The Banjo Bowl is the annual rematch game between the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

and Saskatchewan Roughriders of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL) after the Labour Day Classic. While the traditional Labour Day Classic game is always played on the Sunday before

Labour Day Labour Day is an annual day of celebration of the labour movement and its labor rights, achievements. It has its origins in the trade union, labour union movement, specifically the Eight-hour day movement, eight-hour day movement, which advoca ...

Mosaic Stadium Mosaic Stadium is an open-air stadium at REAL District in Regina, Saskatchewan. Announced on July 12, 2012, the stadium replaced Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field as the home field of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders. It was ...

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

(previously held at Taylor Field), there is usually a rematch on the following weekend between these two rival

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

teams at Princess Auto Stadium (previously held at Canad Inns Stadium) in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

History

From 1982 to 2003 consecutively, Saskatchewan hosted Winnipeg in the Labour Day Classic. This game was always held in Regina on the Sunday before Labour Day Monday. Some of these Labour Day Classic games were part of a home-and-home series. In 1984 and 1988, Winnipeg hosted Saskatchewan in the game before the Labour Day Classic. In 1986, 1991 to 1995, and 1998, Winnipeg hosted Saskatchewan in the game after the Labour Day Classic. Dave Ritchie, Winnipeg's head coach from 1999 to 2004, would ask, "Why can’t we play he Labour Day Classicgame in Winnipeg once in awhile?" Ritchie knew the visitors should have a clear disadvantage playing in a jacked-up, jam-packed stadium, and felt that Winnipeg should benefit once in a while. At one time, there were discussions about occasionally letting Winnipeg enjoy the home-field advantage and perhaps alternating year by year the site of the Labour Day Classic. Every year starting in 2004, Saskatchewan has hosted the Labour Day Classic and Winnipeg has hosted the Labour Day Rematch. As of the 2024 season, Winnipeg leads the series 13–7. As on Labour Day weekend when many Winnipeg fans visit Regina to support the

Bombers A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strategic bombing is ...

, many Saskatchewan fans visit Winnipeg the following weekend to support the 'Riders. Many come, tongue-in-cheek, with banjos. Despite not being an official event, the Canadian Football League website promotes the game by referring to it as "Banjo Bowl" in some of its online coverage as does the league's official television broadcaster, TSN. In 2013, the Premier of Saskatchewan, Brad Wall, joined in the spirit of the event by posting a video on his

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channel making reference to the rivalry and the Banjo Bowl game. The Riders themselves have avoided the use of the title "Banjo Bowl" in official communications, referring to the game as the "Labour Day rematch".

Name

The "Banjo Bowl" moniker was coined by Blue Bombers board member David Asper in early 2004, inspired by an infamous comment made by Bombers

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

Troy Westwood in the week prior to a

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Western Division Semi-final game between the two teams. Westwood was quoted in the media as saying that people from Regina were "a bunch of

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

-pickin'

inbred Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders an ...

s." He later apologized halfheartedly for those comments, saying that "the vast majority of the people in Saskatchewan have no idea how to play the banjo." This further fuelled the Winnipeg–Saskatchewan football rivalry and has made the rematch game even more of an event. The game has been sold out every year since 2005.

Results

References

{{Winnipeg Blue Bombers Saskatchewan Roughriders Winnipeg Blue Bombers Canadian Football League rivalries