MONTREAL — It’s become a staple of any Canadian Football League broadcast when the Montreal Alouettes are playing at home at Molson Percival Memorial Stadium.
A low, grinding buzz from hundreds if not thousands of air horns and noisemakers any time the Alouettes opposition offence are on the field, harkening back to the 2010 South Africa World Cup when the droning of vuvuzelas drowned out almost anything happening on the field.
The purpose, of course, is to disrupt the offence. The noise makes it difficult for plays to be relayed to everyone on the field and for audibles to be called on the fly, leading to mistakes and miscues and what fans hope will be a distinct advantage for the Alouettes defence.
Thing is, that advantage may have become too distinct, as the CFL technically banned air horns from the stadium this past offseason. Als fans persist, though, and that has the Saskatchewan Roughriders ready to face the noise when they take the field in Montreal on Saturday night.
“They banned the air horns! Stop it! They banned them, [told them] don’t do it anymore and they still do it!” Riders’ quarterback Trevor Harris said with feigned exasperation before offering his real thoughts on the supporters of his former team.
“The fans here are great, they do a tremendous job, they’re coming out loud and proud right now as they should because the team is really good,” continued Harris, who played in Montreal during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. “We’ve got to make sure we’re minding our Ps and Qs because if not they could really hurt us. I know if we play a full 60 of who we are, we feel good about what will happen.”
One member of the Roughriders who has no problem with the air horns is head coach Corey Mace, he believes it’s all part of the home field advantage and another thing to overcome.
“I gotta tell you, it may be an unpopular opinion, but I’m a bit of a fan,” Mace said with a chuckle. “That’s their thing, and for us we have many more people screaming and yelling. Every team has their advantages and that’s theirs. Maybe I don’t like watching it from TV, it’s kind of annoying, but during game day anything goes. Noise is noise.”
Riders’ defensive lineman Micah Johnson even went one further, saying he appreciates the effort Montreal fans put into cheering for their team.
“I love it out there, man,” he said. “The field is kind of darker, the crowd is loud and crazy, it’s a great place to play and I love coming out here every year. The city is amazing and so is the fan base which makes it easy to come out and play in front of them.”
One thing that’s for certain is noise or no noise, both teams will be looking to make a mid-season statement when they take the field — especially with the 6-1 Riders leading the West Division and the 5-2 Alouettes tied for top spot in the East.
“They’ve got all the makings of a championship calibre team and we feel like we do too, so it’s a fun time for us to come in here and get a litmus test to see where we’re at,” Harris said.
The Rider Broadcast Network has all the action on Saturday, with Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates on the pre-game show at 2 p.m. followed by Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder with the game call at 5 p.m.
