There was more than championship rings on the line when the New Westminster Hyacks and the Terry Fox Ravens took to the field for Saturday’s AAA provincial championship game.
Prior to the big game, Mayor Jonathan Cote challenged Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore to a poetry wager as part of the 2017 Subway Bowl. With his poetry skills being “a little rusty”, Cote recruited New Westminster poet laureate Alan Hill to craft a poem for Moore to read at a council meeting.
“During the Grey Cup, the mayors of Calgary and Toronto put out a bit of a poetry challenge to each other. Mayor (Naheed) Neshi (recently) had to read out a poem written by John Tory and the City of Toronto essentially praising the Toronto Argonauts for their victory,” Cote told the Record. “I put out the gauntlet to Mayor Moore and asked if he would be open to the poetry challenge as well, and he accepted.”
After the Toronto Argonauts beat the Calgary Stampeders 27-24 in the recent Grey Cup, Calgary Mayor Naheed Neshi had to don an Argos jersey and recite a poem praising the winning team. The poem ended with the line: “Now we have business to do and I must end this tale of woe, but I have to wrap it up by saying, ‘Go Toronto Argos, go, go, go.’”
Both Cote and Moore were in the stands at B.C. Place on Saturday night for the 2017 Subway Bowl, when the New Westminster Hyacks beat the Terry Fox Ravens in dramatic fashion to capture the provincial championship. (See the Record’s sports section for all the details.)
In an email to Cote, Moore said he will read the poem at Port Coquitlam city council’s Dec. 12 meeting and invited Cote to attend. Here’s the poem written by the city’s poet laureate that Moore will read.
sometimes the best team wins
others try, do their best
but the best is never good enough when you play New West
although we tried hard, we played to win
through teamwork and skill they got under our skin
with coaching exquisite and tackling like tanks
it’s to New West we raise a glass and offer up thanks
they bought their A game and put us to shame
with running and passing, defense and attack
strategic positioning forward and back
we raise up our glasses, we raise up our hats
the Hyacks were better and that's simply that.
But football’s the winner and teamwork the goal
with fun and commitment we all played a role
so cheers to us all, we can all feel proud
to our schools and our cites lets shout it out loud!
