Paul McCallum

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Paul McCallum (born January 7, 1970 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a professional Canadian football player currently playing as a placekicker and punter for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

McCallum played junior football with the Surrey Rams of the Canadian Junior Football League. He then travelled to Scotland to play professional soccer in the Scottish Third Division (his cousin, Brian O'Neill, is also a professional soccer player). In 1993 he returned to Canada and signed as a free agent with the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats. After being released, he had numerous short stints with the Ottawa Rough Riders, BC Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders through until 1996, when he departed for Scotland again. This time he was hired as the punter/placekicker for the Scottish Claymores of the World League, and was with the team when they won World Bowl '96.

He then returned to Canada to play for the Roughriders again, and in the 1997 season he was their starting placekicker and punter for all 18 games. He played for Saskatchewan from 1997-2004, and additionally was the Las Vegas Outlaws' kicker during the XFL's only season in 2001.

In the 2004 CFL playoffs McCallum missed a crucial 18 yard field goal in an overtime game against the BC Lions. The Roughriders went on to lose the game, and outraged fans vandalized McCallum's northwest Regina home with eggs, dumped manure on his neighbour's property, and uttered death threats to his family. The incident made national news, and the football club and Regina's mayor Pat Fiacco both denounced the vandalism as an "isolated incident" of "hooliganism." On the comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Shaun Majumder (playing a Roughriders GM) apologized for calling McCallum "a bum who could be outkicked by a goat missing a leg".

As of 2006 McCallum currently holds the record for the longest field goal kicked in the CFL. He booted a wind-aided 62 yard field goal against the Edmonton Eskimos on October 27, 2001 in a 12-3 victory at Taylor Field.[1]

In February 2006, He signed a two year contract with the BC Lions after declining to take a 30% paycut from the Roughriders.

He tied the record for most field goals in a Grey Cup when he kicked six in six attempts in the 94th Grey Cup on 19 November 2006. He was named the Grey Cup Most Valuable Canadian for his efforts.