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The world of professional football can be glamorous, Brock Sunderland admits. The games, the travel, hotels, dining out at restaurants while making a comfortable living.

Sunderland is only 36 — he’s actually younger than Alouettes’ starting quarterback Kevin Glenn — and has risen through the ranks, now the Ottawa Redblacks’ assistant general manager. But when he started with the Als in 2004 as an amateur and professional scout, he put in long hours, often on the road, for nominal pay.

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“Go with a scout for three weeks on the road, get up at 5 a.m., get to a school by 7, watch film all day. You don’t get lunch. Then you go to practice,” Sunderland explained. “Then you drive eight hours. Oh, and by the way, you have four hours of reports to write. Do it again (the next day) on no sleep. Make sure the reports are accurate — but they also must be grammatically correct and professionally done. Oh, and don’t miss the (player’s) grade.