Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca
With the OK Tire Labour Day Weekend fast approaching, Shawn Bane Jr. is soaking up the historical geopolitics of the Canadian Football League.
Like many, the chatty wide receiver says he figured the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were always the chief adversaries of his current employer, the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
That was until an alumni member set him straight.
“I heard our `rivals’ weren’t Winnipeg, initially,” Bane Jr. says. “But then with Labour Day (Classic series) the rivalry pretty much developed on its own.”
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Winnipeg is definitely the enemy come Sunday as Bane Jr. and the Riders face cornerback Tyrell Ford and the Bombers at Mosaic Stadium.
“The opponent makes it so special to these fans,” says Saskatchewan centre Peter Godber.
The historical back-and-forth for Winnipeg between divisions—West, East, West, East, — arguably led to a watered-down rivalry in many of the early days of the Labour Day Classic.
Since the birth of the CFL in 1958, Winnipeg played 21 seasons in the East Division. The 2024 season marks the 45th campaign for the Bombers in the West Division, where they’ve resided since 2014.
That means the Labour Day Classic – and the rematch game the following weekend in Winnipeg — is more likely to mean the difference between an early end to the season and a playoff berth or even a bye to the Western Final.
“If I’m in public wearing some Rider gear the week we play Winnipeg, all the fans talk about is, `please beat Winnipeg,’” Godber says. “I’m not sure why this feels like a bigger game from a fan perspective, but it just kind of does.
“You get pretty much guaranteed a sellout and big energy.”
Here are five things to know going into the Sunday showdown at Mosaic:
THE CROWD FACTOR
Talk to the players, and they’ll tell you the energy from the crowd translates into punishing hits and ramped-up intensity at field level.
And that applies to both teams.
“Oh, yeah, it’s a hostile environment,” said Winnipeg receiver Nic Demski. ‘You know, Saskatchewan, they’re very passionate about their football. Their fans, they love the Riders.
“But our fans here, you know, they’re just as passionate, if not more. So you just know they’re going to make the trip.”
The trip — Winnipeg to Regina — takes just over six hours by car (driving the speed limit).
“With as much green as you’re gonna see in that crowd, you’re also gonna see a lot of blue,” Demski says.
Regardless, Demski is ready for the annual barrage of creative insults from the Rider faithful.
“I’m a familiar face,” Demski says. “I played in Saskatchewan, and then went back home to Winnipeg. So you know, they’re gonna let me hear it. Of course, they always do.
“But that just gets me more into the game that way. I love it. I love when the crowd interacts. I love that hostile environment.”
THE STAKES
With hostility in the wind and first place in the West on the line, football fever is gripping the prairies.
The Riders (5-5-1) are perched atop the West Division with the Bombers (5-6) and BC Lions (5-6) right behind them.
Both Saskatchewan and Winnipeg have experienced turbulence in the first half of the season. So the Labour Day home-and-home represents the perfect opportunity to assert dominance in the fight for playoff position.
“We play each other three times this season,” Demski says. “They got the best of us the first time.”
Back on July 19, Saskatchewan beat the Bombers 19-9 at Mosaic Stadium. That means the Riders need to win one game in the home-and-home series to capture the tiebreaker should the teams finish the season with identical records.
“We got to be sharp,” Bane Jr. said. “We’ve got to take care of the ball and we’ve got to take advantage of the plays and defence that they give us.
“Low route plays or low-level plays, we can turn them into big plays by blocking downfield extra or just being in the right place at the right time. So I think those will be key.”
THE FORTUNE-TELLER
To be clear, the Labour Day Classic is intense even in seasons in which a gulf exists between the teams in the standings.
Take last season, when the 5-5 Riders outlasted the 9-2 Bombers 32-30 in overtime.
The difference? A two-point convert courtesy of Bane Jr., who was feeling down and disillusioned earlier in the game.
“I wasn’t getting the ball a lot and one of my teammates pulled me aside, and said, like, ‘Yo, listen, don’t stress it too much. You’re gonna be a part of the game. You’re gonna win this game.’”
That teammate with the premonition? Former Saskatchewan receiver Tevin Jones.
“I knew I had to keep my head in the game, because there was gonna come a play where I was gonna be called,” Bane Jr. says. “So thank God it was on that two-point conversion to get us ahead.”
Since 1982, the two teams have clashed in Regina on every Labour Day weekend, with Saskatchewan going 29-12 over those 41 outings.
The 2023 edition marked the first time the game went into overtime.
“I was able to make some history last year, which is awesome,” Bane Jr. said. “You’re just thankful. You want to make it so, both on and off the field, people remember you years down the line.”
THE (AGING) QUARTERBACKS
The Blue Bombers serenaded Zach Collaros with Happy Birthday at the end of Tuesday’s practice in honour of their quarterback turning 36.
“He definitely wasn’t a fan of us all singing,” Demski says. “He tries to go through the day incognito when his birthday comes around.
“Zach’s the type of guy who wants the attention off him. He’s always focused on the big picture.”
A two-time CFL Most Outstanding Player, Collaros is struggling statistically this season, completing 67.6 per cent of his passes for 2,483 yards, six touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
The story in Saskatchewan is different, although the starting quarterback has even more candles on his birthday cake than Collaros.
Trevor Harris is 38. Named the CFL’s top offensive player for August, Harris has connected on 72.1 per cent of his passes this season for 1,417 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.
TWO TEAMS, DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS
The Bombers are riding a three-game winning streak. The Riders are looking to snap a two-game losing streak.
So momentum is, arguably, on Winnipeg’s side.
The Riders are still recovering from a 20-19 loss last week to the Toronto Argonauts. Kicker Lirim Hajrullahu scored the winning rouge on the final play of the game.
“I guess we’ve been finding ways to not win,” Bane Jr. said. “So that was just another way. But it’s all just adversities that are going to help us move forward.”
The Bombers are coming off a dramatic outing of their own. After tossing three picks, Collaros connected with Kenny Lawler for the game-winning touchdown strike with 19 seconds on the clock.
That gave Winnipeg a 26-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Middle linebacker Adam Bighill, the heartbeat of the Winnipeg defence, draws back into the lineup this week after missing last week’s game with a hamstring injury. Offensive lineman Stanley Bryant (illness) is also expected to play for Winnipeg.
