Imagine Canada without the CFL

Cody Fajardo (#7) fires a pass downfield for the Roughriders last season.

    Could Norm Kwong, Jackie Parker, Ken Ploen, Russ Jackson, Angelo Mosca, Ron Lancaster, Herman Harrison, Hugh Campbell, Cal Murphy, Condredge Holloway, Henry “The Gizmo” Williams, Geroy Simon, Ben Cahoon and Darian Durant fade from the memories like Lionel Conacher or the Montreal Maroons?

    Who was Lionel Conacher you ask?

    Conacher was named Canada’s top athlete for the first half of the 20^th century by The Canadian Press. He excelled in baseball, boxing, football, hockey, lacrosse and wrestling. He starred with the Toronto Argonauts in 1921 and 1922 and helped them win the Grey Cup in 1921.

    In hockey, Conacher played 12 seasons on defence in the NHL from 1925 to 1937 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Americans, Montreal Maroons and Chicago Black Hawks. He was a member of Stanley Cup winning teams with the Black Hawks in 1934 and the Maroons in 1935.

    You would likely be hard pressed to find people in Canada that knew The Canadian Press award for the country’s make athlete of the year is named the Lionel Conacher Award.

Darian Durant (#4) fires a pass downfield for the Roughriders in 2016.

    Conacher retired as an athlete in 1937 to pursue a career in politics. He passed away on May 26, 1954 as a member of Parliament at the age of 54.
    Due to the fact Conacher last competed as a competitive athlete 83 years ago, very few in Canada would know of his exploits.

    He played for three NHL teams in the Pirates, Americans and Maroons that have been defunct for some time.

    The Pirates moved out of Pittsburgh following the 1929-30 season to Philadelphia to become the Quakers. The Quakers played on campaign in 1930-31 before ceasing to exist.

    The Maroons, who also won the Stanley Cup in 1926, last played in the 1937-38 campaign.

    The Americans became the Brooklyn Americans following the 1940-41 campaign and folded following the 1941-42 season.

    The football team Conacher won a Grey Cup with in the Argonauts was founded in 1873. 

Cal Murphy at a speaking engagement in 1999.

    The Argonauts are the oldest existing team in North America still using its original name and is the oldest surviving team in the modern CFL.

    The Argonauts lead all teams with the most Grey Cup victories at 17.
    In the current day, it is conceivable the Argonauts and the CFL could fade from memories of Canadian society like Conacher and the once storied Maroons of the NHL.

    The CFL is in a tough predicament due to forces outside of its control.

    At the moment, the world is battling through a coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Shutdowns in North America started on March 11 with the NBA suspending play and dominos subsequently falling that seemed to reach all walks of life.

    If there had been no COVID-19 pandemic, the CFL would not be in trouble, and it would be business as usual. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CFL postponed training camps that were to start this month and the beginning of the regular season, which was to start on June 11.

    At first, it was hoped the CFL regular season could start in early July. 

Andrew Harris (#33) became a Grey Cup hero for the Blue Bombers.

    Due to travel restrictions and a number of areas in Canada severely limiting large gatherings until Aug. 31, things took a turn for the worst for the CFL.

    During the last week of April, news leaked that the CFL was looking for $150-million in financial assistance from the Canadian federal government in the event the 2020 season was lost.
    On Thursday, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie spoke before a House of Commons standing committee on finance and said the CFL’s best scenario was holding a very shortened season in 2020, but the most likely scenario was there would be no season at all.

    He said the league’s future was very much in jeopardy.

    After Ambrosie said those things, the idea that the CFL might no longer exist became that much more real.

    The Grey Cup was first won by the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in 1909.

    It was last awarded on Nov. 24, 2019 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who downed the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.

    Could that ultimately be the final game ever played in the history of the CFL?

    Back when the Blue Bombers won their 11^th Grey Cup title last November in Calgary, no one envisioned that could have remotely been a possibility.

Nate Coehoorn scores a TD for the Eskimos in 2016.

    Conacher was an early star in the Canadian game of football.

    Kwong, Parker, Ploen, Jackson, Mosca, Lancaster, Harrison, Campbell, Murphy, Holloway, Williams, Simon, Cahoon and Durant have all obtained legendary status in the Canadian professional game. They’ve built a vast history creating many fabled tales with the teams and communities they represented.
    Imagine if Parker’s 90-yard fumble return touchdown to give the Edmonton Eskimos a 26-25 win in the 1954 Grey Cup over the Montreal Alouettes never happened.

    What would it be like if Ploen never scored in overtime to give the Blue Bombers a 21-14 victory over the Tigers-Cats in the 1961 Grey Cup?

    How sad would it be had the 1977 Grey Cup never happened, which was best known as Canada’s version of “the Ice Bowl.”

    On an icy turf at an open air Olympic Stadium in Montreal, the host Alouettes fired staples into the bottom of their shoes and went on to hammer the Eskimos 41-6 before 68,318 spectators.

    Of course, the CFL team with the largest and most loyal following is the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and they were involved in two of the most famous Grey Cups. In 1989, the Roughriders outgunned the Tiger-Cats 43-40 winning the game on a last second field goal by kicker Dave Ridgway.

Ricky Ray (#15) led the Argonauts to a Grey Cup win in 2017. 

    That play is known as “The Kick” in “the Wheat Province.”

    As thrilling as that victory was for Rider Nation, heart break occurred in arguably the most infamous Grey Cup in history in 2009. The Roughriders were ready to celebrate victory after the Alouettes missed a last-play field goal, but a too many men penalty against Saskatchewan gave Montreal kicker Damon Duval a second chance to win the game.
    Duval connected from 33-yards out to give the Alouettes a stunning 28-27 victory.

    The CFL needs its history to be documented by an NFL Films type entity. The CFL has so much rich history there are many endless opportunities to make legendary tales iconic.

    In the current crazy days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CFL faces an uncertain future like many sports leagues and businesses.

    The CFL’s survival is not a given.

    The last chapter in its history is possibly being written, which would mean it ultimately dies at the hands of COVID-19.

Roughriders fans are on their feet at Taylor Field in 2016.

    If the CFL does ultimately meet its demise, it would be a shock to the system of Canadian culture, because at that point, the realization of just what would be missing would become that much more real.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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