Arrrrrrrr-gos!
After 665 days and one cancelled CFL season, the Argonauts finally return to BMO Field, getting a boisterous welcome from almost 10,000 fans in a 30-23 win over the Blue Bombers,
It was a couple of hours before kickoff in the muggy heat — before the gates were to open and an interminable wait would end — when the cry went up.
“A-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-gos” it rang outside the north gates. “A-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-gos.”
Not quite the glory days of yore, but certainly a happy enough occasion for some of the most loyal fans around.
It had been 665 days since the Argos last played on the grass of BMO Field, 665 days of a pandemic and upheaval and worry and, yes, some question about whether there would even be football in Toronto again — and what it would look like if it did come back.
And yet the fans waited. The loyal fans — not huge in number, but unfailing in their support of the CFL side that’s been around since it was founded by a rowing club in 1873 — had anxiously waited for Saturday and were grateful to have the game they like back.
The announced attendance was 9,866, far short of the maximum 15,000 allowable under provincial health guidelines for outdoor events, and probably not unexpected. It’s a team that was 4-14 in its last season, and it’s been almost two years.
“It’s great. We were happy to be playing at home, (got to) show the new Argos, so we appreciate it,” head coach Ryan Dinwiddie said. “Hopefully we can get more guys coming to our next game and we can build off that.”
The Argos drew 12,995 for their last game in Toronto — when they drilled the Ottawa Redblacks 39-9 on Oct. 26,
2019 — and not every fan was going to return right off the bat to a league that shuttered operations in 2020 because of COVID-19, and had a dalliance with the XFL while sputtering to restart just a few months ago.
The Argos did repay fans for coming out as quarterback Nick Arbuckle passed for 310 yards and one touchdown, and D.J. Foster rushed for 100 yards in a 30-23 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Arbuckle, who took over the starting duties from McLeod Bethel-Thompson this week, hit DaVaris Daniels for a 35yard touchdown in the second quarter and scored himself on a one-yard sneak.
“I thought he played well,” Dinwiddie said of Arbuckle. “The one sack fumble that we had there (which led to an 83yard first-quarter Winnipeg touchdown), that’s bad football right there. I told him you gotta be better there, and he knows it.
“Other than that I thought he did a good job, handled the huddle … I’m obviously going with him next week.”
Daniels is likely to miss at least the next game after a violent head-to-shoulder collision with Winnipeg’s Brandon Alexander.
“Obviously I think it’s a concussion,” Dinwiddie said. “Probably not going to be available this week, but we worry about his health more than anything
right now.”
Maybe the Argos don’t pack stadiums anymore, and maybe it’s not the thing to do for a majority of sports fans more attuned to continent-wide leagues such as the NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer. But does it matter?
Why people get worked up about the Argos when there’s obviously an appetite for the team and the game seems a complete waste of time and energy.
The CFL isn’t for everyone. No kind of professional football is for everyone. But as the Argos fans who turned out Saturday for the first time in almost two years proved, it is for some.
The fans at the park — chanting the “A-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-gos” chant, belting out “Let’s go Argos” when they were instructed and enjoying a lovely, sunny summer afternoon — are concerned mainly with how this team does on game days.
The longer-term picture? It’s impossible to predict, but the owners at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment aren’t philanthropic enough to sustain seven-figure losses year after year. More fans regularly would certainly help, but for the ones who remain loyal, having the game back was good enough.
How that will translate the rest of the season — the Argos are now 2-1 and will be right back at BMO against the Edmonton Elks on Thursday — can’t be predicted.
COVID is still a reality, and even the chance to get outdoors might not be good enough for some fans worried about variants and unmasked or unvaccinated people near them. When MLSE puts its full COVID health and safety plan in place — allowing only those who are fully vaccinated or can provide a negative test result to attend games — things will take more getting used to.
“We want to build relations with the fans,” Dinwiddie said. “Players are out now shaking hands and doing those things to let them know we appreciate them.”