Blue Bomber Fans

FTLComm - Winnipeg, MB - Monday, August 6, 2001

It was Sunday afternoon, just after six local time and we pulled up to a light on the West end of Ness. This car pulled up beside us and the driver and his passengers were yelling at us. Now this is not a usual thing to have happen and I was quite puzzled, even more so when the light changed and we began driving down the street and this car pulled up beside us and the people inside continued to yell and gesture. I figured that this warranted a picture and reached for the camera and Andrew like myself was unable to make out what they were saying and despite the 33º heat he lowered the window and I captured the image you see. Though my hearing could not make out what they were saying Andrew did and alas we were being jeered. You see our car has Saskatchewan license plates and on Friday the Riders and the Blue Bombers met and the Bombers were victorious. The rivalry between the Saskatchewan and Bomber fans is legendary and to make it even more fun, with the exception of the passenger in the right front seat, it is a "friendly" rivalry. Each fall the labour day game in Regina is the most exciting and colourful football game of the year just as the following weekend in Winnipeg when the two teams meet again in Winnipeg. For twelve years my sister held a Labour Day party after the game at her Regina home where fans from Melville, Saskatoon and around the province with converge on her back yard to rehash the day's game. Most of the Melville folk, railway men, were die hard Winnipeg fans and the talk and boasting, the claims and counterclaims would go into the night, sometimes through thundershowers, steak and laughter. Most of the big time sports commentators claim that both Regina and Winnipeg are just to small to support professional football and yet the best fans and often the biggest crowds support those two wind blown prairie teams. Teams that have to make do with what they have for money and players, but teams that can depend on their community owned clubs to support them on and off the field. There would be no point in having pro-football in Saskatchewan if it were not for the Bomber fans and this morning a large man waltzed out of a Seven-11 with a stern look on his face and a crisp new Rider jersey, his license number is "Bounce."