1939 in Canadian football

Last updated

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers played in their third consecutive Grey Cup final. A last-second rouge gave Winnipeg its second title in five years. [1]

Contents

Regular season, final standings

Column headings: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points for, PA = Points against, Pts = Points

Western Interprovincial Football Union
TeamGPWLTPFPAPts
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 12102020110320
Regina Roughriders 126608413612
Calgary Bronks 114701441238
Edmonton Eskimos 11380801476
Interprovincial Rugby Football Union
TeamGPWLTPFPAPts
Ottawa Rough Riders 65101454410
Toronto Argonauts 641158439
Hamilton Tigers 624029844
Montreal Royals 605123841
Ontario Rugby Football Union
TeamGPWLTPFPAPts
Montreal Westmounts 641171459
Sarnia Imperials 631270388
Toronto Balmy Beach 632158277
Peterborough Orfuns 6060161050
British Columbia Rugby Football Union
TeamGPWLTPFPAPts
University of British Columbia Thunderbirds66001082512
Knights of Columbus 642063638
North Shore Lions624048514
Victoria Revellers6060251050

BCRFU playoffs

Note: All dates in 1939

BCRFU semifinals

DateAwayHome
November 18North Shore Lions 0University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 12

University of British Columbia Thunderbirds advance to BCRFU finals

DateAwayHome
November 18Knights of Columbus 1Victoria Revellers 6

Victoria Revellers advance to BCRFU finals

BCRFU final

DateAwayHome
November 25Victoria Revellers 6University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 17

University of British Columbia Thunderbirds win the BCRFU championship

Grey Cup playoffs

Note: All dates in 1939

Semifinals

WIFU Semifinals
Calgary Bronks @ Regina Roughriders
Probable dateAwayHome
November 4 Calgary Bronks 24 Regina Roughriders 17
ORFU Finals
GameDateAwayHome
1November 18 Montreal Westmounts 1 Sarnia Imperials 13
2November 25 Sarnia Imperials 18 Montreal Westmounts 13
  • Sarnia won the total-point series by 31–14 and played the Ottawa Rough Riders (IRFU Champions) in the Eastern Finals.
IRFU Finals
GameDateAwayHome
1November 18 Ottawa Rough Riders 11 Toronto Argonauts 0
2November 25 Ottawa Rough Riders 28 Toronto Argonauts 6
  • Ottawa won the total-point series by 39–6 and played the Sarnia Imperials (ORFU Champions) in the Eastern Finals.

Finals

Western Finals
GameDateAwayHome
1November 11 Calgary Bronks 13 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 7
2November 18 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 28 Calgary Bronks 7
Eastern Finals
Ottawa Rough Riders (IRFU) @ Sarnia Imperials (ORFU)
DateAwayHome
December 2 Ottawa Rough Riders 23 Sarnia Imperials (ORFU) 1

Playoff bracket

QuarterfinalsSemifinalsGrey Cup final
         
IRFU Ottawa Rough Riders 11-28
IRFU Toronto Argonauts 0-6
IRFU Ottawa Rough Riders 23
EAST
ORFU Sarnia Imperials 1
ORFU Montreal Westmounts 1-13
ORFU Sarnia Imperials 12-18
IRFU Ottawa Rough Riders 7
WIFU Winnipeg Blue Bombers 8
WIFU Winnipeg Blue Bombers
WIFU BYE
WIFU Winnipeg Blue Bombers 7+28
WEST
WIFU Calgary Bronks 13+7
WIFU Regina Roughriders 17
WIFU Calgary Bronks 24

Grey Cup Championship

December 9

27th Annual Grey Cup Game: Lansdowne ParkOttawa, Ontario

WIFU Champion IRFU Champion
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 8 Ottawa Rough Riders 7
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers became the 1939 Grey Cup Champions

1939 Interprovincial 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.

1939 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.

1939 Canadian Football Awards

Related Research Articles

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.

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 Memories: 1939". CFL.ca. 2005-11-01. Retrieved 2019-10-05.