Gainer the Gopher

Gainer the Gopher is the mascot of the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. The Gainer costume is modelled after the Richardson's Ground Squirrel, commonly referred to as a "gopher" in many parts of North America. He is from Parkbeg.[1]

Gainer, whose name is an anagram of "Regina", bought a ticket to see his favourite football team play back in 1977. Immediately after entering the stadium, the lovable gopher knew he had found his destiny. After leading the crowd in a variety of cheers that day, the Roughriders hired Gainer on the spot and the rest is now history. Over the years, Gainer has grown and evolved into a high-spirited rodent for all to love and in 2006 another important transition took place. It was then that Gainer the Gopher first donned his new jersey bearing the number 13. This was an honour for Gainer as it made him the ambassador for all Saskatchewan Roughrider fans who are the ever-important 13th Man. Prior to this, he wore the jersey number 1/2. He also has two cousins named Leonard and Goof that usually only appear at Roughrider home games.[2]

Gainer continues to be an ambassador for the Riders both at Mosaic Stadium during the football season and at community events all over Saskatchewan throughout the year.

Gainer was first 'played' by Don Hewitt; of Regina, SK, in 1977. Don Hewitt is currently a reporter and on-air personality with CTV Regina.[3]

Controversies

In 2006, Calgary Stampeders officials barred Gainer from appearing on-field during their west division semi-final game against Saskatchewan, arguing that it would attract attention away from their own mascot.[4][5][6] During the Roughriders' 2019 home opener on July 1, 2019, the team unveiled a new iteration of Gainer with a noticeably slimmer appearance and redesigned face with white eyes and green pupils. The new design was met with criticism from fans on social media, as well as former premier of Saskatchewan Brad Wall—who dubbed it "midlife crisis Gainer", and joked that he had been on "some sort of fad diet". The design was revised for the next home game on July 6, switching to black pupils.[7][8] The new Gainer became the subject of further controversy during a game against the B.C. Lions, where Gainer was seen dragging a stuffed lion plush by its tail and grabbing it at its crotch.[9][10]

References

Notes
  1. "Gainer the Gopher". Archived from the original on 2010-02-09.
  2. "Gainer The Gopher.... the rodent, the legend". Archived from the original on 24 March 2012.
  3. "And that's how Gainer was born". Archived from the original on 30 July 2012.
  4. "Roughriders mascot barred from Calgary game". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  5. "Gainer punted from McMahon Stadium". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. Archived from the original on 2012-11-09. Retrieved 2010-09-17.
  6. "Report: Riders mascot only banned from field". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  7. "Roughriders change up mascot, spark outcry from fans". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 2019-07-02.
  8. McCormick, Murray (2019-07-07). "Riders introduce new-look Gainer the Gopher". Regina Leader-Post. Retrieved 2019-07-07.
  9. "Roughriders mascot Gainer the Gopher in hot water once again". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  10. "Gainer under fire after 'inappropriate' behaviour involving stuffed lion". Global News. 2019-07-22. Retrieved 2019-07-24.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.