Depending on the criteria chosen and who you ask (relax, Argo fans!) the city of Hamilton boasts Canada’s oldest football club. The Hamilton Foot Ball Club was founded on November 3, 1869. Yes, they spelled football with two words back then. The team played in the Ontario Rugby Football Union from 1893 to 1906 before joining the new Interprovincial Rugby Football Union in 1907.
(The Hamilton Spectator, 4 November 1869, p 2.)
The team wore black and orange and later black and yellow uniforms and were known as the Tigers. It was this Tigers team that played in the second Grey Cup in 1910.
In 1941, the Tigers suspended play as a result of the Second World War. The IRFU itself shut down a year later. To fill the void, the Hamilton Wildcats were formed and played in the ORFU, winning the Grey Cup in 1943. Due to the high number of air force personnel playing for the team, the club was known as the Flying Wildcats during the war years.
After the war ended, the IRFU and the Hamilton Tigers resumed play. Unfortunately, the Hamilton market couldn’t support two football teams. Both the Tigers and the Wildcats found themselves competing for business and facing financial challenges. After a dispute with the IRFU, the Tigers and Wildcats actually swapped leagues for a couple of seasons with the Tigers playing in the ORFU and the Wildcats joining the IRFU in 1948.
Finally, a group of Hamilton citizens pushed for the amalgamation of the Tigers and Wildcats. It was clear that Hamilton could sustain only one team, especially with the growing professionalization of the game of football.
Thus, in 1950, the Hamilton Tigers and the Hamilton Wildcats merged into one club and became the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
(photo courtesy of the Canadian Football Research Society)
This is the sixth of a series of posts that will explore the stories behind the names of the existing Canadian Football League teams. See the previous post on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
