Rugby football is a collective name for the family of team sports of rugby union and rugby league, as well as the earlier forms of football from which both games, as well as Australian rules football and gridiron football, evolved.
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.
The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams from a wide array of countries.
Rugby Canada is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amateur Canadian football as Football Canada; and the now-defunct Rugby Union of Canada, established in 1929. Rugby Canada administers the Canada national rugby union team and sanctions the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship, a national competition for under-20 men's teams. It previously sanctioned the Super League as the premier level of men's competition in the country, but scrapped that league after the Americas Rugby Championship was created in 2009 as a two-stage competition in which the first involved only Canadian teams.
Football Canada is the governing body for amateur gridiron football in Canada.
The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), its counterpart being the East Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the West Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.
The Battle of Alberta is a term applied to the intense rivalry between the Canadian cities of Calgary, the province's most populous city, and Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta. Most often it is used to describe sporting events between the two cities, although this is not exclusive as the rivalry predates organized sports in Alberta.
Rugby league football is a participation and spectator sport in Canada. The code was first introduced to Canada in the 20th century, but the game struggled to survive in a competitive sporting market. By the end of the century, rugby league had disappeared completely from Canada. The game was re-introduced to Canada in the early 21st century with the formation of a national team. The start of an amateur domestic competition saw rugby league grow. In 2017, professional rugby league arrived in Canada with the Toronto Wolfpack joining the predominantly British and French Rugby Football League system in the third tier League 1.
The Calgary Bronks were a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta, that competed in the Alberta Rugby Football Union (ARFU) in 1935 and 1936, as well as the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) from 1936 and 1940.
The Rugby Canada Super League was a national, semi-professional rugby union competition in Canada. The league represented the second level of domestic rugby union in Canada, and the highest level wholly indigenous to Canada. In terms of seniority it rested immediately beneath the IRB sponsored North America 4, a former US/Canadian cross-border competition in which two Canadian teams took part. Most players took part in RCSL on an amateur basis.
Edmonton Rugby Foot-ball Club was an early Canadian football - rugby union team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The team was founded in 1907 as the Edmonton Rugby Foot-ball Club, but football had been played in the city and environs for nearly 2 decades. The first game in Alberta was played in Edmonton, with Edmonton and Clover Bar playing to a scoreless tie in 1890. "The first record of an organized rugby club in Edmonton appeared in the Edmonton bulletin on September 19, 1891." In 1891 Edmonton defeated Calgary 6-5 in the Alberta Total-point Challenge Series. A team from Edmonton had a picture taken of themselves after they defeated a Calgary team declaring themselves Champions of Alberta; the picture has two dates on it, being taken in either 1893 or 1895.
Calgary Rugby Foot-ball Club was one of the first football teams based in Calgary, Alberta, formed March 14, 1906 at Calgary City Hall. It was part of the Calgary Rugby Football Union. Calgary City Rugby Foot-ball Club played its first game on October 31, 1907, defeating the Strathcona Rugby Foot-ball Club 15–0 at Calgary.
Gino Fracas was a professional Canadian football player and hall of fame CIS football coach. He was professor of Human Kinetics at the University of Windsor from 1967 to 1995.
The Alberta Rugby Football Union was formed on September 25, 1911, and governed the newly emerging and evolving sport of football in the province for over 2 decades before it was disbanded in 1936. First the Calgary Rugby Football Union (CRFU) was created on September 29, 1908. The CRFU would play the champion from Edmonton to determine the winner of the Alberta Rugby Football League for 4 seasons from 1907 to 1910. After that the Alberta Rugby Football Union was formed in 1911. It joined the Manitoba Rugby Football Union and the Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union to form the Western Canada Rugby Football Union (WCRFU) in 1911.
The Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union was a Canadian football league created on September 22, 1910 and disbanded after the 1936 season. It joined the Manitoba Rugby Football Union and the Alberta Rugby Football Union to form the Western Canada Rugby Football Union in 1911.
The British Columbia Rugby Football Union was a Canadian football league, founded on September, 1, 1926. It lasted for 15 seasons, disbanding in 1941 as the Second World War brought most league football to a close. It was a member of the Western Canada Rugby Football Union along with the Alberta Rugby Football Union, Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union and the Manitoba Rugby Football Union.
The University of Toronto's Grey Cup dynasty continued in 1911, when they defeated their cross-town rival Toronto Argonauts at the new Varsity Stadium.
The 1908 Canadian football season was the 17th season of organized play since the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) was founded in 1892 and the 26th season since the creation of the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) and the Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) in 1883. The season concluded with the Hamilton Tigers defeating the Toronto University team in the 1908 Dominion Championship game.
