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Saskatchewan Roughrider fans are known as the most diehard in the CFL.
Fans travel great distances to get to Mosaic Stadium in Regina and also snatch up tickets in away markets to make sure Rider Pride is showcased across Canada.
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Over the years, many fans have found various ways to show their love for the team. Some paint their motorhomes, they paint their faces, and even dress up in costumes.
But there is one accessory that some fans in Saskatchewan wear which is unique to Rider Nation — the melon head.
Listen to 650 CKOM’s Shane Clausing talk about the birth of the melon head here:
Since 2001, fans of the Roughriders have gone to the grocery store to pick a watermelon to carve out and put on their heads to show their love for the Green and White.
Trent Fraser was the director of marketing for the club from 2000 to 2004 and explained how the melon head trend came to be.
Saskatchewan Roughriders fans eat watermelon ahead of a CFL game in Regina. (Saskatchewan Roughriders/Submitted)
Melon head idea born in 2000
“It all started in I believe the fall of 2000. Darren Mitchell from The Phoenix Group — which was our advertising agency — and myself went to a game in Winnipeg and we were watching the game and enjoying it,” Fraser said.
“Of course there were lots of Roughriders fans there, but we saw two young people with green long underwear on and Saskatchewan flags tied to their backs like superheros, and had carved watermelons into the shape of a football helmet.
“They were the Saskatchewan ambassadors, going up and down the aisles high-fiving everyone, including the Bomber fans. I looked at Darren and I said ‘that’s it!’ I still don’t know who those young people were, but that was the genesis of the melon head campaign.”
Fraser brought his idea back to the staff in Regina and they decided to go full steam ahead with the movement.
“In 2001 we did a commercial featuring the melon head, and had a melon head hero campaign. We did two different commercials and the melon head one really just really took off,” he said.
“Prior to games we had an agreement with Safeway, and we had people doing watermelon carving contests and it honestly took off. The reason why we did that was because we were really trying to push young people to come back to the games — come to the games, dress up, have some fun, and we wrap it around this thing called football,” Fraser said.
“At the time, we didn’t have a great football team, but at the end of the day young people started to come back to the games and that boded well for the football club as it is today.”
During their partnership with Safeway, Fraser said the club made sure to get Roughriders stickers put on the watermelons so it could send home the message of the campaign.
“I knew we got it right when I had a friend of mine who had a 5-year-old boy and he was taking him to his very first football game and the young boy said to his dad, ‘we need to go to Safeway, you can’t go to a game without a watermelon on your head.’ We knew we had struck a chord with the organization,” he added.
To this day, Fraser still can’t believe how successful the melon head campaign was.
“We would take it one step further and take out billboards in other CFL cities,” he said. “In Edmonton, we would put the melon head billboard right across the street across from Commonwealth Stadium — which drove the Eskimos nuts! It sent a message … that we were coming to town.”
It has been 23 years since the campaign was launched, and not as many fans wear watermelons now. Some opt for the reusable ones sold at the team store so they don’t have to get their hair sticky.
How to make your melon head
Fraser explained the process of making the perfect melon head.
“Make sure you find the right melon for your melon, if you will. Make sure you design it first, draw it out, cut it out and then hollow it out. Try to make it as comfortable as possible,” he advised.
“There are some incredible, unique carvings out there, and it shows the ingenuity of Saskatchewan people and Roughriders fans.”
Fraser thinks the campaign helped bring fans to the stands and played a part in resurrecting the team. When Fraser got to the Roughriders in 2000 they were drawing about 18,000 people to a game and when he left in 2004 they were leading the league in merchandise sales, ratings on TSN, and selling out at Mosaic.
The Roughriders take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers today at 5 p.m. in the Labour Day Classic. Be sure to get your melon on.
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