1936 in Canadian football

Last updated September 10, 2023

Canadian Football News in 1936

Teams were restricted to a maximum of five imports, and only players who had lived in Canada for a full year could compete in the Grey Cup game.^[1] When Regina won the West, five of their imports were declared illegal by the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU). Regina offered to drop the players for the Grey Cup, but the CRU would not allow them to play for the cup. Instead, the Grey Cup was a contest between the Sarnia Imperials of the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) and the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Sarnia won their second and last Grey Cup with a powerful line-up that included future Hall of Famers Hugh (Bummer) Stirling and Ormond Beach.^[2]

The Calgary Bronks played a full schedule in the Alberta Rugby Football Union including some games which conflicted with the WIFU schedule. For the open dates, the Bronks fielded the same team that was competing in the WIFU (5 games). For the remaining three games, the Bronks fielded a second team which was referred to as the Calgary Bronks 'B'. The final game of the regular season saw the Calgary Bronks square off against the University of Alberta Golden Bears. These teams were the two top teams in the ARFU, so it was decided that in addition to being the final regular season game, the game would also determine the ARFU championship.

Regular season

Final regular season standings

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points

**Western Interprovincial Football Union**
Team	GP	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pts
Winnipegs	8	5	2	1	104	37	11
Regina Roughriders	6	3	2	1	52	42	9
Calgary Bronks	6	1	5	0	17	94	4

Calgary-Regina games are worth 4 points.

**Interprovincial Rugby Football Union**
Team	GP	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
Toronto Argonauts	6	4	2	74	37	8
Ottawa Rough Riders	6	3	3	49	63	6
Hamilton Tigers	6	3	3	62	71	6
Montreal Indians	6	2	4	45	59	4

Ontario Rugby Football Union
Team	GP	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
Sarnia Imperials	4	3	1	102	27	6
Toronto Balmy Beach	4	3	1	62	35	6
Hamilton Tiger Cubs	4	0	4	5	117	0

Bold text means that they have clinched the playoffs.

Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union
Team	GP	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pts
Moose Jaw Millers	4	2	1	1	14	23	5
Saskatoon Hilltops	4	2	2	0	26	11	4
Regina "Little" Roughriders	4	1	2	1	15	21	3

Alberta Rugby Football Union
Team	GP	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
Calgary Bronks "B" side	8	6	2	121	42	12
University of Alberta Golden Bears	5	4	1	30	20	8
Edmonton Hi-Grads All Stars	5	1	4	23	39	2
Lethbridge Bulldogs	6	1	5	14	87	2

British Columbia Rugby Football Union
Team	GP	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
Vancouver Athletic Club Wolves	7	5	2	52	36	10
Vancouver Meralomas	7	5	2	82	36	10
North Shore Lions	7	2	5	21	63	4
University of British Columbia Varsity	3	0	3	5	25	0

Grey Cup playoffs

Note: All dates in 1936

BCRFU tie-breaker playoff

**WIFU Semi-Finals**
Game	Date	Away	Home
1	December 5	Vancouver Meralomas 0	Vancouver Athletic Club Wolves 7

Vancouver Athletic Club Wolves win BCRFU and advance (only to default.)

Division semi-finals

**WIFU Semi-Finals**
Game	Date	Away	Home
1	October 24	Winnipegs 7	Regina Roughriders 4
2	October 31	Regina Roughriders 20	Winnipegs 5

Regina won the total-point series 24–14 after Winnipeg started the series with a 2-0 lead.

**IRFU Semi-Finals**
Date	Away	Home
November 14	Ottawa Rough Riders 3	Hamilton Tigers 2

**WIFU - SRFU Semi-Final**
Date	Away	Home
November 7	Regina Roughriders	Moose Jaw Millers

Game to be played on Nov.7 in Winnipeg, but Moose Jaw Millers withdraw on Nov. 5 and Regina advances to Final

**ARFU - BCRFU Semi-Final**
Date	Away	Home
November 7	Calgary Bronks "B" side	Vancouver Athletic Club Wolves

BCRFU forfeits game, Calgary Bronks "B" side advance to final.^[3]^[4]

Division finals

**WCRFU Finals**
Date	Away	Home
November 11	Regina Roughriders 8	Calgary Bronks "B" side 1

Regina started the game with a 5-0 lead.^[5]^[6] CRU would not allow them to play for the Grey Cup

**ORFU Finals**
Date	Away	Home
November 21	Sarnia Imperials 11	Toronto Balmy Beach 7

Sarnia advanced to the Grey Cup game.

**IRFU Finals**
Game	Date	Away	Home
1	November 21	Ottawa Rough Riders 5	Toronto Argonauts 1
2	November 28	Ottawa Rough Riders 17	Toronto Argonauts 5

Ottawa won the total-point series 22–6 and advanced to the Grey Cup game.

Grey Cup Championship

December 5 24th Annual Grey Cup Game: Varsity Stadium – Toronto, Ontario
Sarnia Imperials (ORFU) 26	Ottawa Rough Riders 20
The Sarnia Imperials are the 1936 Grey Cup Champions

1936 Eastern (Combined IRFU & ORFU) All-Stars selected by Canadian Press

NOTE: During this time most players played both ways, so the All-Star selections do not distinguish between some offensive and defensive positions.

1st Team

QB – Bob Coulter, Toronto Argonauts
FW – Ormond Beach, Sarnia Imperials
HB – Hugh Welch, Hamilton Tigers
HB – Ab Box, Toronto Argonauts
DB – Ted Morris, Toronto Argonauts
E – Wes Cutler, Toronto Argonauts
E – Seymour Wilson, Hamilton Tigers
C – Fred Wigle, Montreal Indians
G – Charles "Tiny" Hermann, Ottawa Rough Riders
G – George Pigeon, Montreal Indians
T – Dave Sprague, Ottawa Rough Riders
T – Pete Joktus, Montreal Indians

2nd Team

QB – Arnie McWatters, Sarnia Imperials
FW – Abe Eliowitz, Ottawa Rough Riders
HB – Andy Tommy, Ottawa Rough Riders
HB – Mike Hedgewich, Sarnia Imperials
DB – Hugh Sterling, Sarnia Imperials
E – Jack Holden, University of Toronto
E – Syd Reynolds, Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers
C – George Willis, University of Western Ontario
G – Pat Butler, Sarnia Imperials
G – George Hornig, McGill University
T – Ernie Hempey, Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers
T – Gus Greco, University of Toronto

1936 Canadian Football Awards

Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy (IRFU MVP) – Arnie Morrison (QB), Ottawa Rough Riders
Imperial Oil Trophy (ORFU MVP) - Syd Reynolds - Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Football Hall of Fame</span> Canadian football museum in Ontario, Canada

The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about the CFL, Canadian university football and Canadian junior football history.

The Toronto Argonauts won the Grey Cup for the second time in five years.

For the second consecutive season the Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers met for the Grey Cup. The Argonauts won the game.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers played in their third consecutive Grey Cup final. A last-second rouge gave Winnipeg its second title in five years.

The only two-game total point series in Grey Cup history was played between the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers. It was Ottawa's first Grey Cup championship since the Senators won back-to-back titles in 1925 and 1926. It was Balmy Beach's fourth and final appearance at a Grey Cup, winning two times in four opportunities.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were once again permitted to challenge for the Grey Cup following a rule dispute a year earlier. In a meeting of the previous two Grey Cup champions, the Blue Bombers prevailed, sending the coveted mug west for the third time.

Football returned to relative normal in 1945 following the conclusion of World War II. Two rivals from the pre-war years met once again in the annual Grey Cup, but on this occasion, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were no match for the Toronto Argonauts. For Winnipeg, it was the worst loss by a western team in the Grey Cup since 1923 when Queen's University routed the Regina Roughriders 54–0.

For the first time in Grey Cup history, the same two teams challenged for the trophy for the third consecutive year. But unlike the previous two years, the Toronto Argonauts needed some late game heroics to win their third consecutive title.

The Calgary Stampeders had an opportunity to defend their Grey Cup title in 1949, but the Montreal Alouettes returned the trophy to Quebec for just the third time in its history.

After a 17-year absence, the Saskatchewan Roughriders returned to the Grey Cup final. Their losing streak in the big game continued, however, as it was the other Rough Riders that took home the prize.

The Toronto Argonauts faced the Edmonton Eskimos in the Grey Cup. Although the Argos would hold on to win the game and their tenth Grey Cup championship, an Argo would not sip from the silver mug again until 1983.

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 Tiger-Cats defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the annual Grey Cup in 1953.

The Edmonton Eskimos upset the Montreal Alouettes to send the Grey Cup trophy back west for the first time since 1948.

The Edmonton Eskimos defeat the Montreal Alouettes in the first Grey Cup held in the west. This was also the first year that the Grey Cup was open to professional teams only, as the amateur Ontario Rugby Football Union was not invited to compete in an inter-union playdown, leaving only the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union and the Western Interprovincial Football Union to compete for the Canadian championship.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup.

References

1 2 3 4 5 "CANADIAN FOOTBALL TIMELINES (1860 – 2005)" (PDF). footballcanada.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 January 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
↑ "Year: 1936". www.cflapedia.com. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
↑ BCRFU forfeit game by deciding not to participate in Western playoffs. Numerous reasons were given, including cost and interrupting BCRFU schedule.
↑ Gridders Call Off Playoff, The Vancouver Sun - Oct 24, 1936
↑ Regina spotted five points to start the game as when WIFU organized, "it was agreed by all teams that the points separating the teams in the league standings would be carried into the western playdowns." Regina had a five point differential in points over Calgary in the WIFU standings.
↑ The Calgary Daily Herald - Nov 10, 1936

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[timeline-1] 1 2 3 4 5 "CANADIAN FOOTBALL TIMELINES (1860 – 2005)" (PDF). footballcanada.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 January 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2019.

[2] "Year: 1936". www.cflapedia.com. Retrieved 2019-10-11.

[3] BCRFU forfeit game by deciding not to participate in Western playoffs. Numerous reasons were given, including cost and interrupting BCRFU schedule.

[4] Gridders Call Off Playoff, The Vancouver Sun - Oct 24, 1936

[5] Regina spotted five points to start the game as when WIFU organized, "it was agreed by all teams that the points separating the teams in the league standings would be carried into the western playdowns." Regina had a five point differential in points over Calgary in the WIFU standings.

[6] The Calgary Daily Herald - Nov 10, 1936

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]