The Winnipeg RCAF Bombers faced the Hamilton Flying Wildcats in the Grey Cup. Hamilton proved to be the better team, returning the coveted trophy to Steeltown for the first time since 1932. [1]
The WIFU and the IRFU suspended operations for the duration of World War II. [2]
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points
Western Interprovincial Football Union
Interprovincial Rugby Football Union
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(*) McGill played six-point games |
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Note: All dates in 1943
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Union Finals | Semi & Union Finals | Grey Cup Final | ||||||||||||
ORFU | Hamilton Flying Wildcats | 7 | ||||||||||||
ORFU | Toronto Balmy Beach | 2 | ||||||||||||
ORFU | Hamilton Flying Wildcats | 7 | ||||||||||||
EAST | ||||||||||||||
QRFU | Lachine RCAF | 6 | ||||||||||||
QRFU | Lachine RCAF | 14 | ||||||||||||
QRFU | Montreal Navy | 2 | ||||||||||||
ORFU | Hamilton Flying Wildcats | 23 | ||||||||||||
WCASFL | Winnipeg RCAF Bombers | 14 | ||||||||||||
WCASFL | No Game | |||||||||||||
WCASFL | Winnipeg RCAF Bombers | 1-11 | ||||||||||||
WEST | ||||||||||||||
WCASFL | Regina All-Service All Stars | 0-0 | ||||||||||||
WCASFL | No Game | |||||||||||||
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NOTE: During this time most players played both ways, so the All-Star selections do not distinguish between some offensive and defensive positions.
NOTE: During this time most players played both ways, so the All-Star selections do not distinguish between some offensive and defensive positions.
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 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.
The Hamilton Flying Wildcats were trying to defend their championship, but the St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy team finished off a Cinderella season by returning the Grey Cup back to Montreal for the first time since 1931.
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 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.