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. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

and

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) after the

Labour Day Classic The Labour Day Classic (french: Classique de la fête du travail, branded as OK Tire Labour Day Weekend for sponsorship reasons) is a week of the Canadian Football League (CFL) schedule played over the Labour Day weekend (which includes the firs ...

. While the traditional Labour Day Classic game is always played on the Sunday before

Labour Day Labour Day ('' Labor Day'' in the United States) is an annual holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for ...

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 wa ...

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, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

(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

IG Field IG Field (formerly Investors Group Field) is an outdoor stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The stadium, which opened in 2013, is located on the University of Manitoba campus next to University Stadium. Owned by Triple B Stadium Inc., a consortium ...

(previously held at

Canad Inns Stadium Canad Inns Stadium (also known as Winnipeg Stadium) was a multipurpose stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The stadium was located at the corner of St. James Street and Maroons Road, immediately north of the Polo Park Shopping Centre and the ...

) in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

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 o ...

History

The "Banjo Bowl" moniker was coined by Blue Bombers board member

David Asper David Asper (born November 26, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and businessman, currently serving as Acting Dean of Robson Hall, the law faculty of the University of Manitoba. Asper is the son of Canwest founder Izzy Asper, and is now the head of ...

in early 2004, inspired by an infamous comment made by Bombers

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

Troy Westwood Troy Westwood (born March 21, 1967) is a former professional Canadian football place kicker and punter who played 18 years for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. He was drafted 48th overall in the 6th round of the 1991 CF ...

in the week prior to a

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

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 usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

-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 and o ...

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 is sponsored by the

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corporation The Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corporation (MBLL; french: Société manitobaine des alcools et des loteries) is a crown agency of the Manitoba government responsible for providing legalized gambling ("gaming"), distributing and selling liquor ...

. The game has been sold out every year since 2005. As of the 2022 season, Winnipeg leads the series 11–7. As on Labour Day weekend when many Winnipeg fans visit Regina to support the

Bombers A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an aircraf ...

, 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 Bradley John Wall (born November 24, 1965), is a Canadian former politician who served as the 14th premier of Saskatchewan from November 21, 2007 until February 2, 2018. He is the fourth longest-tenured premier in the province's history. His so ...

, joined in the spirit of the event by posting a video on his

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel making reference to the rivalry and the Banjo Bowl game.

Results

References

{{Winnipeg Blue Bombers Saskatchewan Roughriders Winnipeg Blue Bombers Sports rivalries in Canada