“Forever Playoff Rivals” - Retro Cards for the 1981 B.C. Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers for SOM Football 🏈
(The other two teams might lack talent, but that is not a problem with these two!)
PDF cards for the 1981 B.C. Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
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Whether it’s the mosquitoes, The Forks, Bachman Turner Overdrive or that iconic portrait of the Queen that used to overlook the ice at the old hockey arena, there is always something unique that comes to mind when someone mentions the city of Winnipeg. One thing that hasn’t changed over the last 90 years is the presence of their football team. And that leads us to our this latest 1981 history project. The B.C. Lions and Winnipeg Blue Bombers have engaged in some classic battles over the years. There were two memorable Grey Cup meetings, a nasty West Division rivalry in the 80s, a crazy Lions come back in 2016 and a whole lot more.
Prior to the original Montreal Alouettes shutting down in 1987, the Bombers were a West Division Club. The 80s opened with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers stuck behind an Edmonton Eskimos dynasty that won five straight Grey Cups from 1978-82 – losing to the eventual champions in both the 1980 and 1982 West Final – before closing the chapter on that dynasty with a victory in the 1983 West Semi-Final. Martin Scorsese himself would have a hard-time directing or writing some of the epic Western battles between these two teams prior to their first 1988 Grey Cup meeting (Winnipeg was in the East by then).
Trainers administer to Lions WR John Pankratz during the WC Semi-Final
And that first playoff meeting with the Lions in that memorable decade was a 15-11 B.C. victory in the 1981 Western Semi-Final. While it was an unexpected and epic win - Winnipeg had dominated the Lions during the regular season, winning both prior games- few would remember it, simply because the Lions then fell to Edmonton in the division final the following week. It’s a pity the Lions- Bombers game is not available on YouTube, because it featured an array of 6 and 7 defensive back sets interspersed with a 4-4 “Swarm” blitz rotation on running downs.
CFL teams normally deployed 5 defensive backs. In those days a 5-1-6 or 5-7 defense as a base set in a playoff game, as the Lions unfurled versus Dieter Brock, was quite a risk, but B.C. had used such defensive trickery to hold the powerful Hamilton Tiger Cats and Saskatchewan Roughriders to one combined touchdown in the two prior immediate games after the team had lost five out of six. The win against Saskatchewan in particular had saved their season. The Lions’ Western Semi-Final win thus cemented their place as one of the top teams in the 1981 CFL.
Now 70, former Long Beach State QB Joe Paopao had a long career as a signal caller and coach in the CFL.
But in reality both teams were loaded. B.C. finished 10-6 and featured two all-Canada players on offense in C Al Wilson, a seven time Divisional All Star who is also in the Hall of Fame, and Larry Key, a former Florida State player who finished second in the league in rushing yards, and topped it with 19 total major scores. QB Joe Paopao had his best year throwing to Tyron Gray, who tallied 1481 yards and 9 scores, TE Ricky Ellis (of the USFL’s LA Express) and flanker Al Charuk. The defense had a couple fine players in Nick Hebeler, a strong pass rushing end, and LB Glen Jackson.
Dieter Brock unloaded for 4,796 yards in 1981, just shy of Dan Fouts’ record of 4,802 yards set that fall.
Winnipeg finished in second at 11-5 in the rugged West, and they had Brock, who was the Most Outstanding Player of the CFL (although on film I would say Warren Moon of the Esks looks more formidable), and a pair of divisional all-stars in ends Joe Poplawski and Eugene Goodlow, who led the league with 14 TD catches. Goodlow caught a franchise record fifteen passes in the regular season finale to become the first CFL player with 100 catches. Rick House also became a third thousand yard target, with 81 catches, over 1100 yards, and 10 major scores. All- Canadian guard Larry Butler and versatile HB Obie Graves rounded out an elite offense. On defense end Pete Catan, MLB James Reed, and defensive backs Charlie Williams and Reggie Pierson allowed the second fewest points in the CFL and the team posted the second best turnover differential. Trevor Kennerd, the Blue Bomber placekicker, led Canada in scoring and made field goals, setting the league record with 39 makes as well as seven in one game.
Winnipeg had won their last six in the regular season by frightful scores (an average margin of over 28 points!) and the team had every reason to look forward to playing Edmonton for the West Division championship and a chance at the Grey Cup, but they stumbled versus the Lions and would, instead, have to wait.
Empire Stadium, the home of the B.C. Lions in Vancouver up until 1982.
The meat of this rivalry then came Post- Empire Stadium, the traditional outdoor Lions den in Vancouver. The two teams played in three consecutive Western Finals at the new domed BC Place from 1983-85. The Lions 39-21 victory in ’83 in front of 60,000 fans at the new dome was special for a lot of reasons. It was the first division final played in Vancouver since 1964.
Eventually, the ’84 Bombers ended what had then been the longest championship drought in franchise history – dating back to 1962 – by beating the Eskimos at home, knocking off the Lions on the road and then eviscerating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Grey Cup.
If the 50s and 60s were the Golden Era for Winnipeg Football, the Eighties were Golden Era 2.0. For both teams, they hit each other just a little bit harder in the Eighties, each knowing what was at stake. And even now, they are still Forever Rivals once they meet in the playoffs.
Fred Bobberts
Initial Date of Publication - 7/8/2025
