Bomber legends enjoy meeting Westman fans

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This article was published 21/09/2015 (3921 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Former Winnipeg Blue Bomber players Rick House and Bob Cameron came to Brandon to host a viewing party for Sunday’s CFL game at Boston Pizza and a group of about two dozen passionate fans came out to join them.

The game wasn’t great for the Bombers, with the visitors falling 35-14 to the host Montreal Alouettes, but mingling with the team’s fans is something House and Cameron always love. Some younger fans, who weren’t born when they played, gave the duo coloured pictures and asked for autographs while some of the older fans reminisced about the great Bomber teams of the 1980s and early 1990s.

“It’s pretty neat after all those years I’ve played to still have some influence. It’s still pretty gratifying,” said Cameron, who was Winnipeg’s punter from 1980 to 2002. “Really, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are Manitoba’s team. This is when, as ex-players, you want to give back to the community and see the football community of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and this is how you do it. You come to these towns and get them involved.”

The trip was extra special for Cameron, who was named the 1988 Grey Cup’s most valuable Canadian and won CFL titles with the Bombers in 1984, 1988 and 1990. Back in 1981, he went duck and goose hunting in Westman and rented a place in Deloraine from the Edwards family. Some members of the family came to Sunday’s party and reconnected with him.

House, who was a slotback with the Bombers from 1979 to 1984 and 1989 to 1991, sported his ’84 and ’90 Grey Cup rings. He felt the passion from the fans in attendance, but admitted the base needs to grow, especially to attract people in their 20s.

However, it has been 25 years since the Bombers last won the Grey Cup, and he admits it’s a hard time to be a fan with the team making the playoffs once in the past six years. At 4-8 this season, Winnipeg is battling for the final post-season berth.

“I know there’s so many people that we meet wherever we go that remember of the glory days,” said House, who also played with the Edmonton Eskimos from 1985 to 1988. “They remember the ’80s and early ’90s when Bob and I were playing and they really connected with those times. It’s them and their kids. We don’t have too many fans in their early 20s and I know that’s a challenge for the CFL to get that group involved.

“We need to start winning. I was at the Banjo Bowl and all of a sudden they’re playing great and there’s a great buzz in the stands and everybody climbs back on the bandwagon in a heartbeat. Everyone wants them to be winning and exciting and just show us a little bit of it and people will respond. We just need a little bit more of that.”

Although their playing days are in the past — Cameron is 61 and builds places and rents them out to tennants while House is 58 and is a work experience co-ordinator for the Pembina Trails School Division — both alumni love coming to events like Sunday’s party to mingle with Bomber fans, try to grow the fanbase and passion for the game.

“I’ve always enjoyed it my whole career and to still have some sort of a name that people want to see, I dreamed of that as a kid,” Cameron said. “Being semi-famous and coming out here and people still remember you, anybody who says they don’t like that, come on, it’s fun.”

“I think the Bombers have always done a lot of outreach and we’re happy to do these types of things ourselves,” added House.

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