The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Field.
The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), its counterpart being the East Division.
Michael O'Shea is the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a former Canadian football linebacker and former special teams coordinator of the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL from 2010 to 2013, winning the Grey Cup in 2012. O'Shea played 16 seasons in the CFL for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts from 1993 to 2008. He retired second all-time in career tackles with 1,154 and is one of only three players to record over 1,000 tackles. He won the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award in 1999 after recording 84 tackles, 13 special teams tackles and three interceptions that year. O'Shea is a three-time Grey Cup champion as a player, having won all three with the Argonauts in 1996, 1997, and 2004. He is also a two-time Grey Cup winning head coach, having won with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2019 and 2021; O'Shea also won the Grey Cup previously as a special teams coach with the Toronto Argonauts in the 100th Grey Cup.
The East Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League, its counterpart being the West Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.
The 1981 CFL season is considered to be the 28th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 24th Canadian Football League season.
The Edmonton Eskimos defeat the Montreal Alouettes in the first Grey Cup held in the west. This was also the first year that the Grey Cup was open to professional teams only, as the amateur Ontario Rugby Football Union was not invited to compete in an inter-union playdown, leaving only the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union and the Western Interprovincial Football Union to compete for the Canadian championship.
Dave Ritchie is a former gridiron football coach in college football, the Canadian Football League (CFL), the Italian Football League (IFL), and Switzerland Nationalliga A. He is best known for his time as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach from 1999 to 2004. He is a three-time Grey Cup champion, having won in 1990, 1994, and 2006 and was named the CFL's Coach of the Year in 2001. He won 108 regular season games as a head coach in the CFL which is the seventh highest win total by a head coach in the league's history.
The 72nd Grey Cup was the 1984 Canadian Football League championship game, played at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The Blue Bombers dominated the Tiger-Cats in a 47–17 victory.
The 99th Grey Cup was a Canadian football game between the East Division champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the West Division champion BC Lions to decide the champion of the Canadian Football League in the 2011 season. The Lions defeated the Blue Bombers 34–23 and became the first team in CFL history to win the Grey Cup after starting the season with five straight losses. They also became the first team to win the championship game at home since the 1994 Lions did it in the 82nd Grey Cup, and were only the fourth team in the modern era to do so. This, a rematch of the 76th Grey Cup, was the second time that these two teams met for the championship.
Darvin Adams is an American professional football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. Adams is a two-time CFL champion, winning the 107th Grey Cup and 108th Grey Cup as part of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. First signed by the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent in 2011, Adams has also been a member of the Virginia Destroyers (UFL), Toronto Argonauts (CFL), and Ottawa Redblacks (CFL). He played college football at Auburn with whom he won the 2011 BCS National Championship.
Mike Miller is a Canadian football fullback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a three-time Grey Cup champion, having won with the Edmonton Eskimos in 2015 and with the Blue Bombers in 2019 and 2021. He is the all-time leader in career special teams tackles and holds the record for most special teams tackles in one game with seven. He played CIS football as a defensive back with the Acadia Axemen from 2007 to 2010.
Willie Hebert Jefferson III is a Canadian football defensive end for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Jefferson is a 3-time Grey Cup champion, winning his first ring at the 103rd Grey Cup with Edmonton in 2015. He then won the 107th and 108th Grey Cups when his Blue Bombers defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33–12 in 2019, and then again in 2021, 33-25. He was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 2019 with the Bombers, and is a three-time CFL and CFL West All-Star. Jefferson played college football at Stephen F. Austin University, he has also been a member of the Houston Texans, Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders, and Washington Redskins.
Jake Thomas is a professional Canadian football defensive tackle for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Nic Demski is a Canadian football slotback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Demski won the 107th and 108th Grey Cups with his hometown Blue Bombers, both times defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Jermarcus "Yoshi" Hardrick is a professional gridiron football offensive lineman for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a Grey Cup champion as a member of the 107th Grey Cup champions and is a two-time West Division All-Star receiving the honour in 2017 and 2021. He played college football for the Fort Scott Greyhounds before joining the Nebraska Cornhuskers for two years to finish his college playing eligibility.
The 107th Grey Cup decided the champion of the 2019 season in the Canadian Football League (CFL). The match was played on November 24, 2019, between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. Winnipeg defeated Hamilton, 33–12. This was the Blue Bombers' first Grey Cup victory since 1990, ending one of the longest championship droughts in CFL history. Winnipeg's Andrew Harris was named both Most Valuable Player and Most Valuable Canadian of the game; the first time one player had won both honours in the same game.
The 109th Grey Cup decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2022 season. The game was played on November 20, at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan. It marked the fourth Grey Cup game to be held in Regina, and the first to be held at the new Mosaic Stadium as opposed to Taylor Field.
The 108th Grey Cup decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2021 season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was cancelled and the start of the 2021 season was delayed, pushing the game to December 12, 2021. The 108th Grey Cup was a rematch of the 107th Grey Cup in 2019 between the defending Grey Cup and West Division champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the East Division champion Hamilton Tiger-Cats, at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario. The Blue Bombers defeated the Tiger-Cats 33–25 in overtime for their second straight title, making them the first team in 11 years to win two straight Grey Cups. This game was also the fourth Grey Cup to go into overtime, with the other three instances coming in 1961, 2005 and 2016.
Shayne Gauthier is a professional Canadian football linebacker for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a Grey Cup champion after winning with the Blue Bombers in the 107th Grey Cup game. He played CIS football for the Laval Rouge et Or from 2012 to 2015 where he won two Vanier Cup championships in 2012 and 2013.