Farhan Lalji is being inducted into the Canadian Football Association’s Hall of Fame.
The Canadian Football League has announced that Lalji, a Vancouver Bureau reporter for TSN, has been selected for induction into its Hall of Fame’s media wing, along with BC Lions’ historian Steve Daniel. The induction will take place in November.
“This recognition means a tremendous amount to me because the Canadian football community is a special place,” Lalji said in a statement to the Record. “Whether it’s the CFL or the amateur football level, it’s hard to find a group of people, not only passionate about their own success, but the game itself. Their stories are inspirational, and it’s my honour to be able to tell them.”
Lalji said the journalists in the media wing of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame are similarly invested.
“More than covering the sport, they care about the sport, and it’s an honour to be able to be mentioned alongside them,” he said.
Here in New West, Lalji is well-known for his work to relaunch the Hyacks football program in 2002.
Lalji, who was named as New Westminster’s 2012 Citizen of the Year, spent 19 years as head coach of the New Westminster Hyacks football program.
In September 2023, the City of New Westminster declared the NWSS Hyacks Homecoming Day will now be known as Farhan Lalji Day.
The city’s proclamation outlined some of Lalji’s contributions while coaching Hyack football teams from 2002 to 2021, including leading the junior variety program to its first-ever BC High School Provincial Championship in 2017 and leading the varsity team to NWSS’s first-ever Subway Bowl BC Triple A Championship in 2017.
