The Canadian Soccer Association mourns the passing of Nicolas Dubuc

[loyola]

Extremely sad news out of Trois-Rivières as the soccer community lost a great example of courage in Nicolas Dubuc.

I had the privilege to be ref by him before he was struck with leukemia and also had the chance to see him referring games after his amputation, he was an excellent ref and I'm glad he had the chance to be part of some international games. A great example for the game and great loss for the soccer communities in Quebec an Canada. Very sad.

http://www.canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=3987

Coin des arbitres

23 February 2010

The Canadian Soccer Association mourns the passing of Nicolas Dubuc

Nicolas Dubuc

It is with great sadness that the Canadian Soccer Association has learned about the death of National List assistant referee Nicolas Dubuc. The 31 year old from Trois-Rivières, Québec lost his recurring battle with leukemia on Sunday.

In 2007, Nicolas returned to refereeing after the amputation of his left arm following his initial diagnosis of leukemia.

Nicolas was then struck by lung cancer in 2008 and was dealt another blow when he found out that his leukemia had returned last October.

Throughout all of this, Nic continued to officiate and pass the stringent physical tests demanded at the national level of the game. He was appointed domestically to professional games and the Club National Championships. Internationally, Nic was an Assistant Referee in the 2009 SuperLiga game, Chicago v San Luis Potosi, and in July 2009 he was the assistant referee when the Trophee Des Champions between French clubs of Bordeaux and Guingamp was played in the Olympic stadium in Montreal.

“Words cannot express the sadness we feel at his passing”, said CSA Director of Refereeing Joe Guest. “He was an inspiration to me and others in his positive attitude, together with his tremendous sense of fun and humor”

Nicolas was awarded the Coup de coeur Trophy which he received at the Desjardins Sports Homage Gala dinner in January 2008.

The Canadian Soccer Association wishes to offer its most sincere condolences to his family and to all his friends within the soccer community.

[Grizzly]

He reffed a lot of Impact games and I imagine must have done some of the Vancouver games. You always noticed when he reffed because of him only having one arm. Pretty impressive that he continued to ref at a high level despite all his health problems. RIP.

[TFCRegina]

Terrible news. My thoughts are with his family, especially as someone who never knew a grandfather due to cancer, and lost another when he was very young. Leukemia is a death sentence and a true plague upon people everywhere. I mourn this loss deeply.