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Which is where Collier comes in. After bouncing around the NFL and CFL, he moved to Germany in 2013 and saw an opportunity. There are some 300 club teams in Germany. Simple math tells you that, in a country of 83 million, there were going to be some athletes on those teams. It’s a similar story in France, Austria, Sweden and the U.K.

“When I first started, I was recruiting the schools, they weren’t recruiting our kids,” Collier said. “Now I have coaches calling all the time. I think in two to four years, some of these kids will be at the same level as the top Canadians and some Americans.”

So how does the CFL mine this rich vein of talent?

That’s an interesting question. Collier has encountered some resistance at the federation level of the countries he recruits. Those federations point out he’s taking the best players from their domestic leagues and offering few, if any guarantees of playing time in the United States.

It’s similar to the resistance the NHL encountered when it first started signing players from Sweden and Finland in the 1970s and ’80s. The CFL, as it happens, has agreements with 10 countries, including eight in Europe.

Collier was asked about his relationship with the CFL.

“There’s nothing official but it would be a dream to work with the CFL,” he said.

The league office, for its part, wrote in an email that it is familiar with Collier and plans to meet with him soon.

They shouldn’t delay. The world, after all, is waiting.

ewilles@postmedia.com

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