September 26, 2019

From Club 514 to a tight-knit club, here is why our team is so special

If you’ve been following our Instagram stories, you might already know that the team’s locker room at the Olympic Stadium turns into Club 514 the day before home games. Every time, a different musical theme is chosen and Gatorade flows abundantly. The red and blue – the best kinds – are sometimes reserved for the new VIP section. Running backs are in charge of the guest list, while the offensive lineman act as bouncers, of course. For the first editions, only players who had worn hats during the walkthrough were allowed in the club. Now that most guys have caught on to the hat tradition, the organizers determine admission criteria for each event.

According to Jeremiah Johnson, the brains behind the operation are Christophe Normand and Boris Bede. Although he insists he wants to keep it VIP and low-key, Christophe says he opened Club 514 to boost team spirit. And it worked. He even went as far as bringing a smoke machine and lighting to create a true party atmosphere.

We collaborated with security here at the stadium to make sure the equipment was safe,” Christophe confirmed. “Last week, we even offered a bottle service.

The bottles were actually full of massage jelly, the one used by the team’s therapists.

While Christophe does all the heavy lifting, Boris handles the DJ duties. Depending on the musical theme, different players have shown their dancing skills. Among the most impressive ones: Jeremiah Johnson, Henoc Muamba, Antonio Pipkin and Spencer Moore. African, disco, techno and reggae music have all been featured, and we have a feeling country tunes will be playing pretty loud prior to our next home game against the Calgary Stampeders.

According to Christophe, Club 514 represents what this team is about. “We just love to have fun, we’re very tight-knit!

We often hear about blue-collar type teams. Teams that put their head down, work hard, don’t ask questions and execute. We do things a little differently, here, in Montreal. Sure, we work hard, but we always have fun doing it. And fun is what makes us who we are. The guys are motivated to deliver incredible performances and their coaches firmly believe in their ability to do so.

Receiver Eugene Lewis says he hasn’t seen the team so confident in three years.

Now we know – it’s not even that we believe, it’s that we know – that we’re going to come out every game and battle until the last minute. We all trust each other at the end of the day.

And while the players are reinforcing team spirit, the coaches are letting them express their creativity.

The coaching staff lets us be our ourselves. They treat us like grown men and expect us to be disciplined. When it’s time to have fun, we have fun, but when it’s time do to business, we do what we have to do to take care of business. We’re just all on the same page.

This group is really special. Not only is it able to comeback from 24 points, make spectacular plays on offence and crucial tackles on defence, it also has heart. So much heart. These guys are proud to play in Montreal and to bear the Alouettes name. They’re exactly what our city needed.