2006 BC Lions Grey Cup Championship Ring — Player Issued
The 2006 BC Lions won the 94th Grey Cup in one of the most dominant championship performances in Canadian Football League history. This is a genuine player-issued championship ring from that title run, crafted in 10k gold with CZ stones, belonging to a member of the team that finished 13–5, produced the CFL's Most Outstanding Player, set a Grey Cup field goal record, and lifted the oldest trophy in professional football for the fifth time in franchise history.
The team that broke the Grey Cup
When the final gun sounded on BC's 25–14 victory over the Montreal Alouettes at Winnipeg's Canad Inns Stadium on November 19, 2006, the Lions rushed onto the field in a frenzy of orange confetti. In the chaos, offensive lineman Kelly Bates took the Grey Cup from a teammate, raised it over his head — and snapped the base clean off the 94-year-old trophy. "I just started shaking it and it snapped," Bates said afterward. "I'm still happy. They'll put it back together and we'll go get drunk out of it." It is one of the most celebrated and uniquely chaotic moments in Grey Cup history.
The 2006 Grey Cup was the Lions' fifth championship in franchise history and first since 2000, when they also defeated the Montreal Alouettes. Head coach Wally Buono — who would go on to become the winningest coach in CFL history — won his fourth Grey Cup as a coach and his first with the Lions organization. The team had finished first in the West Division for the third consecutive season, swept through the playoffs undefeated, and won the Grey Cup by 11 points in a game they led from the very first possession.
Crafted in 10k gold with CZ stones, this player-issued ring was earned by a member of one of the finest BC Lions teams ever assembled — a team that went 15–5 on the season including the playoffs, produced a record-setting Grey Cup performance, and celebrated by doing something no championship team before or since has managed: breaking the trophy.
| Year | 2006 |
| Championship | 94th Grey Cup — Canadian Football League |
| Material | 10k Gold with CZ stones |
| Type | Player-issued |
| Grey Cup result | BC Lions def. Montreal Alouettes, 25–14 |
| Game location | Canad Inns Stadium, Winnipeg, Manitoba — November 19, 2006 |
| Grey Cup MVP | Dave Dickenson, QB |
| Most Valuable Canadian | Paul McCallum, K — 6 FGs (Grey Cup record tied) · 11-for-11 in playoffs |
| CFL Most Outstanding Player | Geroy Simon — 105 catches, 1,856 yards (club record), 15 TDs |
| Head coach | Wally Buono — 4th Grey Cup championship as coach |
| Regular season record | 13–5 · West Division champions (3rd consecutive year) |
| Franchise championships | 5th Grey Cup title (1964, 1985, 1994, 2000, 2006) |
2006 BC Lions — Quick Facts
- The 2006 Lions broke the actual Grey Cup trophy during the on-field celebration — offensive lineman Kelly Bates snapped the base clean off the 94-year-old trophy in the post-game frenzy, a moment so uniquely chaotic it has become one of the most celebrated in Grey Cup history
- Paul McCallum tied the Grey Cup record with six field goals — an achievement made more remarkable by the fact that he went 11-for-11 across both playoff games, and that the record he tied was held by his own kicking coach, Don Sweet, who first set it in 1977
- Geroy Simon's 2006 season — 105 catches, 1,856 yards, 15 touchdowns — earned him the CFL's Most Outstanding Player award and was described at the time as the most dominant receiving performance by a BC Lions player since Mervyn Fernandez in the 1980s
- Head coach Wally Buono went on to become the winningest coach in CFL history with 264 career victories — the 2006 Grey Cup was his first championship with the BC Lions and the fourth of his extraordinary career
- The Lions finished first in the West Division for the third consecutive season in 2006 and went 15–5 on the year including the playoffs, making them one of the most dominant teams in CFL football of their era
- The Grey Cup is the oldest trophy competed for by a professional sports team in North America — older than the Stanley Cup, older than the Super Bowl trophy, and dating to 1909; a ring from the 94th championship game is a piece of over a century of Canadian sporting history
- The BC Lions have not won the Grey Cup since 2011 — making the 2006 championship ring one of only six in the franchise's history and a piece of an increasingly rare body of hardware