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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Frank Gunn \/ The Canadian Press files)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Anyway, the fact that at least two different Torontonians came up with this joke isn\u2019t important, but it is somewhat revealing about the nature of the Toronto-Winnipeg relationship.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s natural, perhaps, that residents of Canada\u2019s largest, wealthiest and most culturally dynamic city would not understand the finer qualities of our little \u2018burg on the prairie.<\/p>\n
Still, there\u2019s something about the disconnect that fires up a Winnipegger\u2019s pride.<\/p>\n
So when the Blue Bombers meet the Toronto Argonauts Sunday in Vancouver to contend for the 111th Grey Cup, perhaps that\u2019s where the matchup\u2019s off-field spice will come from.<\/p>\n
Because let\u2019s be honest, it certainly won\u2019t come from any deep, personal football tension. True, the Bombers and Argos have met seven times at the Grey Cup; Toronto won all seven games, most recently the 24-23 heartbreaker in 2022.<\/p>\n
Yet the teams aren\u2019t archrivals; the other six clashes were more than 74 years ago.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t And while Toronto has won more Grey Cups than any other team, let\u2019s be frank: it\u2019s been a long time since the Argos had a sufficient fanbase to generate the kind of cultural swagger needed to drive a mutually entertaining rivalry.<\/p>\n The CFL just gets a bit lost in the Toronto churn. In 2024, the Argos posted a regular-season attendance of just 136,162. That\u2019s up a bit from last year, but still less than half of the Blue Bombers\u2019 gate.<\/p>\n Toronto\u2019s attendance was also \u2014 as it has been for the last decade \u2014 lowest in the league.<\/p>\n Yet there is still something immensely satisfying in the prospect of beating Toronto, in the same way the average Canadian NHL fan gets an extra spring in their step when their team beats the Leafs.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not necessarily just about sport. It\u2019s also about celebrating Winnipeg\u2019s own story.<\/p>\n Look, geography has always vexed Canadian aspirations to a true national unity. Roughly one in six of the country\u2019s population lives in the Greater Toronto Area; to their west, the country simply spreads out too wide and too sparsely populated for them to explore easily or fully.<\/p>\n So the average Torontonian will never visit Winnipeg, unless sent to us by work or a family event. They know us only through headlines, which naturally tend to highlight the worst.<\/p>\n This inevitably produces an insular perception of greatness: the centre of the (Canadian) universe, versus everyone else.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Nor, by the way, is this perception limited to Toronto itself. Living in Europe since last year, it\u2019s been somewhat amusing to discover just how many Europeans think Toronto is the national capital, primarily because it\u2019s the city they hear about most often.<\/p>\n Yet it has been living abroad that also reminds me why what grows at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers is, in its own way, just as special as what glitters on the banks of Lake Ontario; and why it\u2019s a place so many of us choose to be.<\/p>\n There was a time in my early 20s, that \u2014 like many young Winnipeggers, especially in arts and cultural industries \u2014 I dreamed of moving to Toronto. I loved it then, as I do now. I delighted in exploring its urban textures, and the unique cosmopolitan cultural fusion that still makes it one of the most vibrant cities in the world.<\/p>\n But Toronto also scared me, because, unlike Winnipeg, it seemed a place where one could not only soar, but also fail. I never truly believed I could cut it, in the (really) big city. By contrast, my hometown felt as if it had more room to breathe, more space to carve out one\u2019s own niche.<\/p>\n Or, as the great Winnipeg songwriter Scott Nolan once put it, in his bittersweet song If I Could Only Leave Here, \u201ceven musicians own homes in Winnipeg.\u201d<\/p>\n As it turned out, I was right. I\u2019m certain I could not have had the career I\u2019ve had, if not writing in my own home city, about our shared stories. As the years turned, I never regretted the decision to stay in Winnipeg. Now, temporarily living abroad, the city calls to me in different ways.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t On quiet nights with friends, my thoughts sometimes drift home. I start telling them about The Forks, and our festivals and the beaches of Lake Winnipeg. I tell them about the past and the present of the city, its architecture and its quirks, its sad stories and its boundless hope.<\/p>\n And a few days ago, on a night train back to Kyiv from a work trip to Ukraine\u2019s south, I asked a Ukrainian friend to come over Sunday night and stay up until 1 a.m. to watch the Bombers play for the Grey Cup. At first, he demurred; like most people here, he\u2019s never seen North American football and doesn\u2019t know the rules.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry, I said. I\u2019m a Winnipeg girl. I\u2019ll teach you.<\/p>\n Mostly, I realized, I just wanted him to see that my city thrives, that it has a story, a pride and a spirit. That goes as much for how we show ourselves inside Canada, as without.<\/p>\n And so, when the Bombers take the field Sunday, let\u2019s celebrate it as another chance to stand up in front of a country that doesn\u2019t always see us clearly, and declare: we\u2019re from Winnipeg, and we\u2019re not sorry.<\/p>\n Melissa Martin is the Free Press\u2019s writer-at-large. She is currently on leave in Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Melissa Martin Melissa Martin reports and opines for the Winnipeg Free Press.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Melissa produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tImages from previous Bombers-Argos Grey Cup battles in (from top right) 1950, 1938, 1947, 2022, 1937 and 1945. Take a closer look and find out the final scores in our photo gallery<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Ken Gigliotti \/ Free Press files)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Mike Deal \/ Free Press files)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter-at-large
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