By Sean Hatchard
Published in the Times-Transcript on Saturday May 9, 2009
Appeared on page C1

Two-time Grey Cup Champion and Canadian Football League Hall of Famer Matt Dunigan is coming to Moncton next month to help the Moncton Football Association celebrate its 50th birthday bash.

The celebrated quarterback, who played 14 seasons in the CFL and now works as a studio analyst for The Sports Network, will be the keynote speaker at the MFA's 50th anniversary dinner June 13 at Legends Lounge in the Moncton Coliseum Complex.

Dunigan won two Grey Cup championships -- in 1987 with the Edmonton Eskimos and 1991 with the Toronto Argonauts -- and passed for nearly 44,000 yards and 306 touchdowns during his career.

The 48-year-old native of Lakewood, Ohio was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

Dunigan, who joined TSN in 1999, also worked the 2004 season as head coach and general manager of the Calgary Stampeders.

"Matt truly is one of the most recognizable names and faces in Canadian football and has a reputation as a highly entertaining speaker," said anniversary dinner chairman Stewart Fraser, an MFA product who went on to a seven-year career in the CFL as a wide receiver with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Ottawa Rough Riders.

"We are delighted that he has accepted our invitation to come to Moncton."

Dunigan's visit to Moncton coincides with recent support of the creation of an annual weekend celebration of football in Moncton.

CFL commissioner Mark Cohon met with Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc and New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham in February about the event.

The plan is to have it include a regular season CFL game at the outdoor stadium being built on the Université de Moncton campus; due to open next spring.

Graham and Moncton East MLA Chris Collins also travelled to Montreal to meet with Cohon and CFL team owners during last fall's Grey Cup to discuss bringing CFL football to Moncton.

The anniversary dinner evening will also include the introduction of several MFA alumni who have gone on to play in the CFL.

There are also door prizes and live and silent auctions.

And organizers hint they are also planning a few surprises for those attending.

Tickets for the dinner are $100 per person or $800 for a table of eight and can be purchased at Chubby's Variety at 121 Killam Drive in Moncton, or by calling the MFA office at 855-3212.

Net proceeds from the dinner will go toward the establishment of a permanent clubhouse for the MFA, to be built adjacent to Rocky Stone Memorial Field.

The MFA started in 1959 with 22 local businessmen investing $100 each to arrange coaching and player clinics in the Moncton area and to set up and administer a four-team midget football league of boys 15 years of age and younger.

Today, the MFA continues its tradition of providing player development programs and leagues for kids age 6-15.

During the past half-century, the association has developed players that have gone on to play football at the university level and the CFL.