This soccer ball rode a wave from Nunavut to Newfoundland
Soccer unites people from all over the world, and a ball found on a beach near central Newfoundland has tied the region to one of Canada's northernmost communities.
Lee Croucher fishes for lobster in Beaumont, an island community off central Newfoundland's northern coast, with his uncle. He spotted an unusual find last week and decided to pick up what appeared to be a weathered soccer ball.
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"I got a couple young girls, couple young daughters, just for something for them to fool around with. You know, seeing it was there," Croucher told CBC News on Wednesday.
Lee Croucher found this soccer ball on a beach in Beaumont, N.L. — 3,000 kilometres from Ullajuk Elementary School in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, where the ball appears to have come from. (Submitted by Jane Croucher)
"But to my surprise when I found it, there was a name of a school on it."
The school, it turns out, is over 3,000 kilometres away in Pond Inlet, Nunavut.
The ball appears to be from Ulaajuk Elementary School, a small school located in the Qikiqtaaluk region of Nunavut on northern Baffin Island. Croucher believes the ball travelled down the Labrador Current in order to reach Newfoundland.
A smiling man holds a felt soccer ball. Lee Croucher found the ball near a beach in Beaumont. (Submitted by Jane Croucher) "I figured it was a northern school somewhere, from the name, you know? But I [wasn't] really sure it was going to be that far. I was considering maybe from Labrador somewhere," he said.
"It travelled a long way."
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Croucher said the felt covering of the ball likely means it was used for indoor soccer. The felt is weathered from the journey, he said, but the ball is still full of air and ready for a game.
He said he plans to keep the ball for his family to play with but will remember the story of how it ended up in his home.
"I got one girl just starting school now in the fall, it might be a good show-and-tell project for she or something," he said with a laugh.
This story, written by Alex Kennedy, was originally published by CBC News on June 7, 2024. It contains files from On The Go.
