There are few individuals who have had as profound an impact on the growth of high school football in BC than Farhan Lalji. It was through Lalji’s efforts on the sponsorship and negotiation side that led to the BC high school football provincial championships gaining its first title sponsorship known as the “Subway Bowl.”
In the years that followed, the “Subway Bowl” became arguably the most recognized amateur annual sporting event in the province, with BC Place – home of the BC Lions – serving as its primary home.
Beyond just negotiating the naming rights for the high school provincial championships, Lalji also put it on the map by leveraging his media networks to implement nationally- televised broadcasts of the Subway Bowl from 2002-2012 on Sportsnet. He also helped arrange for weekly broadcasts of high school football contests on Rogers TV before the games later gained an online presence.
Lalji also provided a platform of appreciation for the student athletes by pioneering the provincial all-star awards dinner beginning in 2001, the annual NCAA Signing Day press conference, as well as annual all-star games, including the BC High School Football Association all-star game in 2018.
At the same time Lalji was building up all of high school football, he also restarted the long-dormant football program at New Westminster Secondary for the 2003. Over the course of the next 17 seasons, he grew the Hyacks program into one of the most consistent winners in the province. Lalji’s varsity team captured the 2017 championship, while the junior varsity team won the title in 2015. Around 50 players in the programs over the two decades since its rebirth received college scholarships.
Lalji also served as president of BC High School Football from 2010 to 2012, with one of his major policies being the enactment of the association’s safety policy around concussion prevention.
Outside of amateur football circles, most people also recognize Lalji as being a fixture on the television screens of sports fans since 1997 when he first joined TSN as a Vancouver-based reporter. Though he has covered a range of sports from Super Bowls to Stanley Cups, it is his work with football and, particularly, the Canadian Football League where fans know him the best.
Through his work in media, Lalji has covered the biggest games on the biggest scale including in the CFL, NFL, NCAA and, of course, multiple Grey Cup games.
Aside from TSN, Lalji has contributed or worked for several media outlets including the CBC, CKWX Radio, Team (later TSN) 1040, and CTV.
Between his work in amateur football and broadcasting, Lalji has compiled an impressive list of accolades and awards. He was a runner-up for the NFL Canada National Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2012, the 2009 Provincial Scholastic Coach of the Year at the BC Lions Orange Helmet Awards, the City of New Westminster’s 2012 Citizen of the Year, a multiple-time winner of the Best Sports TV Reporter in Vancouver at the Paul Carson Broadcast & Media Awards, and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in the Media wing in 2024.
