1981 CFL season
Encyclopedia
The 1981 Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

 season is considered to be the 28th season in modern-day Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...

, although it is officially the 24th Canadian Football League season.

CFL News in 1981

The Eastern and Western Football Conferences
Canadian Football League West Division
The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the West Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.-Pre-1936:...

, which had carried on as separate and autonomous entities since the founding of the CFL in 1958
1958 CFL season
The 1958 CFL season was the fifth season in modern Canadian professional football, although officially it would become known as the inaugural season of the Canadian Football League .-CFL news in 1958:...

, agreed to a full merger prior to the start of the 1981 season.

With the merger the Eastern and Western Football Conference was dissolved and renamed as the East
Canadian Football League East Division
The East Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.- Pre-1907 :...

 and West Divisions
Canadian Football League West Division
The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the West Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.-Pre-1936:...

.

The merger authorizes the CFL to have full authority over decisions, including the adoption of a full interlocking schedule for both divisions.

In addition, the merger set up the CFL Board of Governors and the CFL Management Council to replace the Executive Committee and the General Managers Committee.

The Montreal Alouettes
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian Football League team based in Montreal, Quebec.The current franchise named the Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1996 where they had been known as the Baltimore Stallions...

 ceased operations and folded after the 1981 season, although a new franchise (the Montreal Concordes) would be in place for the 1982 season
1982 CFL season
The 1982 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 29th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 25th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 1982:After the 1981 season the Montreal Alouettes folded...

.

Final regular season standings

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points
West Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Edmonton Eskimos
Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Eskimos are a Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. They currently play in the West Division of the Canadian Football League . Edmonton is currently the third-youngest franchise in the CFL, although there were clubs with the name Edmonton Eskimos as early as 1895...

 
16 14 1 1 576 277 29
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League . They play their home games at Canad Inns Stadium, and plan to move to a new stadium for the 2012 season.The Blue Bombers were founded...

 
16 11 5 0 517 299 22
BC Lions
BC Lions
The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team competing in the West Division of Canadian Football League . Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Lions play their home games at BC Place Stadium in Downtown Vancouver, having previously played at Empire Stadium in East Vancouver from 1954...

 
16 10 6 0 438 377 20
Saskatchewan Roughriders
Saskatchewan Roughriders
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a Canadian Football League team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. They were founded in 1910. They play their home games at 2940 10th Avenue in Regina, which has been the team's home base for its entire history, even prior to the construction of Mosaic Stadium at Taylor...

 
16 9 7 0 431 371 18
Calgary Stampeders
Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a Canadian Football League team based in Calgary, Alberta and named in reference to the Calgary Stampede. The Stampeders play their home games at McMahon Stadium...

 
16 6 10 0 306 367 12
East Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a Canadian Football League team based in Hamilton, Ontario, founded in 1950 with the merger of the Hamilton Tigers and the Hamilton Wildcats. The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Ivor Wynne Stadium...

 
16 11 4 1 414 335 23
Ottawa Rough Riders
Ottawa Rough Riders
The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. One of the oldest and longest lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine times. Their most dominant era was the 1960s and 1970s, a...

 
16 5 11 0 306 446 10
Montreal Alouettes
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian Football League team based in Montreal, Quebec.The current franchise named the Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1996 where they had been known as the Baltimore Stallions...

 
16 3 13 0 267 518 6
Toronto Argonauts
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League. The Toronto, Ontario based team was founded in 1873 and is one of the oldest existing professional sports teams in North America, after the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta...

 
16 2 14 0 241 506 4
  • Bold text means that they have clinched the playoffs.
  • Edmonton and Hamilton have first round byes.

Grey Cup playoffs

The Edmonton Eskimos
Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Eskimos are a Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. They currently play in the West Division of the Canadian Football League . Edmonton is currently the third-youngest franchise in the CFL, although there were clubs with the name Edmonton Eskimos as early as 1895...

 are the 1981 Grey Cup
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup is both the name of the championship of the Canadian Football League and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. It is Canada's largest annual sports and television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of about 3 to 4 million individuals...

 champions, defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders
Ottawa Rough Riders
The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. One of the oldest and longest lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine times. Their most dominant era was the 1960s and 1970s, a...

, 26–23, at Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

's Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium (Montreal)
The Olympic Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada built as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics...

. Edmonton won their fourth-straight championship on a last second Dave Cutler
Dave Cutler (football player)
Dave Cutler is a former all-star place kicker with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. Cutler is considered by many to be one of the best field goal kickers in CFL history.-CFL:...

 field-goal. The Rough Riders' J.C. Watts
J.C. Watts
Julius Caesar "J. C." Watts, Jr. is an American politician from Oklahoma who was a college football quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners and professionally in the Canadian Football League. Watts served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003 as a Republican, representing the 4th...

 (QB) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player on Offence and John Glassford
John Glassford
John Glassford of Dougalston and Whitehill was a Scottish Tobacco Lord, considered by his contemporaries to be the greatest of the era. He owned tobacco plantations in Virginia and Maryland.-Background and family:...

 (LB) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player on Defence. The Eskimos' Neil Lumsden
Neil Lumsden
Neil Lumsden is a former Canadian Football League player who played mostly as a fullback and also as a running back for the Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Edmonton Eskimos from 1976 to 1985....

 (RB) was named Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian.

Playoff bracket

1981 CFL Awards

  • CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award
    CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award
    The Most Outstanding Player Award is annually awarded to the best player in the Canadian Football League. The Most Outstanding Player award can be compared to the National Football League's Most Valuable Player, otherwise known as the "MVP" award...

     – Dieter Brock
    Dieter Brock
    Ralph "Dieter" Brock , is a former Canadian Football League and National Football League player and now works as a coach...

     (QB), Winnipeg Blue Bombers
  • CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award
    CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award
    The Most Outstanding Canadian Award is annually rewarded to the best Canadian player in the Canadian Football League. This is the second-last award to be given during the CFL Awards banquet, which takes place the week before Grey Cup weekend in the same city where it is hosted. The two nominees...

     – Joe Poplawski
    Joe Poplawski
    Joe Poplawski is a former professional Canadian football receiver for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League from 1978 to 1986....

     (SB), Winnipeg Blue Bombers
  • CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award
    CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award
    The Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award is annually rewarded to the best defensive player in the Canadian Football League. This is the third-last award to be given during the CFL Awards banquet, which takes place the week before Grey Cup weekend in the same city where it is hosted...

     – Danny Kepley
    Danny Kepley
    Daniel "Danny" Kepley, is a former star linebacker with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.Kepley played his college football at East Carolina University...

     (LB), Edmonton Eskimos
  • CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award
    CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award
    The Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award is annually rewarded to the best offensive lineman in the Canadian Football League. This is the fourth-last award to be given during the CFL Awards banquet, which takes place the week before Grey Cup weekend in the same city where it is hosted...

     – Larry Butler
    Larry Butler (football player)
    Larry Butler is a former professional Canadian football offensive lineman who played six seasons in the Canadian Football League for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He played college football at Appalachian State University. He won the CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive...

     (OG), Winnipeg Blue Bombers
  • CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award
    CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award
    The Most Outstanding Rookie Award is annually rewarded to the player deemed to be the best player in his first year in the Canadian Football League. This is the fifth-last award to be given during the CFL Awards banquet, which takes place the week before Grey Cup weekend in the same city where it...

     – Vince Goldsmith
    Vince Goldsmith
    Vince Goldsmith, born July 20, 1959, was a star football player in the Canadian Football League , as both a linebacker and defensive lineman....

     (LB), Saskatchewan Roughriders
  • CFLPA's Most Outstanding Community Service Award
    Tom Pate Memorial Award
    Every year the Canadian Football League Players' Association presents the Tom Pate Award. It is not a "Jock Award," but rather an award given to players who display qualities that distinguish them from their peers....

     – Ken McEachern
    Ken McEachern
    Ken McEachern is a former professional Canadian football player who played eleven years in the Canadian Football League. McEachern played defensive back for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts from 1974 to 1984. He was a CFL All-Star in '80 and '81 and helped the Argonauts win the...

     (DB), Saskatchewan Roughriders
  • CFL's Coach of the Year
    Annis Stukus Trophy
    The Annis Stukus Trophy is a Canadian Football League trophy, which is presented annually by the Edmonton Eskimos Alumni Association to the Coach of the Year, as determined by the members of the Football Reporters of Canada...

     – Joe Faragalli
    Joe Faragalli
    Joe Faragalli was a football player and coach who had most of his success in the Canadian Football League....

    , Saskatchewan Roughriders
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