Derek Mortensen/CFL.ca
If walls could talk, Mosaic Stadium would have some great stories to tell and another chapter will be written on Sunday.
Mosaic, or as it was known for much longer, Taylor Field, has been more than just a stadium and a field. It has been a gathering place for Saskatchewan.
They come from far and wide. Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Weyburn, Yorkton … I could go on and on, but all you need is a map of Saskatchewan and at one time or another someone from any community has travelled down back roads, grid roads or paved roads to get to Mosaic Stadium to see their Riders.
And they are ‘their Riders’. A community owned team, powered by the fans.
Mosaic has been the home to football in Saskatchewan and home to Rider Nation.
Generations have come and gone through the gates of Mosaic and cheered on the Green and White to only dream of seeing their team go for a title in this place.
A place that used to be just a set of bleachers where fans would hear about something big going on and flock to the game in the second half like they did in 1963 when the Riders came back to win the two-game total point set in the second game against the Stampeders despite what appeared to be an insurmountable deficit.
They’ve endured weather, from the ‘coldest game ever’ in 1970 when the Stampeders broke the hearts of Rider Nation to the 2007 blackout game when a storm knocked the lights out at Mosaic and the team stormed back to beat the Edmonton Eskimos in front of one of the loudest crowds ever, despite half of them leaving because security was telling them the game was postponed.
Fans have sat on hemorrhoid hill, cramming together to break attendance records in Labour Day Classics and again against a curious opponent from the United States.
Kids have fallen in love with football there, watching the Riders with their mom or dad, or grandparents in awe of the spirit in the stadium.
They’ve grown up there. From sitting in the family fun zone to the University Section to bringing their own children, who just need that same first game to fall in love with the experience.
Mosaic Stadium comes alive on game day. You must walk through the doors to believe it.
Despite walking in to that stadium so many times, it’s hard to describe the spirit within its walls.
There is a heartbeat and when the fans really get going you do hear it thump.
Feet stomping on cement stairs, fists banging against the metallic walls, and when the Riders score, a roar that filters through the streets of Regina and into the nearby homes that helps bring the stadium to life.
And if you’ve lived in the area long enough you only need your ears to know when the team has scored, created a turnover, or thrown an interception, each with its own individual sound.
But it will soon be replaced. A few blocks down, preparation is being done to build a new home for Rider Nation as Sunday begins writing the final chapter for the place that has held so many memories.
In Sunday’s game nearly 25-percent of the Riders roster will be made of Saskatchewan born, raised and trained football players; men who wanted nothing more growing up then to put on the Green and White.
Now, they will join their teammates to put it all on the field to accomplish what nobody thought imaginable.
Before 1995, when Taylor Field hosted its first Grey Cup, nobody could ever have imagined the Riders winning a championship on home field.
The dream is so close to becoming reality.
The 101st Grey Cup means much more than a single championship game.
Sunday is the biggest game in Roughrider history.
