Stampeders game to be broadcast in Blackfoot language

The Calgary Stampeders are hosting an Indigenous celebration tonight when they take on the Montreal Alouettes at McMahon Stadium.

The game will feature an Indigenized halftime show, a special logo design and play-by-play action on the radio spoken entirely in Blackfoot. 

Butch Wolfleg of Siksika Nation will be on the microphone, along with broadcast partner Jacob LeBlanc of the Aboriginal Multi Media Society. He's called hockey games in Blackfoot for the Calgary Hitmen, but he says football is different.

"Hockey is just a constant motion, whereas football, it's a few seconds of action that needs to be described, and then afterwards just a matter of reviewing what has happened and … describing what the elements are, describing how the players are moving around and how the play is going.… So there's different descriptions I have to come up with," Wolfleg told CBC News.

"There's a lot more time for colour and a lot more time to review what they just did."

He says Blackfoot speakers really enjoy hearing games being called in their language, particularly when he injects humour into the call.

"Things are much funnier in Blackfoot," he said.

"We have a lot of Stamps fans in our communities, so that becomes a focal point. And with our involvement, it just expands the awareness that much more, and people appreciate that they're included within the whole context of a professional sport," Wolfleg said.

Along with the special radio broadcast on 88.1 FM, the Stampeders will honour Indigenous night with members of the Treaty 7 Nations holding the Stampeders flag while Dilayna Blackhorse sings the national anthem in the traditional Blackfoot language.

At halftime, there will be a demonstration of the traditional Indigenous game Two Ball. Tsuut'ina Nation member Hal Eagletail will walk fans through the rules and objectives of the game.

Brent Dodginghorse from Tsuut'ina Nation has been helping to co-ordinate the event, including hosting the Stampeders organization at his ranch to learn more about the significance of the horse, which features prominently on the players' helmets.

"There's a lot of appreciation on both sides, the administration side of the staff and the workers of CSEC (Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, which owns the Stampeders), but it's also the appreciation of our elders and the spiritual leaders … you could see it," Dodginghorse said.

Stampeders president Jay McNeil was there. He calls it a "special day."

"There wasn't one person from the Stampeders side of things that didn't say that was a very emotional day," McNeil said.

McNeil says Saturday's celebration will offer the full gamut of entertainment, and hopefully lead to a deeper understanding in the community.

For tonight's game, Stamps players will wear helmets featuring the classic Stampeders horse drawn in the contemporary plains-style. These helmets were unveiled last fall when the team wore them to honour Truth and Reconciliation Day, and were designed by Richard Running Rabbit, Jacob Alexis and Siksika Health Services CEO Dr. Tyler White.

Wolfleg sees this Indigenous language game broadcast as a legacy of sorts for the young people of his nation, many of whom are losing their language. He wants them to hear Blackfoot spoken in a context different from the formal, ceremonial ways they are used to.

"The language is being taught in certain ways, but not from a standpoint of describing a hockey game or a football game, which our language is quite capable of covering. So it's kind of like a legacy for children, even for my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren, to listen to this in the future and learn words that are associated with football, with hockey, with sports, and just hearing the language, and learning to appreciate and learn it through another context."

Kickoff for the Stamps' Indigenous celebration game is 5 p.m. MT. You can hear Butch Wolfleg and Jacob LeBlanc's call of the game on radio station CJWE (88.1 FM).