Three CFL rivalry games, steeped in tradition, will be played this weekend in Regina, Calgary, and Hamilton. Known as “The Labour Day Classic” in each market, die-hard fans will bring their A-game, being a bit more vocal than usual. Some casual fans will make their only appearance at a stadium this year to cash in on the added hoopla around the matchup.
The Toronto Argonauts will visit the Ticats at Tim Horton’s Field Monday at 2:30. But while fans of both teams are already getting ramped up for the annual battle, three members of the Toronto Argonauts say facing their former team is just another day at the office.
“Not to me,” Fraser Sopik replied, when asked by Argonauts.ca if this game meant a little more than usual. “I take it game by game. I know it’ll be a tough game, going into anyone else’s house is going to be a tough game.”
In February, the linebacker signed with the Argos as a free agent after one year in Hamilton, with the first three seasons of his career spent with the Calgary Stampeders. He’s seen two of the three LDC rivalries firsthand but downplays the added importance some place on the game.
“In college they were bigger,” said the Western grad, before adding with a smile, “But we were better than everybody else, so it didn’t really matter, it was always one-sided.”
Before you write that off as being Western smugness, he’s got a point. The Mustangs went to the Yates Cup final in each of his four years there, winning the OUA title in his final two seasons in purple and white by a combined score of 138-46.
They won the Vanier Cup in 2017 by beating Laval, a game in which he was named the Most Valuable Defensive Player.
Perhaps it’s a mindset that was developed in Greg Marshall’s Mustang program. Lirim Hajrullahu graduated from Western as the leading scorer in U SPORTS history, and like Sopik, the Argo kicker downplays the significance of Monday’s matchup.
He’s also been a part of two LDCs, with his initial experience coming in the prairie version, spending the first two seasons of this CFL career with Winnipeg. He’d later play for both the Argos and the Ticats before heading to the NFL and USFL before inking a deal this year to return to Toronto.
To him, this week’s game is just another manic Monday.
“I treat each game as normally as I can,” Hajrullahu told Argonauts.ca. “You’re doing a disservice to the game as a player to have one game mean more than another. When we go out there, we’re doing our best every single play, every single snap.”
The position he plays may have a lot to do with his mindset.
“For me, I want to be able to focus the same way, I don’t want to lose that focus. You slip for one second and it’s hard to get back, so I focus the same way, I prep the same way.”
Tunde Adeleke’s CFL journey is similar to Sopik’s, originating in Calgary with a subsequent stop in Hamilton before signing with the Argos on the first day of free agency this year. His time spent in Hamilton was four seasons compared to Sopik’s one, so he’s had more experience on the southwestern side of the Ontario version of the LDC.
“There’s a lot of history on both sides of it,” he told Argonauts.ca. “I’ve been on one side a lot, and I’m happy to be on this side now. I’m just excited to go out there and go 1-0.”
Like Sopik, he feels this game has more relevance than the Battle of Alberta.
“Honestly, I think it’s bigger here,” he said. “You feel it a lot from the fans, you’re walking around and hearing people tell you, ‘It’s Labour Day, we need a win,” and things like that. The fans get into it a lot and it becomes more of a culture.”
And while the defensive back admits that this rivalry has a leg up on its Alberta counterpart, it’s not just the first Monday in September that has elevated the bad blood between the GTHA rivals.
“I think like most teams in the Labour Day rivalries, it’s the amount of times you end up playing each other. You build a rapport; you get to know the people you’re playing against, and it ends up just naturally becoming a rivalry even if it’s your first time in Hamilton or your first time in Toronto.”
While the players are trying to keep it calm and cool heading into Monday’s game, fans will be particularly pumped up. Many Argos faithful will make the trek down the QEW, while for many Ticat fans, maybe even more so with the team’s record this season, this is their Grey Cup.
For both teams it’s an enormous game in the standings, with the Argos trying to catch Montreal and Ottawa, and the Ticats trying to keep their fading playoff hopes alive.