1931 Toronto Argonauts season | |
---|---|
Head coach | Buck McKenna [1] |
Home field | Varsity Stadium [2] |
Results | |
Record | 3–3 |
Division place | 3rd, IRFU |
Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
The 1931 Toronto Argonauts season was the club's 45th season since its inception in 1873 and its 22nd season in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union. The team finished tied with the Hamilton Tigers for second place in the IRFU with three wins and three losses and failed to qualify for the playoffs.
This was the first IRFU season in which the forward pass was allowed by the rules of the game. The first forward pass completion in Argonauts' history was thrown by halfback Teddy Morris to halfback Bill Darling for a gain of twenty-five yards during the opening game of the season in Hamilton, which the Argos lost 12–7. [3]
The Argonauts' top player in 1931 was halfback Frank Turville, winner of the 1930 Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy, around whose punt-catching, ball-carrying and kicking abilities the Argos' offence revolved. This season also saw the debut of Teddy Morris, future star player, Russel-Trophy winner and multiple Grey-Cup winning head coach of the Argonauts.
In 1931 the Argos, Balmy Beach and the University of Toronto launched a new preseason competition for the "city championship", the winning club to receive the Reg DeGruchy Memorial Trophy. The Argos defeated the University reserves squad in the first round, but lost in the final to the Beach, reigning Grey Cup champions.
Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
September 26 | University of Toronto Orfuns | W 17–5 | 1–0 | Varsity Stadium | 5,000 |
October 3 | Balmy Beach | L 1–5 | 1–1 | Varsity Stadium | 6,000 |
Team | GP | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 112 | 39 | 12 |
Hamilton Tigers | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 60 | 56 | 6 |
Toronto Argonauts | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 55 | 64 | 6 |
Ottawa Rough Riders | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 31 | 98 | 0 |
Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record |
1 | Oct 10 | at Hamilton Tigers | L 7–12 | 0–1 |
---|---|---|---|---|
2 | Oct 17 | vs. Montreal Winged Wheelers | L 10–32 | 0–2 |
3 | Oct 24 | at Ottawa Rough Riders | W 8–5 | 1–2 |
4 | Oct 31 | vs. Ottawa Rough Riders | W 24–7 | 2–2 |
5 | Nov 7 | at Montreal Winged Wheelers | L 1–4 | 2–3 |
6 | Nov 14 | vs. Hamilton Tigers | W 5–4 | 3–3 |
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1873, the team is the oldest existing professional sports team in North America still using its original name, as well as the oldest-surviving team in both the modern-day CFL and East Division. The team's origins date back to a modified version of rugby football that emerged in North America in the latter half of the 19th century. The Argonauts played their home games at Rogers Centre from 1989 until 2016, when the team moved to BMO Field, the fifth stadium site to host the team.
John Edward Avery, Jr. is a former professional Canadian football and American football player. He last played with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, but also played with the National Football League and the XFL.
Albert George "Ab" Box was a Canadian professional football halfback, quarterback and punter.
The Toronto Argonauts won the Grey Cup for the second time in five years.
For the second consecutive season the Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers met for the Grey Cup. The Argonauts won the game.
The only two-game total point series in Grey Cup history was played between the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers. It was Ottawa's first Grey Cup championship since the Senators won back-to-back titles in 1925 and 1926. It was Balmy Beach's fourth and final appearance at a Grey Cup, winning two times in four opportunities.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were once again permitted to challenge for the Grey Cup following a rule dispute a year earlier. In a meeting of the previous two Grey Cup champions, the Blue Bombers prevailed, sending the coveted mug west for the third time.
Football returned to relative normal in 1945 following the conclusion of World War II. Two rivals from the pre-war years met once again in the annual Grey Cup, but on this occasion, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were no match for the Toronto Argonauts. For Winnipeg, it was the worst loss by a western team in the Grey Cup since 1923 when Queen's University routed the Regina Roughriders 54–0.
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The Toronto Argonauts faced the Edmonton Eskimos in the Grey Cup. Although the Argos would hold on to win the game and their tenth Grey Cup championship, an Argo would not sip from the silver mug again until 1983.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the annual Grey Cup in 1953.
The Edmonton Eskimos upset the Montreal Alouettes to send the Grey Cup trophy back west for the first time since 1948.
The Edmonton Eskimos defeat the Montreal Alouettes in the first Grey Cup held in the west. This was also the first year that the Grey Cup was open to professional teams only, as the amateur Ontario Rugby Football Union was not invited to compete in an inter-union playdown, leaving only the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union and the Western Interprovincial Football Union to compete for the Canadian championship.
Allan Byron (Teddy) Morris was a Canadian Football Hall of Fame player and coach for the Toronto Argonauts.
The 1933 Toronto Argonauts season was the club's 47th season since its inception in 1873 and its 24th season in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union. The team finished tied with the Montreal Football Club for first place in the IRFU with an identical record of four wins and two losses, resulting in a two-game, total-points tiebreaker series which the Argos won by an aggregate score of 20-9. By virtue of this victory, the club secured its 7th IRFU championship and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1922. The ten-year drought was, and continues to be, the longest playoff drought in franchise history.
Franklin David Turville (1907-1984) was a Canadian football player, playing from 1928 to 1936.
The 1932 Toronto Argonauts season was the club's 46th season since its inception in 1873 and its 23rd season in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union. The team finished in third place in the IRFU with three wins and three losses and failed to qualify for the playoffs. It proved to be the last of Buck McKenna's four seasons as coach of the Argos, who left the job having amassed an overall record of thirteen wins, ten losses and one tie, and never having won the IRFU title.