Drunken antics spoil fun for some at Bombers game, fans say

Blue and Gold fans say they're disappointed by drunken antics at a recent home game after a fan swore at and poured beer on a nine-year-old boy Saturday during the Banjo Bowl.

"The last Banjo Bowl I went to, it looked like a big brawl on the other side of the stadium because they were trying to take people out because they were too intoxicated," said April Vandal, adding she has decided against attending the annual grudge match against Saskatchewan in recent years.

Vandal's comments came after Janelle-Marie Emond told CBC News that a fan harassed her nine-year-old son in the stands during Saturday's game at Investors Group Field.

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Edmond's son happened to be wearing a green sweater, which she said two female Blue Bombers fans mistook as support for the Roughriders. They lashed out at at the boy — who was attending his first football game — and one of them then dumped beer on her son, Edmond said.

The Blue Bombers organization has since reached out to Edmond, giving them free tickets to future games, Bombers T-shirts and other merchandise, as well as an invitation to meet players to make up for the bad experience they had last weekend.

"The sort of behaviour identified in this incident is not condoned, nor does it represent the way the vast majority of our fans behave," a spokesperson with the football club told CBC News.

Vandal said the last time she was at the Banjo Bowl, she ended up leaving before the end of the game.

"When you are there to watch a game and have people screaming in your ear because someone is wearing a Riders jersey or shirt or green, it's annoying," Vandal said.

Win streak played factor in hype: fan

Heather Milne was at the game Saturday with her husband and said things always get rowdier at the Banjo Bowl compared to other regular-season games.

"I think drinking is not typically an issue at football games," Milne said. "The Banjo Bowl I think historically has been known to be a little bit crazier because of the rivalry between the Bombers and the Riders."

Every year, Winnipeg and Saskatchewan play back-to-back games on each team's home turf; the Banjo Bowl takes place in Winnipeg, following the Labour Day Classic in Regina.

I think it was just a bad apple or a couple of bad apples.- Paula Kilgour

While the Banjo Bowl is typically noisier than other games, Milne said fans seemed even more worked up this year compared to past years.

"I think it was particularly hyped because of the record going into the Banjo Bowl," Milne said.

The Bombers are riding a six-game winning streak and beat the Riders 28-25 a week earlier in the Labour Day Classic — the first time Winnipeg has come away from that game victorious since 2004.

​'Bad apples'

Paula Kilgour, a former Winnipegger who is in town from Sacramento, said NFL football fans in California are also known to cross lines at games.

"If you go to a Raiders game in the wrong colour jersey there, you're going to get in a lot of trouble," Kilgour said, adding that it's not an excuse for what happened to Edmond's son. 

"Any football game or hockey game, you're going to have people drinking, and I think it was just a bad apple or a couple of bad apples."

Bomber fan Murray Moffatt said he thinks the Bombers responded to what happened in the right way. He thinks what Edmond experienced was an isolated incident and does not reflect the true character of most Winnipeg fans.

"It's not representative of 35,000 people, that's for sure," he said.

"There's always somebody in there that's not thinking right. Could be alcohol or could be an issue. It must be an issue to do something that stupid."

Some fans called for the Bombers to have an alcohol-free area at games, but the football club pointed out an alcohol-free family zone has always existed at Investors Group Field and even at the old Canad Inns Stadium.