The Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) was a football league consisting of teams from Quebec and formed in 1883. Eastern Ontario teams like Ottawa City and Ottawa College joined in 1894.
The QRFU was formed officially on January 16, 1883, 10 days after the Ontario Rugby Football Union. Teams from the QRFU would compete against member clubs of the ORFU for the Dominion Championship of the CRFU beginning the following season. The QRFU adopted the ORFU point-scoring system in 1884 with the formation of the Canadian Rugby Football Union. The Montreal Foot Ball Club claimed the first ever CRFU Championship 30–0 over the Toronto Football Club.
Teams of the QRFU played 15 men to a side, and did not adopt a down system until 1904, when it agreed that a team must make five yards on its third scrimmage to keep possession of the ball.
The QRFU valued a goal from the field (field goal) as six points, a try (touchdown), goals from a try, penalties and free kicks as four points; two points for safety touches; and one point for kicks to the deadline, rouges and touch in goals.
| Year | Champion |
|---|---|
| 1883 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1884 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1885 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1886 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1887 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1888 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1889 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1890 | McGill University |
| 1891 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1892 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1893 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1894 | Ottawa College |
| 1895 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1896 | Ottawa College |
| 1897 | Ottawa College |
| 1898 | Ottawa College |
| 1899 | Ottawa College |
| 1900 | Brockville Football Club |
| 1901 | Ottawa College |
| 1902 | Ottawa College |
| 1903 | Ottawa Rough Riders |
| 1904 | Ottawa College |
| 1905 | Ottawa Rough Riders |
| 1906 | Montreal Football Club |
| 1907–36 | No League |
| 1937 | Westmount |
| 1938–42 | No League |
| 1943 | Lachine RCAF Hurricanes |
| 1944 | St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy |
The QRFU ceased operations in the 1907 after losing their best teams to the IRFU. The league returned in 1937 for a single season and made another return during World War II.
The league is not related to, nor shares any history, with the Quebec Rugby Federation, which administers rugby football in Quebec.
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 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.
The Canadian Dominion Football Championship was awarded to the best amateur football team prior to the Grey Cup in 1909. Teams from the Ontario Rugby Football Union, Quebec Rugby Football Union, Interprovincial Rugby Football Union and the Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union would compete for the championship.
The Kingston Granites were a football team from Kingston, Ontario and a member of the Quebec Rugby Football Union and the Ontario Rugby Football Union, which were leagues that preceded the Canadian Football League. The team played for four seasons between 1898 and 1901 between the two leagues and while the team was slated to return in 1903, the team ultimately withdrew from the ORFU due to a player eligibility dispute.
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 1909 Canadian football season was the 18th season of organized play since the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) was founded in 1892 and the 26th season since the creation of the founding leagues, the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) and the Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) in 1883. The season concluded with Toronto Varsity defeating Toronto Parkdale in the 1909 Dominion Championship game. This year was notable for being the first year that the champions were awarded the Grey Cup trophy, although it was not delivered to the University of Toronto until March 1910.
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.
The 1907 Canadian football season was the 16th season of organized play since the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) was founded in 1892 and the 25th season since the creation of the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) and the Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) in 1883. This year also marked the first for the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, which is a predecessor of the modern day's CFL East Division. The season concluded with the Montreal Football Club defeating Peterboro in the 1907 Dominion Championship game.
The 1906 Canadian football season was the 15th season of organized play since the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) was founded in 1892 and the 24th 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 McGill University Seniors in the 1906 Dominion Championship game.
The 1905 Canadian football season was the 14th season of organized play since the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) was founded in 1892 and the 23rd 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 Toronto University team defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders in the 1905 Dominion Championship game.
The 1884 Canadian football season was the second season since the creation of the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) and the Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) in 1883 and the first since the re-establishment of the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU). The season was highlighted by the first ever Rugby Football Dominion Championship where the Montreal Football Club defeated the Toronto Football Club by a score of 30 to 0.
The Peterborough Pets were a Canadian football franchise in the early 20th century. They played in the Ontario Rugby Football Union. Their greatest success came in 1907 when they won the ORFU title and advanced to the Canadian Dominion Final. They were soundly defeated 75-10 by the Montreal Football Club in the final that year.
The 1907 Dominion Championship was a Canadian football game that was played on November 30, 1907 at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec that determined the Senior Rugby Football champion of Canada for the 1907 season. This was the first championship game to feature the newly-created Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU) champion, which was the Montreal Football Club. Montreal defeated the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) champion Peterborough Club in a 71–10 blowout victory to win their second Canadian Championship. This was the eighth appearance in the title game for Montreal and the first and only appearance for Peterborough. Notably, referee Russell Britton admitted after the game that there was a scoring error when a touch-in-goal was given to Montreal when it should have counted as a try. While the score should have been 75–10, it was officially recorded as 71–10. This was the highest scoring Dominion championship/Grey Cup in Canadian football history.
The 1906 Dominion Championship was a Canadian football game that was played on December 1, 1906, between the Hamilton Tigers and the McGill University Seniors, that determined the Senior Rugby Football champion of Canada. The Ontario Rugby Football Union champion Tigers defeated the Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union champion McGill squad 29–3 to their first Dominion Championship. This was the second appearance in the title game for the Tigers with the first coming in 1897. This was the first and only appearance of a McGill team in the Dominion Championship game.
The 1905 Dominion Championship was a Canadian football game that was played on November 25, 1905 at Rosedale Field in Toronto, Ontario that determined the Senior Rugby Football champion of Canada for the 1905 season. The Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union (CIRFU) champion Toronto University team defeated the Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) champion Ottawa Rough Riders in an 11–9 comeback victory to win their second Dominion Championship. This was the third appearance in the title game for Varsity and the fourth appearance for the Rough Riders while also being their first loss in the championship game.
The 1902 Dominion Championship was a Canadian football game that was played on November 15, 1902 at the Ottawa College Grounds in Ottawa, Ontario that determined the Senior Rugby Football champion of Canada for the 1902 season. The Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) champion Ottawa Rough Riders defeated the Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) champion, and defending national champion, Ottawa College in a 5–0 victory to win their third Dominion Championship. This was a re-match of the 1898 Dominion Championship game which the Rough Riders also won on the Ottawa College Grounds. The Rough Riders made their third appearance in the title game, all within five years, and it was the seventh appearance for Ottawa College with their only losses in the game coming from the Rough Riders.
The 1884 Rugby Football Championship of the Dominion was a Canadian football game that determined the Senior Rugby Football champion of Canada for the 1884 season. The game was played on Thanksgiving Day on November 6, 1884 on the University lawn at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario. The Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) champion Montreal Football Club defeated the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) champion Toronto Football Club with a 30–0 victory in the first ever game to decide a national champion, as directed by the Canadian Rugby Football Union.