Get Set For The CFL Labour Day Classics
By Chris Lawton
It is that time of year. Time for CFL fans to get set for the Labour Day Classics. A series of games with a storied history. This year will see the BC Lions host the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday at midnight (UK time). While the Saskatchewan Roughriders will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in what is a precursor to their traditional Banjo Bowl contest next week.
Meanwhile the Hamilton Tiger-Cats welcome the Toronto Argonauts on Monday. As a bonus for UK fans, the Toronto/Hamilton game will be at a very watchable 8:30 PM UK time. A perfect bit of scheduling for those new to the CFL and curious about what the 3 Down game offers. Plus – there is a running joke that this is where the season really starts as teams make their second half of the season playoff push with these games as the launchpad.
The weekend will be rounded out by the Calgary Stampeders hosting the Edmonton Elks in the Battle of Alberta.
The Labour Day Classics
Labour Day has been a statutory public holiday in Canada on the first Monday in September since 1894. Having some football to watch on such a holiday has become something of a tradition too. Because of that the CFL has a history of playing traditional rivalry games on this date.
Each year the contests are supposed to be unchanging. Although with shifts in the league structure down the years there have been a few variations along the way. Because of this some of the contests have a little more history than the others.
The Labour Day Classics began in 1949 pre-dating the inaugural CFL season by nine years. The matchups have remained mostly the same throughout the games’ history. However, as noted there have been some changes. Most changes or interruptions to the traditional games have been due to periods of ‘hiatus’ for the franchises in Montreal and Ottawa. Or alternatively due to scheduling conflicts.
The Labour Day Contests
The very first Labour Day games saw Edmonton host Calgary, Saskatchewan host Winnipeg, and the Ottawa Rough Riders host the Montreal Alouettes. The Argos-TiCats contest officially started in 1950 but is a little more complicated than that. Because Hamilton – represented by the Wildcats pre-merger – played Toronto in this fixture in 1948 and 1949.
Because Ottawa had no active team from 1997–2001 and 2006–2013, the Alouettes usually played the Lions during those seasons. In what was dubbed as a “coast-to-coast” rivalry.
Prior to that, in the early 1980s, the Montreal Concordes played the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the remaining three teams (Toronto, Ottawa and BC) rotated each year. Mostly the BC Lions skipped these games. But Ottawa and BC faced each other during the late 1980s and early 1990s while the league had no team in Montreal.
The Less Storied Labour Day Rivalries
Riders vs Bombers - Labour Day Classic Memories: It’s almost as great as Grey Cup Week… it’s Labour Day Classic Weekend here in the CFL! It’s a time where you can throw the records out the window, because they don’t mean ANYTHING https://t.co/9I3lkxJGFf via @RealAlexD
— CFL Headlines (@CFL_Headlines) August 31, 2023
BC and the Rough Riders faced off eleven times between 1981 and 1993. The Lions dominated those contests producing a 9-2 record. They also faced the Renegades in 2002. Winning that game too giving BC a 10-2 record against Ottawa teams in Labour Day contests.
BC has also faced a Montreal team in these fixtures thirteen times. They faced the Alouettes in 1980, and during the absences of an Ottawa team played Montreal on a further 12 occasions between 1997 and 2015. This is a series BC was leading 7-6 when the RedBlacks arrived in 2016. Which led to a return of the traditional Ottawa/Montreal rivalry. This year however we will once again see the BC/Montreal matchup added to.
Finally, Hamilton has played and hosted the Labour Day Classic against Montreal nine times in CFL history. A game they marketed as the Labour Day Classique as a nod to the Francophone population in Quebec. This was an intermittent and highly one-sided rivalry running over a 25-year period. The first game was played in 1962, (a 25-25 tie), and then sporadically eight more times up to 2011. With the TiCats winning all of the remaining games to post an 8-0-1 record in these matches.
As we can see then some series have a little more history than others. Let’s take a closer look at the Labour Day games with the most storied histories.
Calgary vs Edmonton
This is the most regularly played contest of these traditional rivalry games.
This year will mark the 62nd time the game has been contested. Because this Labour Day matchup has been played 61 times between 1949 and 2022. Calgary won the first contest 20-6 in Edmonton in 1949. The Stamps also won the latest iteration of the game 26-18 in Calgary last year. In fact they have won 8 of the last 9 matchups on Labour Day.
In the nascent years (1949-1953) of this game the match was played three times in Edmonton and twice in Calgary. Since 1959 however this Labour Day classic has always been played in Calgary.
The contest was not played 1954–1958, 1964–1968, 1973, 1981, and during the cancelled 2020 season. Prior to that it had been played continuously since 1982.
It has been a back-and-forth affair down the years. Even though both teams have had dominant periods the overall record is currently tied at 30-30-1.
Saskatchewan vs Winnipeg
This Labour Day matchup has been played since 1949. Saskatchewan has always been the host for this one. This year will mark the 58th time the game has been played. Because this Labour Day matchup has been played 57 times between 1949 and 2022. Saskatchewan won the first contest 20-9 in 1949. But Winnipeg won the most recent game 20-18 in 2022. The Blue Bombers also won in 2021. Prior to that however the Riders had won three in a row and 14 of the last 16 Labour Day contests between these two.
The contest was not played in 1955–1960, 1964–1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1981 and during the cancelled 2020 season. Prior to that it had been played continuously since 1982.
Overall Saskatchewan holds a healthy 37-20 edge in this game over the Blue Bombers.
Hamilton vs Toronto
The 2023 Labour Day Classic at Tim Horton’s Field marks the 52nd matchup between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts on Labour Day. That is since the Tabbies were introduced as a merged team. You could argue it is a rivalry that goes back further. Because the Argonauts faced the Hamilton Wildcats in 1948 & 1949 before they merged with the Hamilton Tigers to form the Tiger-Cats.
But taking things from 1950 with the merged Hamilton team, the tabbies won the first game 13-6 in 1950, while the Argos took the latest game 28-8 in 2022.
The contest was not played in 1962, 1965–1966, 1969–1970, 1972–1974, 1976–1977, 1979, 1981–1986, 1990, 1995, 2011, 2013 and during the cancelled 2020 season. It is a series that has been played without interruption on Labour Day since 2014 (cancelled season aside), and before Toronto won last year Hamilton were on a seven-game winning streak in the fixture dating back to a 13-12 win in 2014. This snapped the longest winning streak in the history of this particular Labour Day contest.
Overall Hamilton leads this series 36-14-1 against the Argonauts.
BC vs Montreal
BC has faced a Montreal team in these fixtures thirteen times. They faced the Alouettes in 1980, and during the absences of an Ottawa team played Montreal on a further 12 occasions between 1997 and 2015. This is a series BC was leading 7-6 when the RedBlacks arrived in 2016. Which led to a return of the traditional Ottawa/Montreal rivalry.
BC won the first of these matchups 14-6 in 1980, and the latest 25-16 in 2015. This year, while the RedBlacks take a bye, this lesser known Labour Day game will add to its short history.
It will be fun to see the latest chapter in the story of these games play out on the CFL fields across the upcoming Labour Day weekend. If you get the chance to watch one of these games, I hope you are able to soak up all the atmosphere they bring.
CHRIS LAWTON
CFL ANALYST
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