Category: British Columbia

Argos Beat Lions 68-43 in CFL’s Highest Scoring Game

Previously I wrote about the lowest scoring game in Canadian Football League history. Yes, that 1-0 doozy back in 1966. But what about the CFL’s highest scoring game? Ever since I’ve been a fan, CFL offences have been known to really rack up the points. This was no truer than on September 1, 1990 when the Toronto Argonauts hosted the BC Lions.

Advertisement in the Toronto Star promoting the Toronto-BC game. The quarterback matchup of the season didn’t materialize (Toronto Star, 30 August 1990).

To kick off the Labour Day weekend, the Argos hosted the Lions at the SkyDome. The Double Blue were led by quarterback Matt Dunigan who was making his first start after missing five games due to a leg injury. Dunigan had been traded to Toronto from BC earlier in the year, so he was playing against his former team.

Leading the BC offence was Doug Flutie, who was the league’s new marquee player in 1990. The Lions were owned by Murray Pezim at the time and were a team somewhat in disarray. A few days before the game Pezim had publicly threatened to fire both General Manager Joe Kapp and Head Coach Lary Kuharich.

Toronto Star article by Rick Matsumoto about the Argos’ 68-43 win over BC (Toronto Star, 2 September 1990).

Dunigan struggled early (his first play was intercepted) but found his footing and ended up passing for 285 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Darrel Smith scored two of those touchdowns. Other Toronto highlights included a 56-yard punt return for a touchdown by Michael “Pinball” Clemons and four field goals by kicker Lance Chomyc. Ricky Foggie, who had followed Dunigan from BC to Toronto, ran for a touchdown and passed for one, as well.

Game summary (Toronto Star, 2 September 1990).

By the end of the night Toronto put up a whopping 68 points. 22 of these points were scored within a three minute span in the second quarter, thanks largely to two BC turnovers. The 31,000 fans at the SkyDome who witnessed the wild shootout left happy.

The Lions, on the hand, struggled. Flutie went 0-6 in passing attempts and was replaced by veteran Joe Paopao. But in the second half, Flutie redeemed himself by passing for three touchdowns. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to catch the Argos. The Lions’ 43 points was still well short.

With the win, Toronto improved to 4-5 on the season. BC dropped to 2-6-1, last place in the Western division.

Sources:
Toronto Star, 2 September 1990
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September 4, 2026
Advertisements for CFL Football at BC Place Stadium in 1983

My background is in sales and marketing. That’s what I studied at university, and that’s been my career for the last 25+ years. Coincidently, I discovered my interest in marketing around the same time I started following CFL football. That was back in Grade 10. As a marketer who likes history and nostalgia, I like looking back at vintage and retro advertising. So, I thought let’s do a blog post on some old advertisements for the CFL.

To set the tone. The year is 1983, and the new BC Place Stadium has just been built in Vancouver. The 59,000-seat stadium is the first domed stadium in Canada. New beginnings for the B.C. Lions.

Here are some advertisements for the B.C. Lions and CFL football that appeared in Vancouver newspapers throughout the year.

Advertisement for BC Lions season tickets in the Province, 12 June 1983.

The first game at BC Place Stadium was a pre-season match between the Lions and the Calgary Stampeders. The game featured a kick-off concert by The Guess Who.

Advertisement for the BC Lions’ first game at BC Place Stadium, an exhibition game vs. the Calgary Stampeders (Vancouver Sun, 16 June 1983).

The Lions hosted the Saskatchewan Roughriders in their regular season home opener at BC Place. The game was sponsored by Rothman’s and you could win a “magnificent Eskimo carving.” A different era when tobacco advertising was quite common.

Advertisement for the BC Lions’ regular season home opener at BC Place Stadium (Vancouver Sun, 23 July 1983).

A&B Sound, a former electronics retailer, was a corporate sponsor of the B.C. Lions. They ran the promotion below.

A&B promo ad in the Province (30 June 1983).

The two best teams in the CFL in 1983 squared off on September 10th. A Grey Cup preview.

Advertisement for the big game between BC and Toronto (Vancouver Sun, 8 September 1983).

A purchase of a Sony radio or Walkman also got you into the big game between the Lions and Argos.

Promo ad (The Province, 9 September 1983)

The SuperValu grocery chain ran a ticket promotion, as well. Customers could get a coupon for a free Lions ticket when purchasing a $9 ticket.

SuperValu BC Lions ticket promo ad.

The B.C.Lions hosted the Western Final on November 20th versus Winnipeg. Season ticket holders, as expected, had first dibs. The tickets cost between $10 and $19.

Ad for Western Final tickets (The Province, 30 October 1983).

Player’s was another tobacco sponsor at the time. Here’s an ad promoting Grey Cup Week and the first Grey Cup to be played indoors at BC Place Stadium. Remember to heed the health advice given and avoid inhaling when smoking your cigarette.

Grey Cup advertisement in The Province (24 November 1983).

There weren’t any official Grey Cup tickets ads in Vancouver papers leading up to the big game because the game was virtually sold out well in advance. This article talks about the scarcity of Grey Cup tickets and how they were allocated across the CFL.

Article in the Vancouver Sun about the availability and distribution of Grey Cup tickets (29 October 1983).

So, if you didn’t have tickets, yet, your only option was the scalpers and resellers. The classifieds were full of ads like these. You could try John on Monday morning.

The Grey Cup wasn’t the final game played in 1983. On December 3, the CFL and CFLPA staged an all-star game at BC Place Stadium.

Advertisement for the 1983 CFL-CFLPA All-Star Game (Vancouver Sun, 2 December 1983).

Sources:
The Province, 12 June 1983
The Province, 9 September 1983
The Province, 30 October 1983
The Province, 24 November 1983
Vancouver Sun, 16 June 1983
Vancouver Sun, 23 July 1983
Vancouver Sun, 8 September 1983
Vancouver Sun, 29 October 1983
Vancouver Sun, 2 November 1983
Vancouver Sun, 12 November 1983
Vancouver Sun, 23 November 1983
Vancouver Sun, 2 December 1983
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July 22, 2026
CFL Media Guides in the 1960s

For eons, the Canadian Football League published Media Guides or Fact Books for its teams. These little handbooks were meant to familiarize local journalists with the players and coaching staff of the team they were covering. They included biographies, statistics, records, and team histories.

Team media guides were also a great little souvenir for the savvy football fan. I have several in my own collection I like to peruse every now and then.

The CFL still produces them at least in electronic form. At least for some teams. I’m not sure if the league still offers print copies, though. It looks like they’ve met the same fate as game day programs and printed tickets, which is unfortunate.

Anyway, I thought what better way to spend the dog days of summer than by taking a look at some of these CFL media guides from the 1960s (or the late 1950s in a couple of cases). It was an exciting decade for the CFL and Canadian football.

Here are some photos of the media guides (front and back covers) for each CFL team from that era:

The above photos are courtesy of the good folks at the Canadian Football Research Society.
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July 16, 2025
“Lions” New Moniker of B.C.’s WIFU Team

This is the first of a series of posts that will explore the stories behind the names of the existing Canadian Football League teams.

In 1953, a group of Vancouver businessmen got the greenlight for an expansion team in the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU). The new team would begin play the following year and play their home games at the new Empire Stadium. Annis Stukus of Toronto was hired to be the club’s first head coach.

With all the pieces in place, it was time give the new club a team name. A name-the-team contest was held and generated over 15,000 entries. The leading contenders were Lions, Grizzlies, Totems, Loggers, Tyees, and Cougars.

It ultimately came down to Lions and Grizzlies. The Grizzlies was the name of Vancouver’s earlier entry in the WIFU that played just one season before ceasing operations after the WIFU suspended play as a result of the Second World War.

Source: The Province, 2 April 1953, page 12.

Ultimately, a committee settled on the name Lions. Locally, “the Lions” is the name given to twin mountain peaks near Vancouver that are said to resemble mountain lions. So, it was a natural pick.

The team adopted a mountain lion for its logo and orange and black uniforms, paying homage to another historic Vancouver team, the Meralomas. Annis Stukus wanted to ensure the football team represented the entire province and not just the city of Vancouver. Thus, the British Columbia Lions were born.

Source: The Province, 2 April 1953, page 12.

February 21, 2025
Roaring B.C. Lions Surprise Mighty Blue Bombers

Source: The Vancouver Sun, 30 August 1954, page 14.

On August 28, 1954, the British Columbia Lions made their debut in the Western Interprovincial Football Union narrowly losing to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 8-6 at Empire Stadium in Vancouver.

Winnipeg halfback Tom Casey (#91) was a key player in the Bombers’ victory.

The game attracted a crowd of 20,606.

November 29, 2024