On Saturday December 4, 1909, the first Grey Cup game was played to crown the Dominion football champions. While the Grey Cup trophy itself wasn’t presented at the game (apparently the Governor General Earl Grey forgot to order the actual trophy), the game proved popular with the nearly 4,000 fans in attendance at Rosedale Field. Did they know they were witnessing history in the making?
The University of Toronto – the intercollegiate champions – beat Toronto Parkdale, who were the champions of the Ontario Rugby Football Union, by a score of 26-6. Coverage in the Toronto Star the following Monday heaped plenty of praise on the ORFU squad, deemed a stronger team than the Ottawa Rough Riders – who Varsity handily beat a week earlier in the semi-final.
Below are a couple of photos from the Toronto Star showing game action. I find these shots of early Canadian football absolutely fascinating.
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