Labour Day Classic

The Labour Day Classic is a particular week of the Canadian Football League schedule that is played over the Labour Day weekend. This particular weekend, typically the tenth or eleventh week in the season, is known for its fixtures that do not change from year to year, unlike other weeks of the CFL schedule. It is also only one of two weeks (the Thanksgiving Day Classic being the other) in the CFL schedule that the league plays on a Monday.

As of 2008, the current Labour Day weekend matchups involve the Winnipeg Blue Bombers visiting the Saskatchewan Roughriders on the day before Labour Day, while on Labour Day itself, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are at home against the Toronto Argonauts while the Edmonton Eskimos visit the Calgary Stampeders.

Although not associated with the Labour Day Classic, the week after Labour Day often has a repeat match-up of the Bombers vs Roughriders (see Banjo Bowl), Stampeders vs Eskimos (see Battle of Alberta), and Tiger-Cats vs Argonauts, (a rivalry which began in 1873Cite web|url=http://www.footballcanada.com/history_timeline.asp|title=Canadian Football Timelines (1860 – present)|accessdate=2006-12-23|publisher=Football Canada] ) with home field advantage now to the team that did not have it during the Labour Day weekend. However, this was not renewed for the 2008 Classic.

As the league has been increasing in popularity in recent years, print ads for the Labour Day Classic try to evoke the tradition of watching Canadian football on the last weekend of summer. Slogans include "Long Live the Rivalries" and "Watch the Team You Love Play the Team You Love to Hate".

The rivalries between these pairings are long-standing, based on both the physical proximity of the competing cities and the relatively small number of teams within a league that has existed for so long. Fans of each team regularly claim their matchup to be "the" Labour Day Classic, as if there was only one game.

The BC Lions have no Labour Day rivals and have had a bye week on Labour Day in the past; the Montréal Alouettes are rivals with the long-suspended Ottawa franchise. As a result of Ottawa's continuing suspension (one that is tentatively scheduled to end in 2010), The Lions and Alouettes play each other in a rivalry that has sometimes been described as a "Coast-to-Coast" rivalry, as BC is the farthest west and Montréal the farthest east of the CFL teams. The Lions and Alouettes are also the two youngest teams in the league.

Past results

Winnipeg at Saskatchewan

1949: Blue Bombers 9 - Roughriders 20
1950: Blue Bombers 2 - Roughriders 17
1951: Blue Bombers 24 - Roughriders 22
1952: Blue Bombers 16 - Roughriders 8
1953: Blue Bombers 19 - Roughriders 23
1954: Blue Bombers 14 - Roughriders 18
1961: Blue Bombers 17 - Roughriders 11
1962: Blue Bombers 30 - Roughriders 7
1963: Blue Bombers 9 - Roughriders 15
1970: Blue Bombers 11 - Roughriders 30
1972: Blue Bombers 21 - Roughriders 32
1974: Blue Bombers 20 - Roughriders 18
1975: Blue Bombers 23 - Roughriders 27
1977: Blue Bombers 18 - Roughriders 26
1978: Blue Bombers 31 - Roughriders 29
1979: Blue Bombers 28 - Roughriders 11
1980: Blue Bombers 32 - Roughriders 29
1982: Blue Bombers 36 - Roughriders 35
1983: Blue Bombers 30 - Roughriders 32
1984: Blue Bombers 25 - Roughriders 30
1985: Blue Bombers 18 - Roughriders 10
1986: Blue Bombers 30 - Roughriders 34
1987: Blue Bombers 29 - Roughriders 25
1988: Blue Bombers 19 - Roughriders 29
1989: Blue Bombers 28 - Roughriders 20
1990: Blue Bombers 11 - Roughriders 55
1991: Blue Bombers 23 - Roughriders 56
1992: Blue Bombers 20 - Roughriders 32
1993: Blue Bombers 25 - Roughriders 24
1994: Blue Bombers 31 - Roughriders 42
1995: Blue Bombers 4 - Roughriders 56
1996: Blue Bombers 23 - Roughriders 41
1997: Blue Bombers 43 - Roughriders 12
1998: Blue Bombers 18 - Roughriders 32
1999: Blue Bombers 17 - Roughriders 42
2000: Blue Bombers 29 - Roughriders 38
2001: Blue Bombers 20 - Roughriders 18
2002: Blue Bombers 19 - Roughriders 33
2003: Blue Bombers 36 - Roughriders 18
2004: Blue Bombers 17 - Roughriders 4
2005: Blue Bombers 26 - Roughriders 45
2006: Blue Bombers 12 - Roughriders 39
2007: Blue Bombers 26 - Roughriders 31
2008: Blue Bombers 6 - Roughriders 19

Saskatchewan Roughriders 27 wins
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 17 wins

Edmonton at Calgary

1985: Eskimos 34 - Stampeders 28
1986: Eskimos 42 - Stampeders 19
1987: Eskimos 20 - Stampeders 29
1988: Eskimos 27 - Stampeders 11
1989: Eskimos 31 - Stampeders 14
1990: Eskimos 38 - Stampeders 4
1991: Eskimos 36 - Stampeders 48
1992: Eskimos 34 - Stampeders 21
1993: Eskimos 13 - Stampeders 33
1994: Eskimos 13 - Stampeders 48
1995: Eskimos 26 - Stampeders 51
1996: Eskimos 13 - Stampeders 31
1997: Eskimos 14 - Stampeders 27
1998: Eskimos 8 - Stampeders 26
1999: Eskimos 33 - Stampeders 30
2000: Eskimos 30 - Stampeders 18
2001: Eskimos 33 - Stampeders 32
2002: Eskimos 28 - Stampeders 20
2003: Eskimos 22 - Stampeders 28
2004: Eskimos 25 - Stampeders 7
2005: Eskimos 25 - Stampeders 23
2006: Eskimos 23 - Stampeders 44
2007: Eskimos 24 - Stampeders 35
2008: Eskimos 37 - Stampeders 16
Edmonton Eskimos: 29-18-1 (Since 1949)
Calgary Stampeders 18-28-1 (Since 1949)

This list is incomplete and needs to be expanded

Toronto at Hamilton

1995: Argonauts 27 - Tiger-Cats 33
1996: Argonauts 38 - Tiger-Cats 7
1997: Argonauts 46 - Tiger-Cats 3
1998: Argonauts 7 - Tiger-Cats 26
1999: Argonauts 28 - Tiger-Cats 35
2000: Argonauts 12 - Tiger-Cats 42
2001: Argonauts 13 - Tiger-Cats 26
2002: Argonauts 14 - Tiger-Cats 22
2003: Argonauts 19 - Tiger-Cats 11
2004: Argonauts 30 - Tiger-Cats 30
2005: Argonauts 30 - Tiger-Cats 33
2006: Argonauts 40 - Tiger-Cats 6
2007: Argonauts 32 - Tiger-Cats 14
2008: Argonauts 34 - Tiger-Cats 31

This list is incomplete and needs to be expanded

References