Walt Tychnowicz/CFL.ca
Brian Chrupalo knows all about tough jobs.
A professional football official for the last 13 years, he’ll be asked to make split second decisions this summer in the CFL and NFL, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, no less.
But his day job is more demanding.
A cop for the last 24 years, Chrupalo is a street supervisor in north Winnipeg, overseeing 20 officers in the neighbourhood he grew up in.
“I guess ultimately my job in both professions is to enforce the rules,” Chrupalo said last week, walking through the University of Guelph campus, at the CFL referees’ pre-season clinic.
“I do it on the football field. I do it at work with arresting people, dealing with a chaotic scene, then I come and do football where it’s very similar. I evaluate what happens, I make a judgment as to what has been ruled improper and I adjudicate it.”
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He was drawn to police work after seeing the struggles of his neighbourhood first-hand.
“You see a lot of social problems,” he said. “We didn’t have those problems in our household but I got to see them every day.
“I work in an impoverished area. (People) have a lot of limitations due to financial stresses. I deal with a lot of social, society problems. I deal with a lot of people that are intoxicated.
“There’s a lot of alcoholism, but I always had my mom, the big family support. My dad worked all the time and my mom was always home. She kept me out of trouble and I have no problem saying that. I give my mom full props for keeping me under control when I was a kid that was very active.”
Chrupalo had structure at home and through sports — he played rugby and football as a teen — but realized that many around him didn’t. As a cop, he tries to give people what they don’t have.
“I grew up around those areas and now I police in those areas, but I’ve given back to them,” he said. “I’ve coached in the north end. I coached at my high school, I coached the rugby team, I coached the football team, I coached little kids’ soccer.
“As a result of that when I work, I have people that will approach me. They know me from coaching and they’ll come up and talk to me. They don’t just associate the police car (as an oppositional presence). They see the person that’s in the car and that’s what I like to do.
“I can go from a small call to a huge call and I deal with a variety of different things. That gives me the ability, I think when things are going crazy, I can walk up and go, ‘No no. It’s this and this.’”
“I go to work and people are amazed that I’m a CFL ref when they find out. They can’t believe it. They’re more shocked about that than they am that I’m a policeman. The opportunity now to do an NFL game, they’re even more shocked.”
Brian Chrupalo
He also likes to give what people in north Winnipeg might need more immediately. He organizes clothing drives and encourages his peers and friends to donate to charities that he donates to. He makes sure underprivileged kids get Christmas presents. His kids’ extra Halloween candy goes back to the kids of his old neighbourhood. The union for Winnipeg Police officers bought a bike for an 11-year-old who was robbed of his in 2012; Chrupalo made the delivery.
“I love my job. I’ve gotten a lot of benefits from it, with good employment, with a strong foundation for my kids,” he said. “My kids are growing up different than I did. And that job gave me an opportunity.”
That job comes with its share of risk, too. In the days leading up to the ref’s clinic, Chrupalo investigated a call about a drug overdose. On the scene, he came into contact with an unknown chemical that burnt his eyes.
“I was in the hospital for about five hours,” he said, far more casually than anyone that’s not a first-responder would.
“I don’t know if it was drugs, if it was a cleaning agent I don’t know if it was some particles in the air. They took blood, they did an EKG, I had a fever and my eyes (were burning) and a headache. The doctor didn’t know what it was. Everything came back fine. It’s kind of scary but that’s my job.”
When it came to putting on that second uniform, Chrupalo initially resisted. Life was keeping him busy enough, but after two years of goading from his good friend Al Bradbury — a fellow Winnipeg cop and a longtime CFL ref — he gave in.
“I finally said, ‘I’ll do it, but if I don’t like it, I’m done,’” Chrupalo said. There was no turning back for him.
“I started doing little kids’ football, like eight-years old, and progressed relatively quickly. Eight, nine years later I was asked to come to the CFL,” he said.
He was supposed to do three games in his first year, but worked his way into more. He’s gone on to work three Grey Cups (including last year’s in Toronto) and found out about his participation in the NFL exchange program a couple of months ago.
“I’m one of 50 people in Canada that get to walk out and do a professional football game where thousands of other people would love to do that,” he said.
Dave Foxcroft, pictured above, was among officials who earned time south of the border in 2016 (Associated Press)
“I go to work and people are amazed that I’m a CFL ref when they find out. They can’t believe it. They’re more shocked about that than they am that I’m a policeman. The opportunity now to do an NFL game, they’re even more shocked.
“Both jobs are fun, both jobs are rewarding, both jobs are similar,” he said. “Nobody likes to see a flag, but at the same time that’s your job to do that.”
In both walks of his life, Chrupalo hopes he can show those around him that they have options, that there’s a world of possibilities out there for you if you dive headfirst into what you do.
“I grew up in…Manitoba Housing, where that’s a poorer area. I’m Metis, I’m probably only one of the Metis people in Canada that gets to do a CFL football game. I’ll be one of the first people (from the CFL) to do an NFL game; that’s a Metis person from the north end of Winnipeg,” he said, laughing to himself with a hint of disbelief. “I never would have thought any of that would be possible. It’s a huge stride for me to be able to be picked and selected to go do that. It’s a huge opportunity.”
