SASKATOON – The halftime show during the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) Huskies football game on Saturday night provided a situation unlike any other at Saskatoon’s Griffiths Stadium.
After a majestic ‘Blackout’ fireworks display around 8:35 p.m., a lack of wind meant the residual smoke crept onto the field and continued to linger.
Officials chose not to start the game until the smoke had cleared causing a delay of approximately 40 minutes before the third quarter could start.
“We’ve been delayed by fog but not like that, that’s what it looked like… how many nights do you have zero wind in Saskatoon,” said Brian Towriss, Huskies head coach.
“It looked good actually when we first came out, it looked like it was going away and it just got worse,” said Huskies receiver John Trumpy.
Once football action resumed, the Huskies kept their lead and won 31-25 against the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds.
The delay proved to be frustrating; especially for UBC Thunderbirds head coach Shawn Olsen.
“It was a 55 minute halftime, again at some level there needs to be some accountability for what happens when you’re the home team and in my opinion that’s unacceptable,” said Olsen.
“I think there’s already a complaint that’s gone in at halftime and again I don’t know what will be done but we definitely need to, as a sport in Canada, really get a level playing field when we’re on a football field.”
Huskies Athletics says it is up to officials to call a game if a delay is long enough.
“They go ahead and complain, what can we do about it, there’s nothing we can do,” said Towriss.
“We are trying to entertain the fans; that’s not a football decision, they wanted us to have a delay of game penalty, I don’t know if that’s in the rules or not, the officials said ‘no”.
This is the fourth season fireworks have been a part of home games for U of S football.
The Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) teams will face each other again on Nov. 1 at Thunderbird Stadium in B.C.
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