The Saskatchewan Roughriders love Toronto, particularly Grey Cup games in Toronto. That’s because two of four of the club’s Grey Cup victories took place in the “Big Smoke”. The CFL, via Mayor John Tory’s loud mouth, has all but officially announced that the 2016 Grey Cup will take place in either Toronto’s Rogers Centre or at BMO Field on the city’s Exhibition grounds. Green in 2016?
Knowing that is somewhat comforting for Rider fans, coaches, and management. The fact is, the Riders have been good to Toronto in terms of marketing the big event. They bring an energy and people with them that make the event a great success.
“I thought the city really embraced it,” remembers color commentator for the Argos radio broadcast, Peter Martin. “All the events were very well attended. A lot of people were skeptical because they were expensive but people didn’t seem to mind.” He went on, “A backhanded compliment to the Roughriders, having you guys in it helped a ton. Had it been B.C. or Edmonton maybe, I couldn’t see it flying. I was at every event every night and it was a sea of green and white all over the place. The event organizers were pleased.”
The city reciprocated by adopting the West division champs in ’89 and again in ’07. The Riders won both of those games on the Rogers Centre turf.
Former Rider GM Eric Tillman said, “I thought ’07 was going to be like a 50/50 split of Bomber and Rider fans.
“But to walk out and see eighty-five percent was for Saskatchewan, it almost took your breath away. At that point you realized how much it meant, and that it was like a home game.”
One can only imagine how intimidating it was for the Blue Bombers. Unless you were on that ’07 Bomber roster and are reading this right now, you’ll never know.
For those of you that don’t remember, the Riders defence dominated the Blue Bombers offence in the ’07 game. An uncharacteristically quiet head coach of the Bombers Doug Berry said, “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the Saskatchewan defense.
“They did a lot early and knew what we wanted to do in terms of establishing Charles Roberts and they did a good job initially of taking him out of the game as much as they could. When you’re trying to take away the run game, they make you want to throw the ball and that’s not exactly the way we wanted to come into this.”
Obviously those were factors, but the Rogers Centre and the City of Toronto were not small ones for the Riders who feel right at home representing the West at Grey Cups in the Ontario capital.
Questions to Ponder
Will the 2013 Grey Cup hangover end in 2015 for both the team and fans, who allowed Edmonton to take over the attendance crown in 2014?
Whether Saskatchewan wins another Grey Cup or not, will GM Brendan Taman and coach Corey Chamblin be able to identify and acquire the pillars of the organization that will be the team’s foundation well into the 2020’s? How many of them are already here?
If that last answer is more than a few, the Riders are in good shape for that 2016 Grey Cup. Other teams have come calling for members of that ’07 team and now the ’13 team as well. The most recent of those is Ritchie Hall, whom the Bombers made defensive coordinator this off-season.
To quote famed hockey coach/guru and new Torontonian Mike Babcock, “When they start coming for your people, you know you are doing something right.”
