Stamps fans, alumni reminisce and celebrate Labour Day Classic

As the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos battle for league supremacy in the CFL’s West Division and ultimately the league, fans are celebrating a Labour Day Classic where both teams are at the top of the standings.

Each at 7-1 entering the game, the winner will be in first place with the loser tied in second with Saskatchewan and fan Brad Holt said it makes the game even bigger.

“The rivalry really has become Calgary and those dreaded Riders, but still it’s a big game and it’s great for the fans, but it’s also great for the league,” he said.

Fellow fan at the tailgate party at McMahon Stadium, Wayne Rothermel, said he remembers his first Edmonton game when his father brought him at the age of eight.

“We had to come in from Gull Lake, we didn’t get here until halftime,” he said, a big difference nowadays as he sets up his grill for the party. “This is our tenth year that we’ve been tailgating; it’s just a tradition that everyone knows that we meet at the Labour Day Game.”

Putting the current stakes aside, the game will always be special because of its historical roots said former Stampeder Basil Bark.

“When I played, it was a key game, you couldn’t get a ticket for it, the Flames weren’t here and it was a real key game,” Bark said, who played for the team from 1970 to 1977.

Another Stamps alumnus is Harolyn Long, who was the team’s cheerleading captain in 1964-1965.

“I’ll tell you if you had red and white on, they gave you a tough time, I think more in Calgary it’s made fun of and in a good way, because Calgary is a friendly city, one of the best, I love my hometown,” she said.

Fans also noted the stark difference between the Eskimos and Riders rivalries, with the provincial one being more friendly and respectful.

“The teams do respect each other I think a lot more than the Riders fans and Stamps fans respect each other,” fan Steven Luft said. “Just the history always having it on Labour Day, always having it against Edmonton, it builds a great rivalry and allows the fans to get into it and buy in.”

Long’s son, Denton Craig, echoes that sentiment with a cordial dig at fans to the north.

“There’s always been that rivalry with the oil and gas and the two cities, who should be the capital?” he said with a smile. “We all know who should be, but we’ll let them have that.”