Tag: Calgary Tigers

  • Calgary Tigers First Winners of the Hugo Ross Trophy

    On October 21, 1911, representatives from the Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba rugby football unions met at the King’s Hotel in Regina to form the Western Canada Rugby Football Union. The new league was considered to be the largest in the world in terms of geography, one that would eventually feature clubs from the entire territory “north of the 49th parallel from Lake Superior to the Pacific Coast” (Calgary Herald, 25 October 1911).

    Article in the Winnipeg Tribune (23 October 1911) about the new WCRFU and Hugo Ross trophy.

    Hugo Ross, a Winnipeg-based real estate agent, served as the WCRFU’s honorary president. He donated a trophy bearing his name in time for the 1911 playoffs between the three provincial champions. The Hugo Ross trophy was branded as the amateur rugby championship of western Canada.

    Representatives of the WCRFU devised a playoff system for 1911 where the Saskatchewan champion would travel to Manitoba to play the champion of that union. Alberta would host the winner of that game the following week.

    Rules for the new Hugo Ross trophy championship of the WCRFU

    The Regina Rugby Club were set to play the Winnipeg Rowing Club in the Hugo Ross cup semi-final at River Park in Winnipeg on November 11th. However, the game was cancelled due to the extreme cold. Winnipeg controversially claimed victory by way of default and earned their berth in WCRFU championship.

    Coverage of the Tigers' win in the Calgary Albertan (20 November 1911).
    Coverage of the Tigers’ win in the Calgary Albertan (20 November 1911).
    Coverage of the Tigers' win in the Calgary Herald (20 November 1911).
    Coverage of the Tigers’ win in the Calgary Herald (20 November 1911).

    On Saturday November 18th, Winnipeg travelled to Calgary to play the hometown Tigers. The Calgary Albertan described the contest as the “fastest and hardest fought game ever played in Western Canada.” The Tigers came from behind in the fourth quarter to win the game by a score of 13 to 6, becoming the first winners of the Hugo Ross trophy.

    Hugo Ross Trophy
    The Hugo Ross Trophy (photo: Canadian Football Research Society)

    The following year, Hugo Ross died in the Titanic disaster. But his trophy continued to be the symbol of western Canadian football dominance up until 1948 when it was replaced by the N.J. Taylor Trophy as the championship of the Western Interprovincial Football Union.

    Hugo Ross

    Sources:
    The Calgary Albertan, 20 November 1911
    The Calgary Herald, 20 November 1911
    The Edmonton Journal, 14 November 1911
    The Winnipeg Tribune, 23 October 1911
    The Winnipeg Tribune, 6 November 1911

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  • The First Legal Forward Pass in Canadian Football

    An account of the forward pass. Source: The Calgary Albertan, 23 September 1929, page 6

    It’s hard to imagine, but up until the 1920s the forward pass was an illegal play in Canadian football. Early Canadian football resembled the game of rugby more than the pass happy version of gridiron football we are accustomed to watching today.

    The forward pass, a staple offensive play in gridiron football, was first introduced in American football in 1906. Illegal and experimental forward passes were seen in the Canadian game over a decade later.

    It wasn’t until 1929 that the Canadian Rugby Union formally allowed the use of the forward pass. Eastern teams didn’t use it right away, however. The first official completed* forward pass in Canadian football was thrown on Saturday, September 21, 1929 in Edmonton in a game between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Calgary Tigers. Calgary player Gerry Seiberling (pictured below) threw the historic pass to Ralph Losie. Calgary won the game 33-8.

    Gerry Seiberling
    Source: The Calgary Herald, 23 September 1929, page 6.

    *The first legal attempted forward pass was actually thrown earlier in the day in a game in Winnipeg. The pass by Norm McLeod’s (St. John’s) was intercepted by Ronnie Gay (Tammany Tigers) in the first quarter of the game.