By Maria Cristina Laureano
Winnipeggers have a strong reputation of being “friendly Manitobans.” As a local, I often find myself apologizing for someone else bumping into me or even saying sorry to someone just because I almost bumped into them.
But that demeanor changes in most Winnipeggers when it comes to one thing in particular: the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
In all the Winnipeg Blue Bombers games I’ve gone to, no other rivalry compares to the one against the Riders and the most recent game between the two teams didn’t show any signs of the competition cooling off.
During the August 7th game, the seats were packed and had the highest attendance in the Bombers’ current season with 33,234 people. The maximum seat capacity for the Investors Group Field is 33,500.
During the entire game the crowd was going wild. Even during moments when I was inside the Press Room with the doors closed I could hear the sounds of the enthusiastic crowd. With every Riders’ play you could hear the uproar of anger from Bombers fans and astounding cheers of victory whenever our team stole the ball.
Overall, the game was pretty eventful with ebbs and flows of action. The game started off steady in the first period with back and forth touchdowns and ending with the teams tying. This was followed up in the second half with strong offence and defense by the Bombers, which got them to into the lead by halftime. Out of all the periods, the third was probably the most uneventful until about the last two minutes when the Riders caught up to our team, creating an obvious upset for Bombers fans. But the real battle between the teams was definitely in the last quarter.
While the Riders were winning at the beginning, with less than six minutes left the Bombers returned to the lead. The last five minutes of the game were deafening as Bombers and Riders fans sat in suspense to see which team would win. Even as the Riders eventually got into the lead during the last two minutes of the game, most people stayed until the very end seeing if things would change. The game ended with the Riders winning 23-17. The Bombers followed up this game with a 21-38 loss on Tuesday, August 12 against the Toronto Argonauts.
If you weren’t able to make the latest Bombers vs. Riders game, don’t worry – the infamous Banjo Bowl, the annual rematch between the Bombers and Riders, is coming up on Sunday, September 7th. And if you end up going, that’s one event you don’t have to be a Friendly Manitoban.
