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. [1]
On Thursday, September 27 a new football team was formed in Calgary. [2] On October 10, it was decided that the new team would play as the Calgary Stampeders. [3] The Stampeders joined the WIFU with blue and gold colours.
The IRFU would resume play, but the WIFU still suspended operations.
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points
Western Interprovincial Football Union
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Note: All dates in 1945
| Calgary Stampeders @ Regina Roughriders | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Away | Home | |
| October 27 | Calgary Stampeders 3 | Regina Roughriders 1 | |
| Regina Roughriders @ Calgary Stampeders | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Away | Home | |
| November 3 | Regina Roughriders 0 | Calgary Stampeders 12 | |
| Toronto Argonauts @ Ottawa Rough Riders | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Away | Home | |
| November 3 | Toronto Argonauts 27 | Ottawa Rough Riders 8 | |
| Toronto Argonauts @ Ottawa Rough Riders | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Away | Home | |
| November 10 | Toronto Argonauts 6 | Ottawa Rough Riders 10 | |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers @ Calgary Stampeders | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Away | Home | |
| November 10 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers 9 | Calgary Stampeders 6 | |
| Toronto Indians @ Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Away | Home | |
| November 14 | Toronto Indians 1 | Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers 2 | |
| Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers @ Toronto Indians | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Away | Home | |
| November 17 | Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers 15 | Toronto Indians 0 | |
| Toronto Argonauts @ Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers (ORFU) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Away | Home | |
| November 17 | Toronto Argonauts 14 | Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers (ORFU) 2 | |
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Grey Cup final | ||||||||||||
| IRFU | Ottawa Rough Riders | 8-10 | ||||||||||||
| IRFU | Toronto Argonauts | 27-6 | ||||||||||||
| IRFU | Toronto Argonauts | 14 | ||||||||||||
| EAST | ||||||||||||||
| ORFU | Toronto Balmy Beach | 2 | ||||||||||||
| ORFU | Toronto Indians | 1-0 | ||||||||||||
| ORFU | Toronto Balmy Beach | 2-15 | ||||||||||||
| IRFU | Toronto Argonauts | 35 | ||||||||||||
| WIFU | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 0 | ||||||||||||
| WIFU | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | |||||||||||||
| WIFU | BYE | |||||||||||||
| WIFU | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 9 | ||||||||||||
| WEST | ||||||||||||||
| WIFU | Calgary Stampeders | 6 | ||||||||||||
| WIFU | Calgary Stampeders | 3-11 | ||||||||||||
| WIFU | Regina Roughriders | 1-0 | ||||||||||||
| December 1 33rd Annual Grey Cup Game: Varsity Stadium – Toronto, Ontario | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| WIFU Champion | IRFU Champion | ||
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers 0 | Toronto Argonauts 35 | ||
| The Toronto Argonauts are the 1945 Grey Cup Champions | |||
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.
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.
The Edmonton Eskimos faced the Montreal Alouettes in the Grey Cup game for the third consecutive year. And for the third consecutive year, the Edmonton Eskimos were Grey Cup champions. It was the first time in a Grey Cup that a touchdown was worth six points instead of five.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup.
The 1958 CFL season was the inaugural season of the Canadian Football League, although the season structure was essentially unchanged from the one established three years earlier when the league's founding unions had effectively barred amateur teams from competing for the Grey Cup.