Prairie pickin,’ gridiron grinnin’ Blue Bomber’s offhand insult in 2003 gave rise to the Banjo Bowl — one of the CFL’s goofiest, most-colourful and enduring rivalries By: David Sanderson Posted: 4:56 PM CDT Friday, Sep. 5, 2025

It was the verbal shot heard ’round the world. Or at least, across a pair of Prairie provinces.

Canadian Football League fans in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are well familiar with the origin of the Banjo Bowl, the annual tilt that pits the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers against their principal rival, the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Followers of both teams can tell you that the match evolved out of a comment uttered by former Bombers placekicker Troy Westwood in September 2003, when he sarcastically referred to Saskatchewaners (Saskatchewanites? Saskatchewians?) as “banjo-picking inbreds.”

Then, how he doubled down on that jibe a few weeks later when, at a scheduled news conference, he told members of the media that he had misspoken, as “the vast majority of the people in Saskatchewan have no idea how to play the banjo.” (For the record, Westwood’s mom was born in the Land of the Living Skies, and his aunts and grandmother were living there when he was spouting off.)

In the wake of Westwood’s infamous remarks, the Banjo Bowl has become arguably the pre-eminent matchup of the CFL regular season, resulting in 20 consecutive sellouts. Saturday’s affair will be no different. Close to 33,000 fans — the majority of them decked out in blue and gold, but a healthy number clad in green and white — will again congregate at Princess Auto Stadium to enjoy the three-down action.

Earlier this week, we huddled together with people who have a personal connection to the big game. Here’s what they had to say.

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Lawyer and businessman David Asper was the chairman of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2003 when, in his words, “Troy began shooting his mouth off.”

At the time, Asper was actively researching college football south of the border; he had a particular interest in how many longtime NCAA rivals face each other annually in prominent games such as the Little Brown Jug, which has seen Minnesota battle Michigan every year since 1892.

“You have to remember, the Bombers weren’t exactly selling out in the early 2000s, not the way they are today,” Asper says.

“So we were already trying to come up with ideas of how to create a special event of some sort — a way to get people in the stands — when Troy served it up to us on a silver platter.”

Asper recalls how some of his associates reacted when he floated the concept of a “Banjo Bowl” that would take place every September, the week after the Bombers and Riders squared off in the Labour Day Classic. Jerry Maslowsky, the club’s marketing person, “nearly fainted,” Asper says with a chuckle. Others argued people in Saskatchewan would be insulted by the terminology.

“I said it would be even better if some people didn’t take it as part of a fun rivalry,” Asper continues.

“Anyways, after we announced our intentions, I personally paid for a poll to be done in Saskatchewan, and it turned out that their fans overwhelmingly got the joke, and thought it was fun, not negative,” he says, mentioning he keeps the inaugural trophy — an actual banjo — in his suite at Princess Auto Stadium.

“It bloomed right away and became the marquee game in the Bombers season.”

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Bob Irving was the radio voice of the Blue Bombers from 1975 to 2021, handling play-by-play duties for the club as part of his job at 680 CJOB.

Irving says he didn’t spend much time thinking about Westwood’s banjo crack 22 years ago.

“Those of us in the media knew that Troy liked to poke the bear a bit. We all kind of laughed and smiled when he said what he said, and thought it would disappear within a week or two. The fact it got turned into a marketing slogan and became what it’s become never would have occurred to me, back then.”

With close to 800 CFL games, including 17 Banjo Bowls, on his resumé, Irving admits it’s sometimes hard to remember moments from specific games. Still, there was one play during the 2017 Banjo Bowl, which the Bombers won 48-28, that stands out.

“The week before that game, there had been some suggestion that (quarterback Matt) Nichols could no longer throw the ball deep,” Irving recounts.

“Well, that afternoon he threw three touchdown passes, one of which was a long toss. I can still see him marching down the field, swinging his arms by his side as his receiver was running into the end zone, sort of making a mockery of any notion that he didn’t have the strength to do it. That was kind of humorous in my eye.”

Interestingly, Irving, who was born in Regina, doesn’t believe he ever referenced the Banjo Bowl by its given name during his on-air days.

“People can trivialize it all they want — and that’s what we’ve all done, I suppose — but I understand the way some Saskatchewan fans feel about it,” he says.

“Danny Barrett was the Riders’ coach when they came here for the first one in ’04 and I can remember him not liking the name whatsoever. He refused to even accept the possibility it was called that.”

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What’s the difference between a banjo and a crow? One is loud, obnoxious and noisy, and the other is a bird.

If you’re thinking about scooping up a banjo to bring along to Princess Auto Stadium, you should probably act fast. According to Johnny Perrin, manager at music store Long & McQuade, the stringed instrument is a hot commodity in the city when the Banjo Bowl rolls around.

“Looking through banjo sales for the last 15 years or so, we definitely sell a few more in August and early September compared to the rest of the year,” says Perrin, noting Long & McQuade’s online store offers 132 different banjos, ranging in price from $249.99 to $8,699.

“It’s a good thing we stock banjos this time of year for fans getting into the spirit of the game.”

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Murray McCormick is a retired sports writer for the Regina Leader-Post. He covered the Roughriders from 2008 to 2023, and has fond memories of the 15 Banjo Bowls he reported on during that period.

“What I liked about the Banjo Bowl is that I flew to Winnipeg on Thursday night, and after spending most of Friday writing a story or two, I headed out Friday night with the Winnipeg sports writers for a drink or two,” McCormick says, when reached at home in Regina.

“Usually, I rolled back into the hotel pretty late, so I was never a big fan of the 3 p.m. kickoff. Even so, I did make a point of getting to the park early, to soak up the fun. It was always such a great place to be.”

“I was never insulted by the banjo thing. To me it was all in jest and not a big deal, at all.”

McCormick says there were occasions when the Roughriders brass suggested he and his fellow reporters refrain from calling the game the Banjo Bowl in print. Their preference was “Labour Day Rematch.”

“My answer was, ‘I’ll call it whatever I want.’ My wife would probably disagree, but I was never insulted by the banjo thing. To me it was all in jest and not a big deal, at all.”

Speaking of big deals, what McCormick remembers most about the Banjo Bowl has nothing to do with what took place on the field.

“At one of the last games I covered they were serving that Walby Burger (named after Bombers’ legendary offensive linesman Chris Walby), with something crazy, like six patties.” The five-pound behemoth, priced at $45, also arrived with six chicken tenders, six wieners and six strips of bacon, topped with fries, cheese, pickles, lettuce, onions and tomatoes.

“I asked a guy who ordered one where the heck he was going to put it. To this day, I have no idea how he could have eaten it all.”

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Derek Taylor has the unique experience of calling the Banjo Bowl from both sides of the fence. He served as the Roughriders’ play-by-play announcer from 2019 to 2021, before sliding into Bob Irving’s chair three years ago, following Irving’s retirement.

“Being the voice of the Riders and being in Mosaic (Stadium) week after week, you were left thinking, ‘Wow, this crowd is unbelievable,’” Taylor says.

“But when I started going to Winnipeg for the Banjo Bowl, it was just a different level of noise, altogether. It can get so loud that you start to worry about your hearing, because you have to turn your speaker up so high to connect with your partner. It’s a complete wall of noise.”

Taylor was working for TSN in 2018, when he witnessed a Banjo Bowl moment he won’t soon forget. The Bombers were having a tough day at the office. In the first half, quarterback Matt Nichols threw three interceptions, including a 97-yard pick-six to current Bombers star Willie Jefferson who, at the time, was lining up for the Riders.

“I was walking around the concourse at half time when a public service announcement came on the Jumbotron,” he says.

“Matt Nichols was the player doing the PSA and what I remember specifically is thousands of fans suddenly booing the screen. ‘Oh my,’ I thought, ‘this game is not going well for the Bombers.’” (He was correct; Saskatchewan won, 32-27.)

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The Banjo Bowl has been contested 20 times since 2004. The 2020 game was cancelled because of COVID-19.

The Blue Bombers sport an impressive Banjo Bowl record of 13 wins and seven losses. Over the course of 20 games, they have outscored the Riders 586 to 428.

Total attendance to date is 631,773, which works out to an average of 31,589 fans per game.

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Maybe 10 years ago, Troy Westwood was invited to participate in a parade being staged in a town in rural Saskatchewan.

Westwood agreed to attend without asking what was expected of him. He figured that out soon enough, after he was led to a float occupied by six others, each of whom was cradling a banjo on their lap.

“They played the whole time we were driving along and there I was, waving to the crowd like I was the queen or something,” Westwood says with a chuckle.

Westwood, a native of Dauphin, participated in four Banjo Bowls as a player. He has also been at the stadium as a fan a few times. He calls the game-day atmosphere “electric and awesome.”

“To me, it’s a two-week celebration of the whole CFL experience, especially on the Prairies. First you have the week leading up to the Labour Day game, followed by the week leading up to the Banjo Bowl. The two mesh so perfectly, it almost feels like it’s always been this way.”

Westwood laughs when asked if he ever regrets not patenting his banjo barb. Or not seeking residuals — howzabout a banjo buck for every ticket sold? — when he officially retired in 2010.

“I like to tell people I get royalties from the name, and that’s why we’re independently wealthy, but unfortunately that’s not the case,” he says, laughing.

“It was just a fun-loving statement I made a long, long time ago. Could I have guessed how it would turn out in the end? Not a chance.”

“My wife has gotten in my ear about it a couple of times, so maybe we should present the idea to (Bombers’ president and CEO Wade Miller) and see what he says.”

In case you’re wondering, Westwood, who was a founding member of the band Eagle & Hawk and also recorded as a solo performer, has reached for a banjo himself, from time to time.

“I have some familiarity, but not too much. Though I did grow up watching Hee Haw, and I am aware that Steve Martin is pretty nifty on it. In all reality, it’s a neat little instrument and there are some classic songs that we all love that are associated with it.

“It was just a fun-loving statement I made a long, long time ago. Could I have guessed how it would turn out in the end? Not a chance.”

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca