The defensive back of the Montreal Alouettes, winner of the Gray Cup, touched the hearts of Quebecers with his performance, his emotion and the French defense. He is our Personality of the Year 2023, “Sports” category.
The phrase could be inducted as meme of the year. “Keep it, your English!” » thundered with emotion Marc-Antoine Dequoy in a post-match interview after conquering the Gray Cup — won in extremis by the score of 28-24.
Football fans quickly devoured this cherry on the victory cake, the Alouettes’ first in 13 years. Rarely have we seen such a nationalist rant rallying everyone, including all political parties in the National Assembly. Even the chroniclers of The Gazette applauded. “The place of the French language is a social issue and not a political issue,” repeated the defensive back on all the stands.
“It’s interesting to see how an injustice that I felt was felt by several thousand Quebecers,” he reiterates again in an interview with Duty. “It’s not the same injustice, but similar injustices: talking about it in their company, or in their own sport. Everyone took ownership of the situation. »
This defense of French did not come out of nowhere although the cry was spontaneous. First, a nationalist Quebecer in the person of Pierre Karl Péladeau bought the Montreal team at the start of the season. Then, around ten Quebecers were among the 45 players in the Alouettes’ starting lineup. Finally, the French-speaking Quebec identity had simmered under the helmets all season of the Als. From the first day of the season, coach Jason Maas had forced all his athletes to learn basic French words, such as “hello”, “thank you”, “in form”, says Marc-Antoine Dequoy. “It had all the importance in the world. That’s not what made the winning touchdown, but it’s something that makes me feel like I’m part of the team. It helped create cohesion. I have never felt a locker room as united as this year in the Alouettes. »
Despite everything, the Canadian Football League (CFL) had not planned any bilingual displays during this final, an event which declares itself representative of the country’s two official languages.
Beyond the sporting and social exploits of Dequoy, also voted best Canadian player in the Eastern division of the CFL, it is all of Quebec football which won the honors this year. The Carabins won the second Vanier Cup in their history. It’s not nothing. This is the sixth victory in ten years for a Quebec team.
The team from the University of Montreal, Dequoy’s alma mater, took advantage of this football moment to give a nod to its former athlete by modifying its former player file. His program of study: doctorate in post-match interview. His position: future prime minister. In truth, by Dequoy’s own admission, his next objective has nothing political. He will instead try to establish “a dynasty” for the Alouettes in the CFL in the years to come.
The finalists: young retirees (Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Christine Sinclair, Olivier Aubin-Mercier) and Canadian basketball players