Knothole Gang article

[gizmo fan 2]

In today's Journal...

Esks send Knothole Gang into the history books
Vicki Hall, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, January 12, 2007

EDMONTON - The Edmonton Eskimos have plugged the Knothole Gang, an Edmonton institution for more than half a century.

Citing dwindling attendance, the CFL club has abolished the storied section for the 2007 football season. The supervised area for fans aged six to 12, once sponsored by the now-defunct Woodward's department store, is dead.

"This news is worse than the Jackie Parker trade," Keith Spencer, a diehard Eskimos fan, said Thursday.

"Oh well. It's progress, I guess."

For the last 50 years, kids in the Knothole Gang witnessed the likes of Parker, quarterback Warren Moon, linebacker Danny Kepley, kick returner Henry (Gizmo) Williams and quarterback Ricky Ray from their spot in the end zone. Some of those kids, including safety J.R. LaRose, grew up to play for the Eskimos themselves.

"Whenever you make a change like this, it's tough," said Dave Jamieson, the Eskimos director of marketing and communications.

"You're fighting history. People have a lot of fond memories of the Knothole Gang."

Back in the 1950s, kids could buy Knothole Gang tickets for 25 cents. Last year, season tickets for the Knothole Gang sold for just $21.40, which works out to $2.38 per game.

But even with the low price, less than 100 youngsters showed up in the Knothole Gang section last season. Back in the glory days, more than 500 kids congregated in the cheap seats.

The reason for the lack of support? The Esks cite a change in attitude about the safety of children in public places.

"A lot of parents don't want to take their child to any event -- let alone an Eskimos game --and leave their child unattended," Jamieson said. "They'd rather have their child right beside them.

"We've worked really hard to make Commonwealth Stadium as safe and secure as we can, but I think it's more about the larger societal issues with the security of kids."

On the website, www.esksfans.com, some people expressed dismay over the end of an era in Eskimos football. Others threatened to contact the CFL club and complain.

But former Edmonton Mayor Bill Smith, who played for the Eskimos from 1956 to 1963, figures the change is just a sign of the times.

"It's the end of an era," he said. "It's too bad, because a lot of football players came out of the Knothole Gang. It used to be very, very busy in that section.

"But it's a different world these days, so I can understand why parents would be concerned."

Roman Zrobok grew up in the Knothole gang. So did his three children.

"I would drop them off and then go sit on the west side of the stadium," said Zrobok, who works in oil-sands research for the federal government. "I'd watch them with my binoculars.

"My youngest son didn't get along all that well with his older siblings. He'd get in an argument with them, go find a police officer and tell him where his parents were sitting so he could come join us."

The Eskimos Igloo is designed to replace the Knothole Gang for the upcoming football season.The new section will be located in the southwest end zone. The price is $199 for one adult season ticket and one youth season ticket. Each additional seat in the section is $65.

"We're going to put a lot of effort in to make sure that section is a fun place to be," Jamieson said. "This isn't a money decision. We're offering a very affordable alternative."

Without the nostalgia, of course.

"I remember cutting my teeth in the Knothole Gang," Spencer said. "I still have my original knothole gang button.

"I guess everything changes, eventually."

vhall@thejournal.canwest.com

© The Edmonton Journal 2007

More press for us ...good article, Scoop.

[Esks4ever]

Re: Knothole Gang article

More press for us

quick! hide the pervs and Opie

[KnuckleChucker]

Re: Knothole Gang article

Well....I for one am not real sad that the Knothole gang is gone...

We were usually very close to that section prior to kickoff and on more then one occassion I had to tear a kid a new one for their language and overall idiocy!!!

One kid was giving one of the girls on the team a hard time, commenting on various aspects of her anatomy, when I told him to cool it...He asked me if I was married, I said yes, he then told me that she was probably cheating on me....Needless to say that the kid was almost crying by the time I was done with him and hopefully learned some manners and respect.

(He did show up at another game later in the season and was very well behaved )

[Esks4ever]

Re: Knothole Gang article

Well....I for one am not real sad that the Knothole gang is gone...

Ditto.. I went there every game for years and years, but i'm not devasted to see it go.. I actually hated to see those areas so empty so perhaps this igloo thing will bering more asses into those seats

[Opus]

Re: Knothole Gang article

I am. Like I said before, there is lots of history there for me and my fam.

It's sad....although I grudgingly understand both the clubs reasons for killing it and parents reason for not sending their kids there near so much these days.

It's a tradition that my boy won't be able to experience. Like I said....it's sad.

[Nanookster]

Re: Knothole Gang article

It is nice to see Vicki quoting esksfans again. It is a sign that this is the place to go to talk Eskimo football.

Hi Vicki, want another story?

[eskinator]

Re: Knothole Gang article

I am sad about this.

It's where I got my start as a Eskimo fan. My dad put my name on a square on a pool for the 1964 Grey Cup. That quarter he invested for me won me $5.00. The little 7 year old capitalist in me wanted to know how I could do that again. My dad explained to me that I won on the outcome of a CFL championship game and that although our home team didn't win, we had a team here that I could go and see live. As friends of his were Esk fans they could drive me to the games and he would pick me up.

I joined the Knothole Gang in 1967 for $1.00 which got me a nice embroidered coat patch and it cost $.25 to go to the games.

I enjoyed these games so much (what we could see from the endzone in Clarke Stadium anyway) that I was hooked on Eskimo and CFL football.

Thanks to Woodwards for helping get me interested in the CFL!

Too bad this is gone.

[Steve Vale]

Re: Knothole Gang article

Didn't realize that me considering writing a letter to the Esks was a threat. Next thing they'll be putting roofies in my sluice juice at the SoE Grey Cup breakfast this year.

[pizmo]

Re: Knothole Gang article

Sad to see this go. I saw many games for 25 cents. No nets in the old days so saw a few footballs go over the fence after being caught in this section, never to be seen again. 25 cents bought you 50 double bubble at that time which are 5 cents each now so the season ticket fare was bang on. In those days you'd hop on the bus, get taken to Clarke, pay your 25 and do the reverse to get home. If you missed the last bus, instead of waiting for the next bus you ran home from Whyte Ave to 63rd Ave. That would kill me now. Ah, the good old days. Could we blame Bush for this too?

[Esks996]

Re: Knothole Gang article

Everytime I would look over at that section last year, it was complete mayhem.

Little sh!ts throwing crap , running around like idiots, and maybe two kids actually watching the game.

Commonwealth daycare is now over......oh well.

[Esk Reporter]

Re: Knothole Gang article

It was how I got introduced to the Eskimos and the CFL, but I think it is time for a change. Times are different today and I think that what the Eskimos are replacing it has the potential to lead a new generation to the team and the CFL!

[GREYx14]

Re: Knothole Gang article

The move from Clarke to Commonwealth really changed the dynamic of the Knothole Gang. Notice that everyone who's getting nostalgic about the KG mentions a year prior to 1978? Frankly, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

[esks4life]

Re: Knothole Gang article

Now after reading some peoples comments about not being sorry to see it go we look like we are contradicting the article.

[glenvb]

Re: Knothole Gang article

Times have changed for families these days. I don't think it's any more dangerous for kids out there now than it used to be, but people are a lot more aware of things and a lot more protective of their kids.

When I was young I went to the BC Lions equivalent of the Knothole Gang by myself at Empire Stadium. Neither I nor any of my friends would dream of letting our 8-year-olds do that by themselves these days. We'd be carted away.

I don't know why they didn't keep the name Knothole Gang for the new region --- just change the conditions.

[IMSAYIN]

I respect what all of you had to say.

If you don't mind, I'd like look at this from a different point of view...

Like alot of you, I was a member of the Woodward's Knothole Gang. My first year was 71, or 72. My mom thinks it was 72...My memory tells me it was 71. The year doesn't really matter anyway...I'm just setting the scene.

It's too bad that it won't be around anymore. Those seats were all some people could afford. It was about $21.00 for Knothole season tix last year. Gameday seats were $5.00/game.

To you, or I...Sitting here banging away on our PCs. These kinds of hikes mean nothing. They mean nothing because we can afford them.

For lower income families though, this is a MASSIVE price hike, no matter how you want to spin it.

$199.00 for one adult, and a person under 18. Then another $65.00 for each additional seat.

I have no idea what the demographic of the Knothole Gang was last year...When we were kids though. My brother, and I went to the games by ourselves ( We only lived a cpl blocks away...In a house a few doors down from the GWG factory ).

For an adult, and child last year. They would have had to have a regular season ticket for the adult, and the $21.00 Knothole seat for the kid. I don't know the exact cost of a nose-bleed seat last year, but I believe they were about $100.00. With the facility fee, and taxes, the cheapest seats for one adult, and one kid would have been about...$170.00. Give or take $10.00.

This year it will cost them about $210.00. So that's an increase of about $50.00. That's a big hike for a lower income household to absorb.

I see alot of kids in the Knothole Gang every game...Like my brother, and I...I'm sure some of them are there without an adult. I don't want to get into a debate about whether a parent should allow their kid/kids to attend an Eskimo game by themselves. It's 2007...As a parent, I guess we all make the choices we believe to be right. That's a question for another time, and really has nothing to do with what I want to talk about right now anyway. As you'll see...It's definately part of the overall picture.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly how the Eskimos figure that every child at a home game is there with his/her parent ??? What about the kids that are there by themselves ?

Two Knothole seats that totalled about $43.00 last year. Will now cost about $210.00 in 07...

Ummmmm...

That's an increase of about 500 %.

Even if every ticket was bought on gameday. The total for two knothole seats would have been $100.00. That is still way below the $210.00 figure for 2007.

So when you look at this as just a price hike of $50.00, for one adult, and child, it isn't much of hike. If you don't have the money, any hike is alot.

Some families will not be able to afford either increase...Period.

Especially, if it's a single parent, low income, family. Even with both parents working, some lower income families won't be able to take that hit...That's a fact.

My mom supported my brother, and I as a single parent, and sole bread winner. We would have been described as lower income/poor. Her income was just a little higher than alot of our neighbours though. Not alot higher, but it was enough that she could afford to get us Knothole Gang seats each year. We had no money to take to the games with us. We couldn't buy a pop, popcorn, or anything else at the game...We were at the game though, and that's all that mattered to us.

Anytime I get extra tickets to a game. My kids invite their friends to go. Alot of these kids can't afford the games. Their families are not as poor as mine was in the early 70s. They just don't have the spare disposable income to afford things like Eskimo games.

After my kids have invited their friends to the game, I may still have a cpl extra tickets for a game. I give them to a kid that is just getting ready to buy a ticket at the gate. If the kid only had enough money for the ticket...He/she now has $5.00 to get something at the game. It feels good to see the smiles on their faces.

The extra tickets I get are always in the lower deck, between the 20 yard lines. In 2006, the lowest price for a walk-up adult seat, between the 20s was about $35.00 I believe. I could easily sell the extra tickets for $20.00 each. I'd rather give them to a kid though.

My mom sat through a blizzard at McMahon Stadium five hours before I was born. She was a fan before I was even born. She loved the game, but couldn't go to the Eskimo games with my brother, and I, because she could not afford it.

I remember exactly what the team meant to me, when I was a kid. I remember feeling very lucky that I was able to go to Edmonton Eskimo football games. I knew even then, that poor people simply did not get to go to football games.

My mom couldn't afford to give us any spending money at all, when I was a kid. So like most adults in a similar situation...I make up for it with my kids. That's why my kids have season seats beside mine. That's why I take them to Grey Cup Games with me.

My mom gave me something much more meaningful to me than mere money...She gave us her Love, and her love of the greatest game, on this rock. That love for our game, was passed from my mom to me, and from me, to my kids. God willing, it will be passed onto their kids as well.

It seems to me that not one single person has considered THE KIDS. Does anyone out there expect that a family that is living from payday to payday, is going to be able to spend $210.00 this year, for something that costed them $43.00 last year ? Would two kids have to pay the regular $210.00 in 07, or will they still get half off for their seats in the Igloo ? If they only have to pay half, that is better but it's still an increase of about 250 %. As with alot of things these days...The people who can afford it least, are the ones that take the hit.

How about the poor family that has one child. For $22.00 that kid had season seats in the Knothole Gang. The lowest priced season ticket for 2007 is about $170.00 including GST, and the facility fee. Kids 17, and younger only pay half as much as an adult ticket. That's about $85.00 for the CHEAPEST season seat for a child in Commonwealth Stadium.

Anybody want to explain to me how that kid, could possibly pay a 400 % - 500 % increase ? The numbers are all right there. Hell...Even in the Igloo it is going to cost three times more for that third seat, than it did in the Knothole Gang.

Two poor kids will have to pay an increase of 500 % for their two season seats...From $43.00 to $210.00.

One poor kid is going to have to pay an increase of 400 % for his/her season seat...From $21.00 to $85.00.

THOSE ARE MASSIVE INCREASES, AND SOME WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PAY THEM...PERIOD !

If you had to pay a 500 % increase for your tickets this year...Would you still buy them ? Instead of paying about $300.00 for a good seat last year...The Eskimos send you a nice invoice, that says you must now pay $1500.00 for that same seat.

Could you imagine the crapstorm that would hit ???

I really hope that there is some kind of program in the works, or being thought about, that will still enable these children to go to Edmonton Eskimo home games. Today's Knotholers, are tomorrow's season ticket holders.

Without The Knothole Gang...There's no way in hell my brother, and I could have gone to Eskimo games. His wife, and son are season ticket holders now. At least two of my kids have had season seats with me for years.

So we have gone from two kids sitting in the 1971 Knothole Gang at Clarke Staium. To having 6 season seats in 2007...

Quite literally...A cpl extra bucks was the difference between us being able to go to those games as kids, or missing them. None of my 1971 friends went to Eskimo games...Their families could not afford it.

I don't believe for one second that anybody thought about lower income children, or how this is going to affect them. There is no way in hell my mom could have bought us season seats, with a price hike of 400 % - 500 %.

I feel badly for those kids...I knew alot of them...
I was one of them.
Imsayin.