ESTEVAN - Lisa Lukye has been a fan of the CFL, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders, for a long time.
But this season, she took it to another level.
The Estevan woman attended every Saskatchewan Roughriders game, home and away, in the 2021 season, until the loss in the Western Final to the eventual Grey Cup champions, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Then she was at the Grey Cup in Hamilton, volunteering during the week and enjoy the Dec. 12 game as a spectator. She was alongside her aunt, Caroline Saxon, throughout the week.
“I have actually known a few people who have done it before,” said Lukye. “My original plan was to do it in 2020, because we were supposed to have the Grey Cup, and I thought ‘What an epic way to spend a season, going to all the games,’ and then there’s always the dream of it ending at home, with your team at home and winning, like we did in 2013,” she said.
Next year’s Grey Cup is slated for Regina, but she couldn’t wait for next year to pull off this cross-country journey.
“It was so nice to have football back after it being away because of the pandemic, and once the season started rolling, all of our first games were at home, until after Labour Day, and so pretty much after that, I said ‘That’s it, I’m going to all of them.’”
Since it was a 14-game season instead of 18, it was easier to happen. A relief pharmacist for Walmart, it was also a nice stress relief because she has been busy with COVID-19 vaccinations and other duties associated with her job.
Lukye’s employer has been very understanding, she said.
“I think I’ve cheered harder than I’ve ever cheered before,” she said.
Lukye has been to Grey Cup every year since 2013, when the Riders famously beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at home. She was in university at the time and was supposed to take a first aid course for a placement in January, but Saxon had an extra ticket for the game, and Lukye rearranged her schedule to attend.
They’ve been attending together ever since.
Saxon started volunteering with the Grey Cup festival in 2013, and after that, Saxon and Lukye started making a trip of it each year. They both volunteer for the festival in the week leading up to the game, and then they buy tickets for Grey Cup and go and cheer whoever is playing in the game.
They arrived in Hamilton on Dec. 6 and their first volunteer shift was to help with the arrival of the Grey Cup.
“We were there when the helicopters came in. We helped seat some of the dignitaries, like the commissioner (Randy Ambrosie) and a lot of the sponsors,” said Lukye.
They also performed crowd control to ensure people weren’t too close when the helicopters arrived.
Normally they are tasked with meet and greets and information duties during the week, but since the festival was scaled back this year, their services weren’t needed as much.
“Our slogan is we tell people where to go and how to get there … but in a nice way,” said Lukye.
So they toured Hamilton and promoted places where people could eat during the week.
Lukye has been a Roughriders’ season ticket holder since 2017. And now she has been to every stadium in the league. Hamilton had been the only venue she hadn’t been to, but now she’s been there twice, once during the regular season finale and, of course, during the Grey Cup.
She loves how games often come down to the wire, and the fans are wonderful, too. She has found a second family through the other fan bases in the league.
“I hope that the CFL continues because it’s a Canadian institution, and I think it’s important to have something like that. There’s a lot of us who are trying to keep the league alive, to try to find ways to bring people to the game, and if I can help make them aware by doing what I’m doing, and doing interviews like this, then I guess my mission is accomplished.”
The season was a lot of fun, and she would do it again tomorrow if she could. But it was a lot of work logistically, even in a shorter season, and only happened after she received the green light from her manager.
“I came (to Estevan) last November for a month, and it just happened that the staffing has not been here, so I’ve been in Estevan for the whole time. I know where I’m going to be and I know what airport I need to fly out of and what my shifts are going to be,” said Lukye.
But normally she could be in any city that has a Walmart, so she could be in Yorkton one day and Prince Albert the next. So she was pleased that she was able to pull off this cross-country adventure while watching her beloved Green and White.
