1981 is the year for this rewind and the setting was Montreal’s Olympic stadium and featured the Edmonton Eskimos and the Ottawa Rough Riders in what was considered to be one of the best Grey Cups of all time. This was the 69th Grey Cup and featured many players who would go on to be inducted into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame and would also be the last game for some of the games greats. The date of the Grey Cup was 22nd of November and featured two teams with completely different records from their 16 game season. On the one hand there was Edmonton Eskimos who were considered the favourites having won 14 of their 16 games whilst drawing 1, on the other hand were Ottawa Rough Riders who made the Grey Cup with a 5-11 record which is completely unheard of the game today. With the stage set the teams did battle and it was Ottawa who got the first points in the game as a result of two Gerry Organ field goals from 34 and 37 yards respectively giving the Rough Riders the 6 before Jim Reid scored a touchdown with Organ securing the conversion to make it 13-0 to Ottawa after the 1st quarter. The 2nd saw Ottawa stretch their lead with another touchdown with Sam Platt scoring from a 14 yard run with Organ adding the extra again. Edmonton then got onto the score sheet before the close of the second quarter with a single from Dave Cutler after he missed a field goal from 24 yards. So at half time it was the Rough Riders who were leading the Eskimos 20-1 and looked to be on course to cause a major upset. The third quarter was all Edmonton’s as they aimed to get a foothold back in the game. The Eskimos first touchdown of the 69th Grey Cup came when running back Jim Germany made a 2-yard run into the end zone with kicker Dave Cutler scoring the conversion. This cut Ottawa’s lead to 20-8, before Edmonton made more inroads into the Rough Riders lead this time through quarterback Warren Moon making a 1-yard run into the end zone for the touchdown. Cutler again adding the conversion to get the extra point. With one quarter to go it stood 20-15 to Ottawa, but the question is could the Rough Riders hold on? Ottawa got their first point of the second half through a field goal from 28 yards by Organ to take them up to 23. Moon responded for the Eskimos with a touchdown from 1 yard and Moon had a part to play in the convert as his pass to wide receiver Marco Cyncar giving the Eskimos 2 points as opposed to 1. This left the game evenly poised going into the final 4 minutes and Ottawa looked like they may be on the way to sealing the Grey Cup when the injured Tony Gabriel of Ottawa caught a 20 yard pass ahead of Eskimos Gary Hayes. However in this phase of play there was no gain for Ottawa as the referee, to many players astonishment called a pass interference on play. Shortly after the call Ottawa lost possession and Edmonton’s Cutler scored a 27 yard field goal with seconds left to complete a historic comeback by the Eskimos. Meanwhile Ottawa’s Gabriel was forced to retire after the game with knee ligament damaged after that play that never was. The 69th Grey Cup finished 26-23 in Edmonton’s favour in what would be Ottawa’s last ever Grey Cup appearance in their Rough Riders form as they went bankrupt in 1996.
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The 90th Grey Cup was quite a poignant one for one of the teams and very important one too as the sport was regaining its identity following the failed American experiment in the mid 1990’s. The 2002 season saw 9 teams compete for the 2 places in the Grey Cup including an introduction of one new franchise called Ottawa Renegades from the capital. The Renegades were replacing the gap left by the Ottawa Rough Riders who folded 7 years previous in the mist of the American experiment having been around since 1876 making them one of the oldest. Out of the 9 teams involved in the regular season only 6 could make it through to the play-offs where 4 Western teams made it through due to the crossover and only 2 from the East. The 2002 Grey Cup was hosted in Edmonton and involved the team from Edmonton too in the Edmonton Eskimos as the faced off against Montreal Alouettes. The match-up involved an intense rivalry that has existed since the 1950’s as they had met in the Grey Cup 11 previous times to this, albeit Montreal were in a previous form to what they are now, which is why it made this game so unique. There was added spice to the occasion as both teams won their respective divisions which gave them both byes to their divisional finals. This was where the hosts of the 90th Grey Cup, the Eskimos fought hard to edge out the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the West final by 33 points to 30, while Montreal’s path was a lot more clearer they eased past the Toronto Argonauts 35-18. As intriguing matches go this was up there, but there was more to the contest than just the match itself as it was about how the Alouettes rose from the ashes and reclaimed the Grey Cup for the first time since 1977 and won it in Edmonton’s backyard. Montreal were only starting to emerge as a force again on the Canadian Football scene ever since they relocated from Baltimore in 1996 after the leagues failed American dream. At first the Alouettes new future appeared to be short lived due to a lack of energy for the game around the city, this was proven as poor attendances were clear for all to see at the Olympic Stadium. However a change was on the horizon as grassroots participation was increasing and fans were regaining their love for the game that started in 1874 when Montreal University, McGill faced Harvard. The turnaround in fortunes appeared to be complete when on November 24th 2002, Montreal took on Edmonton in the 90th Grey Cup. So how did the match go down, well there was only a single scored in the first quarter when Terry Baker made a 68 yard punt to the endzone. The second quarter saw Montreal extend their lead to 11-0 by adding 10 points through Wide Receiver Pat Woodcock touchdown (6) with Terry Baker adding the extra 1, before Baker kicked a field goal to add 3 more points (10). At half-time Montreal led 11-0, but Edmonton came back into the game thanks to a touchdown by Ricky Walters as a result from a 17 yard pass from quarterback Ricky Ray. Sean Fleming then added the conversion before securing a field goal from 13 yards to put Edmonton within a point of Montreal. So it proved that the game would be decided in the 4th and final quarter, where Montreal increased their 1 point lead to 8 as a result of wide receiver Jeremaine Copeland touchdown from a 47 yard pass from Anthony Calvillo. Edmonton then replied with a touchdown of their own with another Ricky Ray assist and Ed Hervey with the touchdown. However the Eskimos did miss the conversion meaning the scoreline was 18-16 with less than a minute to go on the clock. With that said Montreal did add another touchdown and Copeland got his second from a kick-off return, Terry Baker added the conversion. The end result was 25-16 to the Alouettes and a victory made even sweeter winning in the hometown of their rivals. The MVP award went to quarterback Anthony Calvillo.
This was the 83rd edition of the prestigious Grey Cup and it took place during a time of turmoil within the Canadian game with instable ownership putting the Canadian Football League on life support. The early and mid-1990’s saw the CFL take the brave decision of expansion, not in Canada but in the United States. Part of the reason behind this grand and bold plan was to reignite the Canadian game and bring growth to what seemed to be a dying sport. The idea behind the expansion into America was to serve markets within certain states which were lacking an NFL franchise, however there was no thought and not much research behind the strategy. The problems were that because the Canadian Football field is wider and longer it was difficult to put the pitch into stadiums that were there to serve American Football solely. Furthermore the Canadian player quota system had to be scraped to entice American teams to join. Many franchises in America were created between the short lived years of the American experiment, which began with Sacramento Gold Miners in 1993, then after came the likes of Shreveport Pirates, Memphis Mad Dogs and who could forgot the Las Vegas Posse (maybe most as they only lasted 1 season, as did a number of other franchises). In spite of what could be perceived as a failed strategy, came a franchise who to an extent left a great legacy, the Baltimore Stallions. Formed ready for the 1994 season under the name Baltimore CFLers, they reached the Grey Cup that year as East Division champions, losing in the final 23-26 to BC Lions. Having survived one season the franchise appeared to be a success so Baltimore under a new name, Baltimore Stallions went again in 1995 and achieved something that will never be completed again, an America team winning the Canadian Grey Cup. The 1995 Grey Cup was played at Taylor Field in Regina, home to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the smallest place to host a Grey Cup, but without question the city with the most passionate fans. This was proven when the people of Saskatchewan got right behind the 83rd Grey Cup, despite the Roughriders failing to make the play-offs finishing 6th in the North Division with a 6-12. However this event was all about the Baltimore Stallions and the Calgary Stampeders and America versus Canada, this was sure not to disappoint, not least because of the testing weather conditions facing the teams. This was the reason why the 83rd Grey Cup earned the name of the Wind Bowl. So how did the game break down, well Don Matthews the Stallions coach had a major advantage along with the rest of the American teams to begin with as they were able to operate without any roster restrictions which the Canadian franchises had to follow. This allowed Matthews to build a class team above any other and this showed during the game against the Stampeders. Chris Wright started the scoring off playing an 82-yard punt to Carlos Huerta, putting the Stallions 7-0 before the Stampeders came back to edge the 1st quarter through 2 field goals by English born Mark Mcloughlin. Doug Flutie added to this early in the 2nd quarter to leave Calgary 13-7 up. However from then on Baltimore dominated by scoring three field goals plus a touchdown (Carlos Huerta FG x3 & Alvin Walton TD), to give them a 10 point lead (23-13) at the end of the 2nd quarter. The 3rd quarter involved 1 touchdown for either side, firstly Calgary through Flutie, Mcloughlin with the conversion, then Baltimore replied through Tracy Ham (Huerta with the conversion). The 4th and final quarter ended with Baltimore tightening their grip on the game through two more field through Carlos Huerta who battled the windy conditions. The Grey Cup ended 37-20 in favour of Baltimore and their quarterback, Tracy Ham received MVP. The victory was seen as one of the greatest in Canadian Football history as that was Baltimore’s 18th in the whole season, something that has and possibly never will be matched again. Although after this historic season the American experiment was over with the franchises in the States folding and Baltimore becoming an NFL franchise after the Cleveland Browns relocated. This resulted in the re-launch of the Montreal franchise which was seen as a great move which helped restore some national pride back into Canadian Football, as the failed American experiment was seen to be taking some patriotism away. Nevertheless one of the Grey Cups which help define the direction of the game.
This blog in a way is a follow up to my previous one about broadening the appeal of the Canadian Football League. In my view the CFL is vastly becoming an appealing product that with the right marketing can grow even bigger and have an appeal outside of Canada. One of the ways to do this would be to bring a game (to test the waters so to speak) across the pond to the UK and see the reception it receives. Clearly it will not be as popular as when the NFL comes to town but CFL offers a completely different experience, most notably with the various changes in rules from the NFL. The appeal of one game in the UK would in my opinion attract various types of fans, firstly the passionate ones who would travel from Canada to make a vacation of it or even a number of hard-core fans within the UK. Secondly there would be fans like myself who are quite new to CFL (taken an interest in the last couple of years) who would love to experience it, then finally UK fans of NFL who would be interested in attending to see how it compares to its American counterpart. But where? I suggest staging games at a smaller venue compared to Wembley with Stadium:MK being a potential venue given its history of hosting events that are not football (Soccer, which is the stadiums main use) related events. Also the city itself can put on a really good show to support the events which the stadium hosts. For example I was lucky enough to get tickets to the recent Rugby World Cup and one of the games I went to was in Milton Keynes where they put on a fanzone in a large park with rugby specific events and lots of volunteers dotted around Milton Keynes on hand to offer advice or give directions. My point from this is I can imagine the CFL doing something similar if they do decide the time is right to play in the UK, as the stadium (32,000) is suitable for the demand of a Canadian Football game, the city and its infrastructure is suitable enough to deal with masses of people in one place at a time. It is also worth noting that with Milton Keynes being a fairly new place (developed within the last 50 years) and regeneration happening over the few years there are lots of new modern restaurants to suite virtually anybody and make their time a pleasant one. Realistically will it happen? As much as I would love it to and I know I am not alone in saying that, I can’t see it on the horizon as the CFL seems pretty much content with its operations solely in Canada. However if they want an increase in revenue this should seriously be considered as the brand could only increase by making this happen due to it only being a one off to begin with so they are not going to lose money by making this happen. Considering everything the best time to do this so it does not conflict with NFL coming over would be right at the beginning of the CFL in June or July which may be the most appealing to fans alike as well. Who would the teams be? Well there is currently 9 teams in the CFL (4 in the East Division & 5 in the West Division) and virtually all of them would have some appeal one way or another. Being a follower of the Toronto Argonauts I would love to see them come across of course, but the reason for the appeal would be the history the team has and as we all know we all like a team with history here in the UK. Then there’s Saskatchewan Roughriders who seem to be the most well supported (and riches) team in Canada and a decent team too (Discounting this season though as they are 2-15). Other teams with varying appeal would be Calgary Stampeders who arguably are the best team currently, while Hamilton Tiger-Cats are the best in the East. Then there’s the newest franchise, Ottawa REDBLACKS which will be looking to drum up a fanbase and could potentially become the Jacksonville Jaguars of Canadian Football in terms of being a new franchise who plays games regularly abroad.
All in all I’m sure any observer of the CFL whether you’re a die-hard or new to the game would just be happy to see any 2 sides do battle in the UK. |
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