Get Ready For The 2024 Banjo Bowl!

By Chris Lawton

With the Labour Day Classics now in the rear-view mirror it’s time to look ahead to the next big annual CFL contest. This time people will be looking to the Labour Day rematch between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue-Bombers, better known as the Banjo Bowl. The 2024 iteration of this contest will be played out this coming Saturday at a very watchable time of 8PM for those of us in the UK. Don’t forget you can watch for free on CFL+.

This year marks the 20^th anniversary of the inception of the Banjo Bowl game , so it is a relatively recent idea, but fans of these prairie rivals will doubtless tell you it is one of the most important dates on the calendar.

What Is The Banjo Bowl?

It may not be the Grey Cup, and it doesn’t have the league wide drama of Labour Day. But for these two teams the competition for this in-season trophy is always fierce. That will be no different this year as the teams have one win each and will want to take this to win the season series and any potential playoff tie breakers.

According to Wikipedia, the ‘Banjo Bowl’ moniker was coined by a Blue Bombers board member in 2004. Inspired by an infamous comment made by Blue Bombers’ kicker Troy Westwood in the week running up to a 2003 West Division Semi Final between the two teams.

In a media interview, Westwood referred to Roughriders fans as “A bunch of Banjo pickin’ inbreds”. Before that 2023 playoff meeting, he ‘apologised’ in the most tongue in cheek way imaginable, stating, “The vast majority of people in Saskatchewan have no idea how to play the Banjo”.

Westwood himself attributes his comments to growing up in the heartlands of the Bombers-Riders rivalry and has pointed out, on multiple occasions, that it was all done in fun and his mother’s side of the family are from Regina.

You would think that would be all the bulletin board material the Roughriders would need, and indeed they won the playoff game with Winnipeg following these comments 37-21. But the Blue Bombers clearly saw a marketing opportunity and it has grown into something of a seasonal event for these two teams and their fans.

Banjo Bowl Head-To-Head

This will be the 20^th ‘Banjo Bowl’ matchup. The Blue Bombers currently lead the series 12-7.

Winnipeg are currently on a four-game winning streak in this annual contest and will be looking to complete the Labour Day/Banjo Bowl double for only the fifth time, having previously done so in 2004, 2016, 2021 and 2022.

Saskatchewan have swept the Labour Day/Banjo Bowl matchups seven times, managing to do so in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2018.

The teams have split the back-to-back series eight times 2006, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2023.

Winnipeg’s four game winning streak in the Banjo Bowl is the longest in the short history of the contest. They have also won eight of the last nine times this game has been played. The four-game run they are currently on has been particularly dominant too as they have recorded winning scores of 35-10, 33-9, 54-20 and 51-6. Winnipeg fans will look for more of the same whilst Saskatchewan supporters will be hoping for a change in fortunes.

Results To Date:

This is how the series has played out so far:

BB1 Sept. 12^th, 2004: Bombers 27 Riders 24

BB2 Sept. 10^th, 2005: Riders 19 Bombers 17

BB3 Sept. 10^th, 2006: Bombers 27 Riders 23

BB4 Sept. 9^th, 2007: Bombers 34 Riders 15

BB5 Sept. 7^th, 2008: Riders 34 Bombers 31

BB6 Sept. 13^th, 2009: Riders 55 Bombers 10

BB7 Sept. 12^th, 2010: Bombers 31 Riders 2

BB8 Sept. 11^th, 2011: Riders 45 Bombers 23

BB9 Sept. 9^th, 2012: Riders 25 Bombers 24

BB10 Sept. 8^th, 2013: Bombers 25 Riders 13

BB11 Sept. 7^th, 2014: Riders 30 Bombers 24

BB12 Sept. 12^th, 2015: Bombers 22 Riders 7

BB13 Sept. 10^th, 2016: Bombers 17 Riders 10

BB14 Sept. 9^th, 2017: Bombers 48 Riders 28

BB15 Sept. 8^th, 2018: Riders 32 Bombers 27

BB16 Sept. 7^th, 2019: Bombers 35 Riders 10

BB17 Sept. 11^th, 2021: Bombers 33 Riders 9

BB18 Sept. 10^th, 2022: Bombers 54 Riders 20

BB19 Sept. 9^th, 2023: Bombers 51 Riders 6

BB20 Sept. 7^th, 2024: ??????????????????

Chris originally started following the NFL with the ‘first wave’ of fans when it was shown on Channel 4 in the 1980’s. He has been a keen supporter of the Miami Dolphins since 1983. Chris first encountered the CFL in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the Canadian game. He has been writing about the CFL 2017. Chris has a degree in history, postgraduate degree in librarianship and can be found on twitter as @CFLfanUK

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Get Ready For The 2024 Banjo Bowl!