s solidarity. Everyone feels a little bit of a sense of belonging.”

At that time, a fundraising marathon was even organized to save the team.

No NHL club

The fact that there is no National Hockey League club in Saskatchewan certainly has something to do with the situation. The Roughriders represent the people’s team and the players receive privileges such as “free golf,” says Gagné.

“It’s special because there are no major professional sports teams here other than the Roughriders,” he agrees. The fans are excited, everyone is dressed in team colors, there are even some who put real watermelons on their heads, following an old tradition.

An extraordinary stadium

Formerly a member of the Vert & Or of the University of Sherbrooke, Gagné found himself in Saskatchewan in 2017, the year the new Mosaic Stadium opened.

“This stadium has everything a football player could dream of: meeting rooms, an excellent training room, therapeutic baths, there is even a…” Barber shop in the players’ dressing room,” he describes.

“The football field is lower than ground level, which helps to avoid the wind from the prairie,” finally specifies the man who has been playing for the Alouettes since 2021. “The noise of the fans remains and creates atmosphere.”