The Huskies homecoming football game is a great experience for students looking to make friends and have fun.

During my time as a first-year student living in the College Quarter residence there was definitely one experience that stood out — the Huskies football homecoming game.

This year the homecoming game will be held on Sept. 16. at Griffiths Stadium in PotashCorp Park. This game against the University of Calgary Dinos salutes Huskie alumni, but it is also the game during which students, typically in their first year,  participate in the toga run. As a football fan, I recommend coming out to all four of the Huskies’ home games, but if you had to choose just one to attend, this game is a great one to pick.

Huskies games in general can be an excellent event to attend with friends or to meet new people, especially during the first few weeks of September when first-year students from out of town are looking to make friends after moving to Saskatoon. Either way, the games make for a great social event as well as a sporting one. The games are free to attend for students with a valid student ID, making it very affordable. However both beer and food are sold during the games, so fans looking to have a bite to eat or a beverage may want to bring cash.

The homecoming game is especially entertaining as it features the toga run during halftime, where first-year students living in residence dress up in the traditional Greek outfit and do one lap around the field. Thus the game not only features some great Huskies football, but also a chance to wear a toga which is something nearly synonymous with the university experience.

Personally, my homecoming game experience last year was a blast — a very hectic blast. While many of my fellow students had the foresight to purchase cheap white bedsheets to make their togas out of beforehand, I waited until the very last minute. So, I was left using the one off my bed. While it was grey rather than white, and my mom would later shake her head that I’d used a brand new bed sheet, at the time I was more focused on getting to the game on time.

As anyone who’s worn a homemade toga will probably know, they are very clumsy. This effect is amplified once intoxicated as well — making for a crowd of students that are constantly tripping over their own togas. Once you get them all running around a track is when it starts to get really interesting.

It was rainy and cold that night — not exactly ideal toga weather — but I had some help from a couple beverages I’d shotgunned in a friend’s shower before the game. At halftime, I joined the lineup of students getting ready to do their lap dressed up in togas.

Despite the fact that many of us were drunk, cold and terrible at running while wrapped up in a bedsheet, the crowd cheered us on just the same. Near the end of our run some of the Huskies players were spraying water onto us as we passed by their bench and one of my friends on the team singled me out especially, soaking my bedsheet toga.

Despite this, we laughed it off as the cold was nothing a few drinks couldn’t fix and overall, that homecoming game is a fond memory that sticks out from my first year. While certainly not everyone’s experience will be akin to mine, it is definitely a great event to attend.

The homecoming game is set to kick off at 7 p.m. on Sept. 16 at Griffiths Stadium in PotashCorp Park. For more information and a complete schedule of all Huskies football games, head to huskies.usask.ca.

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Jack Thompson / Staff Writer

Photos: Caitlin Taylor