Fan’s Ford sports Bombers colours

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This article was published 22/10/2015 (3724 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THOMPSON — There are fans of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and then there’s Thompson resident Allan Goudy.

Goudy, a lifelong fan of the Blue and Gold, not only wears his colours proudly, he also drives in them. Last year, when he and his wife, Diane, were shopping for a new vehicle, he saw a bright gold Ford Escape. Right away, the wheels in his head started to turn.

“She wanted the grey one and I said ‘no, I see the gold one and I’ve got ideas for it,’ ” he said Wednesday after posing for a picture in front of his vehicle with the Grey Cup sitting on top of it.

The Cup was in town as part of an eight-day tour through northern Manitoba this week.

“I’m going to get it all Bomber’d up,” he told his wife.

After driving it out of the lot, Goudy’s next stop was an autobody shop, where they slapped on blue vinyl wrapping as well as two custom decals of the Bombers logo; one for the hood, the other on the driver-side door. He’s also got two Bombers helmet stickers for the rear of his car, and flags mounted on the rear window, all of which complement his Bomber licence plates.

If you think that’s going too far, Goudy wanted to go even further. That is, until his wife talked him out of it.

“I wanted to make it look like a helmet; put the grill up, the whole bit,” he said.

But don’t be fooled, he does get his way sometimes. In fact, he had a Bombers-themed wedding. His suit was blue, the tables were filled with gold and there was even a card signed by the Bombers on display.

“Everything was blue and gold. It was all Blue Bombers,” he said.

With him Wednesday was his daughter, Lindsay Anderson, and her two kids. They’re also big Bombers fans but even she admitted it took a bit of getting used to when her dad first brought the truck home.

“I love it,” she said, decked out in a No. 10 Henoc Muamba jersey that fit over her winter coat. “At first I was a little embarrassed to be in it, but now I’m OK with it.”

Part of her discomfort came from the fact everyone who drove by would stare. Some would shake their heads, most likely fans of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, she said, a team that also has a decent presence in Thompson.

“Everywhere I take it, people just love it,” said Goudy. “People come out and take pictures with it all the time.”

There he was again Wednesday, posing for a picture with his family; only this time it was with the Grey Cup and two Bomber alumni in Doug Brown and Brett MacNeil.

“It was like Christmas to me,” said Anderson, before her dad moved in for the final word. “Definitely a privilege and I want to see the Bombers hold it again.”

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Thousands of students from seven different schools in Thompson took part in an anti-bullying campaign Wednesday that included a visit with the Grey Cup and speeches from MacNeil and Brown.

MacNeil and Brown are part of the eight-day tour through northern Manitoba this week to promote the Grey Cup in Winnipeg on Nov. 29.

In his speech, MacNeil described the different forms of bullying that can happen, while offering up different lines of support for those who’ve fallen victim in the past and present.

“How many hands did we see go up today?” he said after speaking with students at R.D. Parker Collegiate. “Every presentation we did, the majority of kids’ hands went up when we asked them if they’ve been bullied. It’s learned behaviour that has to come to an end.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.