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The Canadian Football League (CFL); French: Ligue canadienne de football (LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a city in Canada. They are divided into two divisions: four teams in the East Division and five teams in the West Division. As of 2024, it features a 21-week regular season in which each team plays 18 games with three bye weeks. This season traditionally runs from mid-June to early November. Following the regular season, six teams compete in the league's three-week playoffs, which culminate in the Grey Cup championship game in late November. The Grey Cup is one of Canada's largest annual sports and television events. The CFL was officially named on January 19, 1958, upon the merger between the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union or "Big Four" and the Western Interprovincial Football Union.
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1873, the team is the oldest existing professional sports team in North America still using its original name, as well as the oldest-surviving team in both the modern-day CFL and East Division. The team's origins date back to a modified version of rugby football that emerged in North America in the latter half of the 19th century. The Argonauts played their home games at Rogers Centre from 1989 until 2016, when the team moved to BMO Field, the fifth stadium site to host the team.
The East Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League, its counterpart being the West Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.
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 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 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.
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 and two Dominion Championships, including the 1908 title, the year before the Grey Cup was first 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.
Allan Byron (Teddy) Morris was a Canadian Football Hall of Fame player and coach for the Toronto Argonauts.
The 1952 Toronto Argonauts season was the 63rd season for the team since the franchise's inception in 1873. The team finished in second place in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union with a 7–4–1 record and qualified for the playoffs for the third year in a row. The Argonauts defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats two games to one in the IRFU Finals before winning the Eastern Final over the Sarnia Imperials. In the first ever Grey Cup between the current incarnation of the Edmonton Eskimos franchise, Toronto won their 10th Grey Cup championship by a score of 21–11. It was their second Grey Cup win in three years and their fifth championship in the previous eight years.
The 1950 Toronto Argonauts season was the 61st season for the team since the franchise's inception in 1873. The team finished in second place in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union with a 6–5–1 record and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since their Grey Cup win in 1947. The Argonauts defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a two-game total-points IRFU Final series before winning the Eastern Final over the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers. The Argonauts faced the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Varsity Stadium in the Grey Cup for the fourth time in six years in the now-infamous Mud Bowl. Toronto won their ninth Grey Cup by a score of 13–0 in what is currently the last time a team was shut out in championship game.
The 1945 Toronto Argonauts season was the 56th season for the team since the franchise's inception in 1873 and the first since World War II. The team finished in second place in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union with a 5–1 record and qualified for the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. The Argonauts defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders in a two-game total-points IRFU Final series before winning the Eastern Final over the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers. The Argonauts defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 33rd Grey Cup game by a score of 35–0, winning the franchise's sixth Grey Cup championship.
The Montreal Football Club was a Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec that played in the Quebec Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1915. The club was a founding member of the QRFU and played in the first football game in Quebec in 1872. The club was dominant in Quebec, winning 12 of the 24 QRFU titles in the years that they played in that league. Montreal also won the first Canadian Dominion Football Championship in 1884, a predecessor of the Grey Cup and again won the championship in their first season in the IRFU in 1907.
The 1933 Toronto Argonauts season was the club's 47th season since its inception in 1873 and its 24th season in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union. The team finished tied with the Montreal Football Club for first place in the IRFU with an identical record of four wins and two losses, resulting in a two-game, total-points tiebreaker series which the Argos won by an aggregate score of 20-9. By virtue of this victory, the club secured its 7th IRFU championship and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1922. The ten-year drought was, and continues to be, the longest playoff drought in franchise history.
The 1932 Toronto Argonauts season was the club's 46th season since its inception in 1873 and its 23rd season in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union. The team finished in third place in the IRFU with three wins and three losses and failed to qualify for the playoffs. It proved to be the last of Buck McKenna's four seasons as coach of the Argos, who left the job having amassed an overall record of thirteen wins, ten losses and one tie, and never having won the IRFU title.
The 1931 Toronto Argonauts season was the club's 45th season since its inception in 1873 and its 22nd season in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union. The team finished tied with the Hamilton Tigers for second place in the IRFU with three wins and three losses and failed to qualify for the playoffs.
References
- ↑ Wallace, Craig (2005). A Slip in the Rain, the True Story of the 1967-72 Toronto Argonauts and the Fumble that Destroyed Canada's Team. Lulu Press. ISBN 1-4116-1392-9.
- ↑ Marsh, James (1988). The Canadian Encyclopedia . Hurtig Publishers.
- ↑ MacHenry, Robert (1992). The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ↑ "The Grey Cup - 1909 TO 2009" (PDF). CFL. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-11. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
- ↑ FACTS, FIGURES and RECORDS. Canadian Football League. 2015.
- Sproule, Robert. "The Ontario Rugby Football Union:1883-1906" (PDF). Pro Football Researchers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
- "Toronto Argonauts Media Guide" (PDF). Toronto Argonauts. 2009. pp. 171–172. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-04-30. Retrieved 2011-05-14.