WINNIPEG — It’s always a heated rivalry – on the field and off – when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers square off against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the annual “Banjo Bowl”.
The Blue Bombers, fresh off their 28-25 Labour Day Classic victory last weekend, are in the hunt for their sixth straight win of the 2016 season. It would be the Blue and Gold’s longest winning streak since 2001. In the 12 years the Banjo Bowl has been played, each team has six wins a piece.
Thousands of fans, clad in both blue and green, tailgated in the hours before the game as anticipation ran high. The Bombers announced a sell-out for the Banjo Bowl days before the clash.
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The stage and nickname of the annual game was set in 2004, after former Bomber Troy Westwood called Rider fans “a bunch of banjo picking inbreds.”
The Blue Bombers’ record is currently 6-4, while the Roughriders have a league worst 1-9 record.