Fans love watching local football players compete for their hometown team, and fans of the Montreal Alouettes aren’t any different with their local football players. Québecois- as we will say it today- players stand in the spotlight more than other national or international players in Montreal, and the Alouettes have been rewarding their fans with a roster filled with local football players.
Local Football Players Gain Popularity in Montreal
Just to the official kick-off of the 2016 CFL Free Agency, the Alouettes have 12 players from Quebec, not including Boris Bede, the kicker born in France, but who played for the legendary Glen Constantin at the University of Laval, in Quebec City. Few of them are under the spotlight in Montreal, but are great players. nonetheless.
Luc Brodeur-Jourdain and Kristian Matte, both offensive linemen, are appreciated by only the true football fans who know how much these two go through week-in and week-out. They are the quarterback’s line of defence, and considering how many quarterbacks have played for the Alouettes in recent years, and stayed healthy, the offensive linemen are clearly doing their job.
Linebackers Marc-Olivier Brouillette and Nicolas Boulay are probably the most popular Québecois on the team, being both leaders on the defence. Both were drafted by the club, and have stayed in Montreal ever since, battling through the good, and the bad, with the team. Brouillette won a Grey Cup as a rookie, while Boulay has seen nothing but the negative.
Dominic Picard and Samuel Giguere are the only Québecois that were not drafted by Montreal. General manager Jim Popp and the rest of management have gone out of their way to draft players from the RSEQ, as opposed to those who played in the OUA, AUS and Canada West conferences. Brouillette, for example, was drafted 23rd overall in 2010, before Akeem Foster and Cauchy Muamba were takeng off the board. Both of those players have turned into fine CFL players, possibly as valuable to their clubs as Brouillette is to Montreal, but Brouillette was taken because he could add local flair.
No other team has the distinction of the Alouettes. Quebec is a unique province, with a different way of life that other provinces do not have. But the Alouettes adapt to the distinction, and although they are showing a bias towards Québecois players in the CFL Draft, a local football player will pay off in the long run with an increase in popularity. It’s a romantic relationship when a local football players grows up to play for the team he loves, and it’s a story that never seizes to awe the average spectator.
With free agency coming up, the Alouettes are set to lose two local football players, J.C. Beaulieu and Giguere. Beaulieu rarely saw the ball, and might be better off somewhere else in the league. With Duron Carter coming back to town, Giguere, who had a miserable 117 yard season, will likely be shown the door in Montreal, looking for new opportunities. Although losing a local fan-favourite is a tough loss, the Alouettes have free agents at their disposal, and can go after any other local football player.
Not many Québecois will be hitting the free agent market this winter, but the few who are certainly stand out. Defensive linemen Arnaud Gascon-Nadon and Ted Laurent were both not offered contracts by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, so don’t be surprised if the Alouettes are offering them contracts come February 9. Both are from the Montreal area, and might enjoy instant popularity when they return back home.
With an ageing defensive line that is about to crack with injuries, either Gascon-Nadon or Laurent can add firepower and depth on the line. They will also help the ratio factor for the Alouettes, who are short on national players in their front-seven.
At the end of the day, general manager Jim Popp is the man to acquire the right football players to win championships. But when he adds a local football players, it’s all the better for the fans, the player, and the Montreal Alouettes.
Main Photo.
