Inside the CFL: Labour Day only really tempestuous out east

By Graham Kelly on September 3, 2019.

The biggest day in the Saskatchewan sports calendar is Sunday of Labour Day weekend when they play host to the Blue Bombers from Winnipeg. The media in Edmonton and Calgary do their best to drum up interest in the Monday Battle of Alberta between the Eskimos and Stampeders. There is another Labour Day classic that draws little interest in the West – or Toronto for that matter – between the Argos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Some may disagree but I think the western rivalries are by-and-large good-natured. Great numbers of Blue Bomber fans made the trek to Regina on Sunday, crying in their beer when the home team prevailed 19-17 on the last play of the game. You can be sure the Loyal Order of Rider Priders will be loud and proud for the Banjo Bowl Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg. The fans of both teams have a great time in each other’s city. They certainly don’t hate each other.

The same has been true in Calgary and Edmonton. The fans have a good time tailgating, red and white mingling with green and gold. The rivalry was never that intense because for many years the Eskimos were the superior team; in the last 10 years or so Calgary has dominated. You don’t see many opposition jerseys in the stands anymore. The Battle of Alberta isn’t what it use to be. The fans from Edmonton and Calgary don’t hate each other, never did.

The same can’t be said about Hamilton.

At the last Grey Cup played in the Hammer, 1996, between Edmonton and Toronto, the most common button displayed read Argos Suck. Toronto quarterback Doug Flutie found it offensive, especially when asked for autographs by fans sporting the badge.

At Sunday morning mass at St. Patrick’s in Hamilton, the priest called the little children up to receive their blessing before going off to Sunday school. He asked them if they knew what Sunday it was. Blank faces. After informing them it was Grey Cup Sunday, he asked if they knew who was going to win. More blank faces. “Can you say Edmonton Eskimos?” he asked.

I have been in every part of our great county except the territories and I have never encountered the dislike of one city for another like I saw in the Golden Horseshoe.

Five years ago I received an email from a Hamiltonian named George Condon. He is insightful about sports and life, exceptionally knowledgeable, a terrific writer and a man who makes the biblical Job look like a piker in terms of suffering and setbacks. I have been blessed to receive his correspondence from the first missive, a response to one of my News columns. A devout Christian, we share our love of God and the CFL. I asked him about the Labour Day rivalry.

“Labour Day is more an event in Hamilton than just the game itself,” he wrote. “Hamilton has a history steeped in heavy industry. This was hard core lunch bucket and hard hat territory.

“From a Hamilton perspective this (the game) really seemed to be almost a class war. We the great unwashed against the well-heeled rich who thumb their noses at us. To Torontonians we were the crap hole city if you will. We call Toronto Hogtown because they want everything and typically get it. We’ve always been treated like the proverbial ‘red-headed step son,’ always on the short end of the stick.

“The game and crowd are more intense on Labour Day. It’s city vs. city, blue collar vs. white collar, grit vs. posh. It is a very real clash of perceived classes. This was the one game of the year where a sellout was guaranteed when we were struggling at the gate.” Yesterday’s game was sold out.

“We don’t like Toronto in these parts – at all.”

But there is a real contradiction. In the city of Mosca, Barrow, Masoli, Joe Zuger, Brandon Banks, et. al., Hamiltonians love the Leafs, Raptors and Blue Jays. George is no exception. While struggling with serious health problems, he supports his teams religiously. I pray that the Lord will let him live at least until the Leafs win the Stanley Cup. That way I know my treasured friend will be around for years to come.