History of Canadian sports

Immigrants brought along their favourite sports, often adapting them to the snowy environment. The influence of the games of the First Nations can be seen especially in the evolution of lacrosse. British officers, soldiers, and royal officials, and indeed ordinary British immigrants as well, transplanted such games as football, rugby, curling, and cricket; sailors brought rowing competitions. Britons considered these sports to be conducive to relieving boredom on remote outposts, and more generally produced team spirit, good health, hardiness, and manliness; they were a sophisticated alternative to "blood sports", such as cockfighting, bullfighting or bear baiting.[3]

The advantage of the larger cities was the potential availability of a large paying crowd; the problem was providing cheap transportation for people not living close by. The solution was to use steamers, and later railways and trams to run special schedules to bring fans to an outlying event. As early as the 1830s steamers were making special trips to horseracing events to horse races. By the 1860s there were special trains or steamers to take fans to rowing contests, track and field events, bicycle races, and other contests.[15][16]

Baseball emerged in the 1870s, as a nonviolent, rules-oriented game that appealed to middle-class reformers seeking antidotes to crime, rowdiness and social disorder. However, when professional baseball emerged in the 1880s, unruly behavior by players and fans contradicted the reformers ideal of a gentleman's game played before a well-behaved audience. Gambling became a major feature, as did the rise of working-class players and rowdy working-class fans. The only solution the reformers found was to separate gentleman elite amateur baseball from the professional version that was getting out of control.[17]

Although many small cities and towns had their own local teams, the residents paid special attention to the celebrity players on the great big-city teams. Advancing technology of the telegraph, the radio, and television allowed real time reporting of major games, often to public gatherings or restaurants or bars. Further details were sure to appear the next newspaper, keeping up local interest, and wagering, on a daily basis. Vicarious participation as the fan of a particular team enhanced a sense of belonging to the Canadian nation and its rapidly developing popular culture.[18]

In the early 20th century the major sports set up volunteer national organizations to take jurisdiction; by 1914 there were 20 governing bodies. By 1919 the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada (AAU) presided over all leadership and provided international recognition. The AAU promoted participation in the Olympics. All the governing bodies saw sport as a suitable training ground or productive citizenship, allegiance to the social order, and English Canadian nationalism. They fought againstprofessionalism through a "Canadian Parliament of Sport". However, in the 1930s the amateur leaders split bitterly over the issue of a liberalized amateur code, as ice hockey, basketball and lacrosse walked out of the AAU. By 1939, the jurisdiction of the AAU was reduced to track and field and the other individual Olympic sports. The Canadian Olympic Association broke away in 1948.[21]

From 1909 until 1967, the Canadian Track and Field Association (C.T.F.A.) controlled track and field sports. It operated under the umbrella of the A.A.U. of C. (Amateur Athletic Union of Canada). In 1968, the C.T.F.A broke loose from the A.A.U. of C. The A.A.U. of C. dissolved in the early 1970s as all national the federations in the different sports went their own ways. In 1991 the C.T.F.A. changed its name to Athletics Canada.[22]

Informal stick-and-ball games on ice had been played for years, especially in the Maritime provinces and at military garrisons. In its modern form hockey was standardized by students at McGill University in 1875. The game rapidly spread nationwide; recognition came in 1893 when Lord Stanley, Canada's governor general, established the Stanley Cup. Ice hockey was distinctly Canadian; it was a winter sport with vague rules, played on conveniently available outside ice. There were few spectators. Professional teams appeared around 1900; in 1904, five cities in the United States and Ontario formed the International Hockey League (IHL). The American-based league paid salaries that attracted many Canadian stars. Canadian amateur teams were forced to secretly pay their players, even as they proclaimed the principles of amateurism. The IHL collapsed in 1907. in 1908 came the first Canadian-based professional league, the Ontario Professional Hockey League. The Timiskaming League, fuelled by gambling and mining profits, started paying players and raiding amateur and professional senior teams for players

Canadians explored polar extremes of masculinity by a watching the Ottawa Silver Seven battle the Montreal Wanderers in 1907. Reporters depicted the game as a combination of "strenuous spectacle" and "brutal butchery." Middle-class ideals of gentlemanly masculinity and genteel sportsmanship stood opposed to a rough, working-class expression of violent masculinity. They both coexisted within the fast, skilled, rugged, hard-hitting hockey, thereby appealing to the largest possible audience.[23]

By 1910, the world of ice hockey had split into two worlds, the amateurs of the junior, intermediates and the seniors playing for the new Allan Cup, while the professionals took over as the elite leagues, playing for the Stanley Cup. From a combination of the money of the mining of Timiskaming and the industry of Montreal, the National Hockey Association (NHA) was formed. Unlike previous leagues, which were derived from amateur hockey associations, the NHA organized itself as a business, organizing each team as a franchise of the business and first used standard player's contracts and a salary cap. Professional ice hockey came to the west coast with the arrival of the Patrick family, organizing the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). Organized as a single business, it developed as an alternative elite league and furthered the development of ice hockey in western Canada. Professional ice hockey was established from coast to coast by this time. Although the PCHA eventually failed, other professional leagues were organized to take its place.

In 1917, the NHA became the National Hockey League (NHL). After a few weak years, the NHL grew with expansion into the United States. By 1940 it had strong bases in Montreal, Toronto, Boston, New York, Chicago, and Detroit—the "original six". After 1926 it became a cartel that controlled all aspects of professional hockey. Other professional leagues one by one collapsed. The NHL exerted its control by expansion into the U.S., the establishment of a minor league system.

At the same time, amateur hockey continued, and was still competitive with professional ice hockey. The Winnipeg Falcons, composed of Icelandic Canadians, was excluded from Winnipeg's senior hockey league for the 1919-20 season. Nevertheless, the team became Canadian national champions and won the 1920 Olympic gold medal in Antwerp. Combined with their willingness to volunteer for military service in the Great War, its success made the team a symbol of Canadian manhood, transcending the ethnic stereotyping and discrimination that affected some other sports teams during postwar era.[24]

With fans having less discretionary spending during the Great Depression, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association faced financial uncertainty. Its response was to reevaluate its purist position on amateurism and to rethink its relation to the system of amateur sports, which was headed by the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada. The weak performance of the Canadian hockey team at the 1936 Olympics led to substantial changes in policies and procedures.[25]

The NHL formed an affiliation with the major governing body in Canadian amateur hockey, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). The alliances made with the minor leagues and the CAHA, in particular, gave the NHL's market control over players such as the waivers, reserve clause, draft, and territorial right much broader impact.[26] Although the NHL only had six teams, they had control of the best players. Players could be signed for life to an NHL team's organization at the age of twelve.

The original six era cemented the NHL as the biggest draw in Canada, fuelled partly by the rivalry of the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canadiens' Maurice "Rocket" Richard (1921–2000) became one of Canada's iconic heroes, especially in Quebec. Playing from 1942–60, he scored 544 regular season goals and 82 more in playoffs. Famed for his dashing style of play, his intensity, determination, and scoring prowess, Richard became the first 50-goal scorer in NHL history in 1944-45, with a 50-game schedule. He was named to the All Star team 14 times, won two Hart trophies as league MVP, and led the Canadiens to eight Stanley Cups.[27]

After World War II, the amateur system declined in the face of competition from professional ice hockey, both in the growth of minor leagues, and the introduction of televised matches by the NHL. Several amateur leagues, such as the Quebec Senior League, became first mixed then fully professional. While senior play for the Allan Cup continued, fewer and fewer senior players were available. Further growth in hockey leagues in the United States led to further demand for players. By this time, several of the minor leagues had many players who could have played in the NHL, had there been more teams. By the 1960s, there was interest in setting up another professional league in the United States. In response, the NHL expanded to 12 teams, the new positions mostly filled by players from the minors. The control of junior players by the NHL went away at this time. The signing of contracts to under-age players, binding them to a single team was replaced by a draft of the available players by the NHL teams. The junior leagues became the pre-eminent Canadian leagues, discarding the control of the regional associations to set up "major junior" leagues. Senior amateur play dwindled further with the increase in professional positions.

By the 1960s, Canada had difficulty forming amateur senior teams to compete internationally. University players and a dedicated amateur national team were no match for the organized amateurism of teams from Europe, especially the Soviet Union. Finally, the Canadian ice hockey federation broke off from amateur play at the Olympics and world championships. The Canadians demanded that the organizations allow professionals, those considered Canada's best.

In September 1972, Canada's best hockey players from the National Hockey League (NHL) played the elite amateurs from the Soviet Union in a friendly series. Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau and his Soviet counterpart, Alexei Kosygin in 1971 proposed increasing the hockey competitions between the two northern nations. National hockey officials Planned series of eight games, four to be played across Canada and four in Moscow. Canadians saw the Summit Series as an affirmation of their global supremacy in hockey. However, the Soviets planned an upset that would impress the world and let them claim the Canadian game as their own. The publicity was enormous. The media portrayed a global contests pitting East against West - communism against capitalism - and many of the players were swept away with the sense of history in the making. The Summit series became a politically charged event with widespread cultural repercussions - quite literally, a Cold War. The Canadians fell 2 games behind but swept the final three games in Moscow to win the series four games to three, with one tie.[28][29]

The Summit Series awoke an interest in developing the sport of ice hockey further in Canada. Before 1919, few safety rules existed in amateur hockey. By 1945, however, there were rules against boarding and hits from behind, and fighting was penalized more severely. By 1972, the professionals still did not wear helmets, required in amateur play. Fighting was still allowed in amateur and professional play in Canada. There was also an interest in further developing the quality of instruction. Canada returned to international play with the IIHF and the Olympics allowing professionals.

At the same time, the number of professional teams was expanding with the formation of the World Hockey Association. New professional teams were formed in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec and Ottawa. Several of the teams made it into the expanded NHL in 1979, which now had professional teams from Vancouver all the way east to Quebec City. The 1980s saw a period of consolidation, and the introduction of European players into the professional teams of the NHL, made necessary by the expansion of the NHL. In the 1990s, the Canadian dollar declined, and while Canada gained an NHL team in Ottawa, teams from Quebec City and Winnipeg move to the United States.

Women's hockey continued to develop in popularity in the 1980s. The first women's world championship was held in 1990. Women's ice hockey became a medal sport in the Olympics of 1998. Women players developed to the point where professional leagues were organized and women players started playing in men's professional leagues.

The Memorial Cup, a tournament originated in 1920 for junior-level teams began to grow in popularity. The junior leagues also grew in popularity and expanded into United States near to the border. The junior leagues, like the professionals, started to allow non-Canadian players, partly in response to the American teams, and partly in response to the growing popularity and competition within its ranks to make it to the Memorial Cup tournament. The growth of cable television meant more junior-level games were televised.

By 2000, the NHL had grown to 30 teams and has not expanded since. The junior leagues had consolidated into three; in Quebec and the Maritimes, Ontario and Western Canada. The further introduction of European players became a concern and was limited. In 2002, Canada won its first men's ice hockey title in 50 years, at the Olympics in Salt Lake City, using NHL players. The Canadian team won another title in 2010, at the Olympics held in Vancouver, where the Olympics used Canadian standard-sized rinks.

The game of Soccer goes back centuries in England, where around 1823 was transformed into rugby. The first game in Canada came in the 1860s with British officers playing university students in Montreal. Universities quickly adopted the new sport, as did rowing clubs that found it useful in the off-season. The Americans were developing a similar game, so in 1874 McGill played two games with Harvard, alternating the rules. The series was played out for several years, but Canada increasingly adopted the American rules and so the two versions of football were very similar. In 1898 the Canadian rules were formalized; they differed from the American rules chiefly in the size of the field and in three- rather than four-down play.[30]

Governor General Earl Grey donated a championship trophy in 1907 to the best amateur team; the Grey Cup went to the professional champions in 1954. Major innovations, such as the forward pass, came in the 1920s and 1930s as American athletes and coaches arrived. In 1936, fearful of the drift towards Americanization, the Canadian Rugby Union placed a limit on the number of foreigners; import quotas remain in effect in the 21st century. After 1945 football flourished at the intercollegiate and professional levels. The Canadian Football League (CFL) distributed franchises across the country, and crowds flocked to the games. The Grey Cup championship game, first telecast in 1952, attracts one of the largest TV audiences, over 4 million. The CFL added five American teams in 1993; this proved a costly blunder, as four teams folded and the fifth moved to Montreal. After surviving the closing of the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1996 and bankruptcies by the Toronto and Hamilton teams in 2003, football has recovered and is in fair health in the 21st century.[31][32]

Soccer in Canada has grown in popularity in recent decades, especially as a school sport for boys and girls. It has more players than ice hockey. At the professional level, the Toronto FC in 2007 became the first Canadian club in the American Major League Soccer (MLS). In 2009, another MLS franchise was awarded to Vancouver, and began play in the 2011 season. In 2010, an MLS franchise was awarded to Montreal for the 2012 season. Both the Vancouver and Montreal clubs had their roots in lower-tier professional soccer leagues.

Sports are high priority in Canadian culture, but women were long relegated to second-class status by men. There were regional differences as well, with the eastern provinces emphasizing a more feminine "girls rule" game of basketball, while the Western provinces preferred identical rules. Girls’ and women’s sport has traditionally been slowed down by a series of factors: girls and women historically have low levels of interest and participation; there were very few women in leadership positions in academic administration, student affairs or athletics; there were few women coaches; the media strongly emphasized men's sports as a demonstration of masculinity, suggesting that women seriously interested in sports were crossing gender lines; the male sports establishment was actively hostile. Staunch feminists dismissed sports as unworthy of their support. Women's progress was uphill; they first had to counter the widespread notion that women's bodies were so restricted and delicate that vigorous physical activity was dangerous. These notions where first challenged by the "new woman" around 1900. These women started with bicycling; they rode into new gender spaces in education, work, and suffrage.[43]

The 1920s marked a breakthrough for women, including working-class young women in addition to the pioneering middle class sportswomen. The Women's Amateur Federation of Canada (WAAF) was formed in 1926 to make possible new opportunities, particularly in international competition. The WAAF worked to rebut the stereotype that vigorous physical activity and intense competition was "unwomanly". One tactic was to set up a system of medical supervision for all women athletes. The WAAF forged an alliance with supportive men who dominated the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada; this allowed women to compete in the Olympics and the British Empire Games.

Many barriers fell in the 1920s: the Edmonton Grads became the world champions of women's basketball; the first Canadian women participated in the Olympics; and women sportswriters such as Phyllis Griffiths were hired to cover their feats on the sports pages.

The 1930s brought setbacks, as critics recommended non-competitive athletic activities as the recreation most suited to women. During the 1930s, a team of women from the small town of Preston, Ontario, overcame the difficulty of obtaining adequate ice time for practice, and the challenge of raising adequate funds from their small fan base. The Rivulettes dominated women's ice hockey, winning ten provincial championships and four of the six Dominion championships.[44] With money short during the Great Depression; after 1939 the hyper-masculinity of the Second World War blocked women's opportunities. Women's hockey largely disappeared during the Second World War. After the war, the back-to-the-family conservatism Women's sports in the shadows. The feminists of the 1970s rarely helped promote women's breakthroughs in sports. Nevertheless, more and more women engaged in aerobics and organized sport. Figure skater Barbara Ann Scott was the outstanding female athlete of the 1940s, as the 1948 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (1947–1948), and a four-time Canadian national champion (1944–46, 48) in ladies' singles. She was very heavily covered by the media. However, it focused less on her sportsmanship and athletic achievements and more on her beauty and her "sweetheart" image.[45]

Change for women in sport began slowly, but then accelerated after 1980. The Fitness and Amateur Sport Act of 1961 (Bill C-131) and the report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in 1970 marked major advances. Perhaps the most critical development came in 1974, when Marion Lay and the federal government’s Fitness and Amateur Sport Branch (FASB) sponsored a National Conference on Women and Sport. it brought together coaches, academic administrators, and athletes to talk over the issues raised by the Royal Commission, and to chart a way forward. Even so, there was no way to monitor the process and implement the recommendations. The 1980s accelerated the movement forward. The Sport Canada’s Women’s Program in 1980; the Female Athlete Conference in 1981; the Women in Sport program in 1981; and the Constitution Act of 1982. In 1981 Abby Hoffman, a former Olympian, was named director general of Sport Canada. Its "Policy on Women's Sport" called for equality. The AAU of Canada now became more supportive. Court cases nail down the women's right to participate. In the provinces, human rights commissions addressed dozens of sport-related equity cases for women. Gender barriers in sports became a political topic, as shown by the Minister’s Task Force Report in 1992 and the landmark decision of the Canadian Sport Council to include gender equity quotas in their operating principles. By the 1990s women proved eager to enter formerly all-male sports such as ice hockey, rugby, and wrestling. Their activism and their prowess on the playing field eroded old stereotypes and opened up new social roles for the woman athlete on campus and in her community. New problems emerged for sportswomen trying to achieve equal status with sportsmen: raising money, attracting popular audiences, and winning sponsors.[46]

Harrigan, (2003) reviews the emergence of women's athletics in higher education during 1961-2001. The establishment of the National Fitness and Amateur Sport Advisory Council helped women's intercollegiate sports to gain momentum. simultaneously there was a rise in the proportion of women in the student bodies, which enhanced the visibility of their sports. To overcome institutional inertia, women concentrated on organizing their sports and raising the consciousness of both male and female students. In 1969, the Canadian Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Union was formed to oversee events and sanction national championships; it merged with the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union in 1978. Women increasingly became more active after 1980.[47]

• Heritage Minutes
• History of sport

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sports in Canada.

• Ontario's Sporting Past, online exhibit on Archives of Ontario website