1938 in Canadian football

Last updated

For the second consecutive season the Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers met for the Grey Cup. The Argonauts won the game. [1]

Contents

Canadian Football News in 1938

The Edmonton Eskimos joined the WIFU and adopted the colours of blue and white. The Eskimos eventually withdrew from the union in 1940. [2]

Regular season

Final regular season standings

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points

*Bold text means that they have clinched the playoffs.

British Columbia Rugby Football Union
TeamGPWLTPFPAPts
North Shore Lions87101102415
University of British Columbia Thunderbirds6510571815
Knights of Columbus 835043566
Vancouver Meralomas 808031150

*UBC games are worth 3 points in the standings

Grey Cup playoffs

Note: All dates in 1938

Semifinals

WIFU Semifinals
DateAwayHome
October 29 Regina Roughriders 0 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 13
ORFU Finals
GameDateAwayHome
1November 19 Sarnia Imperials 9 Montreal Nationals 5
2November 26 Sarnia Imperials 15 Montreal Nationals 0
  • Sarnia won the total-point series by 24–5. Sarnia will play the Toronto Argonauts (IRFU Champions) in the Eastern Finals.
IRFU Finals
GameDateAwayHome
1November 19 Toronto Argonauts 9 Ottawa Rough Riders 1
2November 26 Toronto Argonauts 5 Ottawa Rough Riders 3
  • Toronto won the total-point series by 14–4. Toronto will play the Sarnia Imperials (ORFU Champions) in the Eastern Finals.

Finals

Western Finals
GameDateAwayHome
1November 5 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 12 Calgary Bronks 7
2November 12 Calgary Bronks 2 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 13
Eastern Finals
DateAwayHome
December 3? Toronto Argonauts 25 Sarnia Imperials (ORFU) 8

Playoff bracket

QuarterfinalsSemifinalsGrey Cup final
         
IRFU Toronto Argonauts 9-5
IRFU Ottawa Rough Riders 1-3
IRFU Toronto Argonauts 25
EAST
ORFU Sarnia Imperials 8
ORFU Sarnia Imperials 9-15
ORFU Montreal Nationals 5-0
IRFU Toronto Argonauts 30
WIFU Winnipeg Blue Bombers 7
WIFU Calgary Bronks
WIFU BYE
WIFU Calgary Bronks 7-2
WEST
WIFU Winnipeg Blue Bombers 12-13
WIFU Winnipeg Blue Bombers 13
WIFU Regina Roughriders 0

Grey Cup Championship

December 10

26th Annual Grey Cup Game: Varsity StadiumToronto, Ontario

WIFU Champion IRFU Champion
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 7 Toronto Argonauts 30
The Toronto Argonauts are the 1938 Grey Cup Champions

1938 Eastern (Combined IRFU & ORFU) All-Stars selected by Canadian Press

NOTE: During this time most players played both ways, so the All-Star selections do not distinguish between some offensive and defensive positions.

1st Team

2nd Team

1938 Ontario Rugby Football Union All-Stars

NOTE: During this time most players played both ways, so the All-Star selections do not distinguish between some offensive and defensive positions.

1938 Canadian Football Awards

Related Research Articles

The Toronto Argonauts won the Grey Cup for the second time in five years.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers played in their third consecutive Grey Cup final. A last-second rouge gave Winnipeg its second title in five years.

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.

With Canadians serving on battlefields across Europe and the Pacific, the first ever non-civilian Grey Cup took place in 1942. The Toronto RCAF Hurricanes defeated the Winnipeg RCAF Bombers on an icy field at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

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.

For the first time in Grey Cup history, the same two teams challenged for the trophy for the third consecutive year. But unlike the previous two years, the Toronto Argonauts needed some late game heroics to win their third consecutive title.

The Calgary Stampeders had an opportunity to defend their Grey Cup title in 1949, but the Montreal Alouettes returned the trophy to Quebec for just the third time in its history.

After a 17-year absence, the Saskatchewan Roughriders returned to the Grey Cup final. Their losing streak in the big game continued, however, as it was the other Rough Riders that took home the prize.

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 Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) was an early amateur Canadian football league comprising teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded on Saturday, January 6, 1883 and in 1903 became the first major competition to adopt the Burnside rules, from which the modern Canadian football code would evolve.

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.

References

  1. "Grey Cup: 1938". Canadian Football League. Archived from the original on 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  2. "CANADIAN FOOTBALL TIMELINES (1860 – 2005)" (PDF). footballcanada.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 January 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2019.