Hamilton Wildcats (Canadian football)

Last updated
Hamilton Wildcats
Hamilton Flying Wildcats logo.png
Founded1941
Folded1950 (Merged with Hamilton Tigers)
Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
League Ontario Rugby Football Union
Interprovincial Rugby Football Union
Team historyHamilton Wildcats (1941–1942, 1945–1949)
Hamilton Flying Wildcats (1943–1944)
Team colorsRed, White
        
Grey Cup championships1 (1943)
Home field(s) Civic Stadium

The Hamilton Wildcats were a Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario that played in the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) from 1941 to 1947, and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU) from 1948 to 1949. The team was formed to play in the ORFU in 1941 to fill the void left by the Hamilton Tigers, who ceased operations that year due to a large number of players joining the army. [1] In 1943 and 1944, the team assumed the name Hamilton Flying Wildcats to reflect the Royal Canadian Air Force personnel on the team. [1] [2] After struggling to compete on a sound financial level with the Hamilton Tigers, who resumed operations following World War II, the two clubs merged in 1950 to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. [3]

Canadian football Canadian sport in which opposing teams of twelve players attempt to score by advancing a ball by running, passing and kicking

Canadian football is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play 110 yards (101 m) long and 65 yards (59 m) wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area.

Hamilton, Ontario City in Ontario, Canada

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. An industrialized city in the Golden Horseshoe at the west end of Lake Ontario, Hamilton has a population of 536,917, and a metropolitan population of 747,545. The city is located about 60 km southwest of Toronto, with which the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is formed.

The Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) was an early amateur Canadian football league. As its name implies, it comprised teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded in 1883 and in 1903 became the first major competition to adopt the Burnside rules, from which the modern Canadian football code would evolve.

Contents

History

Ontario Rugby Football Union

For many years, Hamilton had an unstable presence in the ORFU, with various teams folding and being renamed, as well as a more established IRFU team, the Hamilton Tigers. World War II proved to be disruptive to both leagues' operations. In 1940, as part of a wave of hastily-assembled teams brought together to fill the void of the ORFU teams that had suspended operations, the ORFU returned to Hamilton with a team informally named after the Hamilton Alerts, a short-lived and long-dormant team notable for winning the 1912 Grey Cup.

The Hamilton Tigers were a Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario that played in the Ontario Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and 1948 to 1949 and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1947. The club was a founding member of both the ORFU in 1883 and the IRFU in 1907. Throughout their history, the Tigers won five Grey Cup Championships as well as winning the Dominion Championship in 1908, the year before the Grey Cup was awarded. After struggling to compete on a sound financial level with the Hamilton Wildcats, who had joined the ORFU in 1941 and later the IRFU, the two clubs merged in 1950 to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

The Hamilton Alerts were a Canadian football-rugby union team based in Hamilton, Ontario that played in the Ontario Rugby Football Union from 1911 to 1912. The club won the 4th Grey Cup in 1912, becoming the first ever team from Hamilton to win the Grey Cup and the first team from the ORFU to win the Cup.

In 1941, the Tigers suspended operations due to the war, and the IRFU as a whole would do so from 1942 and 1944, leaving many talented players to join teams in the ORFU as well as a void in Hamilton football. [4] Hamilton's ORFU franchise requested to use the Tigers name and colours but were rebuffed, opting to take on the name Hamilton Wildcats and use colours of red and white. [1] The Wildcats' usage of numerous Tigers alumni led the Wildcats to a very successful three years in which they posted a 19–6–1 record with two appearances in the Grey Cup championship game with one win coming in 1943. [5] In the 1943 and 1944 seasons, the team is officially recognized as the Hamilton Flying Wildcats due to the RCAF personnel playing on the team. [2] Consequently, the team that won the 31st Grey Cup is recorded as the Hamilton Flying Wildcats.

The Grey Cup is the name of both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. It is contested between the winners of the CFL's East and West Divisional playoffs and is one of Canadian television's largest annual sporting events. The Toronto Argonauts have the most Grey Cup wins (17) since its introduction in 1909, while the Edmonton Eskimos have the most Grey Cup wins (11) since the creation of the professional CFL in 1958. The latest, the 106th Grey Cup, took place in Edmonton, Alberta, on November 25, 2018, when the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 27–16.

The 31st Grey Cup was played on November 27, 1943, before 16,423 fans at Varsity Stadium at Toronto.

After the war ended, the IRFU resumed operations and players that had played for the Tigers were returned to their club. The Wildcats dropped the "flying" from their nickname since the RCAF personnel no longer played for them. After a difficult season in 1945, which saw the club miss the playoffs, the Wildcats claimed back-to-back regular season first-place finishes in 1946 and 1947, but lost in the ORFU finals both years. [6] [7]

Interprovincial Rugby Football Union and merger

Due to monetary disputes that the Hamilton Tigers were having with the IRFU, [1] the Tigers transferred to the ORFU, with the Wildcats switching to the IRFU on April 9, 1948. [4] The switch proved to be difficult for the team, who went from first in the ORFU to dead last in the IRFU, with only one win in their two seasons in that league. Both teams were struggling to compete for fan support and the financial repercussions started to mount. As a result, local prominent citizens including Mr. Ralph W. Cooper, Mr. F.M. Gibson, Mr. C.C. Lawson and Mr. Sam Manson decided that the two clubs should amalgamate and operate as one entity. As such, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats football club began play in 1950 in the IRFU as the singular representative of the city of Hamilton.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats Canadian Football League team from Hamilton, Ontario

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Field. They were founded in 1950 with the merger of the Hamilton Tigers and the Hamilton Wildcats.

Canadian Football Hall of Famers

Joe Krol Player of American and Canadian football

Joseph "King" Krol was a Canadian football quarterback, running back, defensive back, and placekicker/punter from 1942 to 1953 and 1955. Considered as possibly the most versatile player in Canadian football history as a triple-threat to pass, run, and kick, he was one of Canada's greatest athletes and also famously known as a "Gold Dust Twin" for his teamwork with Royal Copeland. Joe Krol was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. After suffering from a fall in his apartment, Krol died in a Toronto hospital on December 16, 2008.

Vincent Joseph "Boomer" Scott was a Canadian football player. He played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and was later a Hamilton city councillor. He became a Canadian citizen in the mid-1950s

Season-by-season

Grey Cup ChampionshipsDivision ChampionshipsRegular season Championships
Season LeagueFinishWinsLossesTiesPlayoffs
1941 ORFU 1st501Lost Eastern Final (Rough Riders) 7–2
19423rd640
19431st811Won ORFU Final (Beachers) 7–2
Won East Final (Lachine RCAF) 7–6
Won Grey Cup (Winnipeg RCAF Bombers) 23–14
19441st510Won ORFU Final (Beachers) 1–1 series (13–10 points)
Lost Grey Cup (St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy) 7–6
19453rd350
19461st811Won ORFU Semi-Finals (Imperials) 14–5
Lost ORFU Finals (Beachers) 13–6
19471st910Won ORFU Semi-Finals (Indians) 14–0
Lost ORFU Finals (Trojans) 15–3
1948 IRFU 4th1101
19494th0120
Merged to form Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Regular season totals45354
Playoff totals540
Grey Cup totals11–

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 http://cflapedia.com/teams/hamilton.htm Hamilton Tiger-Cats
  2. 1 2 2009 Canadian Football League Facts, Figures & Records, Canadian Football League Properties/Publications, Toronto, Ontario, ISBN   978-0-9739425-4-5, p.292-293
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2008-09-14.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link) Tiger-Cats History
  4. 1 2 https://www.cfl.ca/page/his_timeline_1940 CFL Timeline 1940s
  5. ↑ https://www.cfl.ca/page/his_greycup_recap1943 HISTORY >> Grey Cup >> 1943
  6. ↑ http://www.profootballarchives.com/1946orfuhamw.html 1946 Hamilton Wildcats (ORFU)
  7. ↑ http://www.profootballarchives.com/1947orfuhamw.html 1947 Hamilton Wildcats (ORFU)
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