Football Canada
Encyclopedia
Football Canada is the governing body
Sport governing body
A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...

 for amateur 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...

. It is Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

's representative member of the International Federation of American Football
International Federation of American Football
International Federation of American Football is the international governing body of American football associations. Its headquarters are in La Courneuve, France, and its current president is Tommy Wiking...

 (IFAF), the world's governing body for American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

.

History

The organization now known as Football Canada was founded on October 21, 1882 as the Canadian Rugby Football Union and re-organized as the Canadian Rugby Union in 1892.

The CRU was founded to govern a sport which at the time had rules similar to the rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

 being played in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. In 1909, Lord Earl Grey
Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey was a British nobleman and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the ninth since Canadian Confederation....

, then Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...

, donated a trophy to the CRU to be awarded for the Rugby Football Championship of Canada. This trophy became known as the 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...

.

Even by this time however, the rules being played in Canada were vastly different from the rules used in countries that were part of the International Rugby Board
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...

 (IRB). In the years that followed, the CRU and its American counterparts would legalize forward pass
Forward pass
In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line...

ing and make other changes that would keep the Canadian game reasonably similar to the American one, but unrecognizable to a rugby union enthusiast.

Despite the divergence, the sport continued to be referred to as rugby for many years, and the CRU did not change its name despite the obvious confusion. By the 1950s, however, another development was to cause further changes to the CRU's mandate — it was now clear that two of its member leagues — the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union
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 :...

 in eastern Canada
Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada is generally considered to be the region of Canada east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces:* New Brunswick* Newfoundland and Labrador* Nova Scotia* Ontario* Prince Edward Island* Quebec...

 and the Western Interprovincial Football Union
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:...

 in the West
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...

 were far more competitive than other circuits. These teams would eventually leave the CRU and form the conferences of the 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....

, which soon assumed control of the Grey Cup.

As an organization with no direct jurisdiction over the professional clubs and having nothing in common with rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 by this time, the CRU finally changed its name to the Canadian Amateur Football Association (CAFA) in 1967. The CAFA changed its name again, to Football Canada in 1986.

As of 2005 Football Canada is primarily responsible for running amateur football in Canada, including the national amateur football championships. It is actively trying to foster closer working relationships with both the Canadian Football League and the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

.

Champions prior to 1909

These are the CRU champions before the dedication of the Grey Cup.
  • 1892 - Osgoode Hall (Ontario) defeated Montreal (Quebec)
  • 1893 - Queen's University (Ontario) defeated Montreal (Quebec)
  • 1894 - Ottawa University (Quebec) defeated Queen's University (Ontario)
  • 1895 - Toronto University (Ontario) defeated Montreal (Quebec)
  • 1896 - Ottawa University (Quebec) defeated Toronto University (Ontario)
  • 1897 - Ottawa University (Quebec) defeated Hamilton (Ontario)
  • 1898 - Ottawa (Ontario) defeated Toronto University (Intercollegiate), Ottawa (Ontario) defeated Ottawa University (Quebec)
  • 1899 - No game.
  • 1900 - Ottawa (Ontario) defeated Brockville (Quebec)
  • 1901 - Ottawa University (Quebec) defeated Argonauts (Ontario)
  • 1902 - Ottawa (Ontario) defeated Ottawa University (Quebec)
  • 1903 - No game.
  • 1904 - No game.
  • 1905 - Toronto University (Intercollegiate) defeated Ottawa (Quebec)
  • 1906 - Hamilton (Ontario) defeated McGill University (Intercollegiate)
  • 1907 - Montreal (Interprovincial) defeated Peterborough (Ontario)
  • 1908 - Hamilton (Interprovincial) defeated Toronto University (Intercollegiate)
  • 1909 - Toronto University (Intercollegiate) defeated Parkdale (QRFU)


The 1909 game was the first game for the Grey Cup. See the article 'List of Grey Cup champions' for the complete Grey Cup listing.

Source: Ottawa Citizen, November 28, 1910, page 8.

See also

  • 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...

  • CIS Football
    CIS football
    Twenty-six universities across Canada compete in football under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport . The teams are divided into four conferences, drawing from the four regional associations of the CIS: Canada West Universities Athletic Association, Ontario University Athletics, Quebec...

  • Canadian Interuniversity Sport
    Canadian Interuniversity Sport
    Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is The Canadian Colleges Athletic Association...

  • Canadian Colleges Athletic Association
    Canadian Colleges Athletic Association
    The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association is the national governing body for organized sports at colleges in Canada. It was formed in 1974. The CCAA hosts nine annual national championships. The CCAA's name in French is l'Association canadienne du sport collégial .Its equivalent body for...

  • Canadian Junior Football League
    Canadian Junior Football League
    The Canadian Junior Football League is a national amateur Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in six provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl...

  • Quebec Junior Football League
    Quebec Junior Football League
    The Quebec Junior Football League operated from 1970 to the present, as a successor to the Quebec Juvenile Football League. It began competition as a conference of the Canadian Junior Football League from which it eventually withdrew. Upon withdrawal from the CJFL, the QJFL incorporated teams from...

  • Rugby Canada
    Rugby Canada
    Rugby Canada, is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amateur Canadian football as Football Canada; and the now-defunct Rugby Union of...

  • 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....

  • Comparison of Canadian and American football
    Comparison of Canadian and American football
    American and Canadian football are very similar, as both have their origins in rugby football, but there are some key differences.-History:Football was introduced to North America in Canada by the British Army garrison in Montreal, which played a series of games with McGill University...

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