What Was the Sporting/Rugby News 100 Years Ago in Victoria on January 9th 1926
Normally Friday is reserved for the BC Premier prediction and rosters article but since the BC Premier is still 2 weeks away and the schedule for any rugby in BC is still a week away, on a whim I’ve decided to take the time machine back 100 years ago to the day. What was happening in rugby on January 9th 1926, and on a larger scale what were the sports headlines?
The sports headlines were about hockey, since this is from the Victoria newspaper, the Daily Colonist, it featured the Victoria Cougars. Remember the Victoria Cougars had won the Stanley Cup the year before, in 1925, defeating the Montreal Canadiens. They were the last non-NHL team to win the Stanley Cup, and if I’m not mistaken, the last BC team to win the Stanley Cup. The Cougars played in the Western Canadian Hockey League (WCHL/WHL) which only lasted until 1926, the current Victoria Cougars are the 4th iteration of the name and they play in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. The Cougars played out of Willows arena which was built in 1911 and burnt down 1929. The location is across from where Oak Bay High School is currently situated.
On to rugby, there were 3 mentions of rugby in the newspaper of Saturday. The newspaper clippings are below. The first article mentions the cancelled “senior” game between Oak Bay Wanderers and the United Services team, back when the military regularly put a team into the local rugby leagues. Maybe it’s time to suggest a return to tradition to bolster the local leagues, BCRU, CAF? There would be an “intermediate” game between the Wanderers and the “Normal School” however. I know, you’re wondering what is the “Normal School”, it was the teacher’s college at the location currently occupied by Camosun College. The term “Normal School” is derived from the French Ecole Normale Superieure, which provided instruction in the “norms” or “standard practices” of teaching. Maybe time for teachers to get back to tradition and put in a local team as well. Victoria College also used the building and of course Victoria College went on to become UVic. Another side note, the original “senior” game was to be played at Willows and that was a large sporting complex where Carnarvon Park now exists, it is/was the secondary field for CW. Most of the Willows complex was made into residential housing and only the small Carnarvon Park remains a testament to its sporting background.
The second article is kind of amusing from a modern context, it references a trend in England in Elementary Schools to drop soccer in favour of rugby because rugby was still “strictly” amateur. Soccer was also referred to as “association football” and apparently the word soccer came from the abbreviation of association, as in rugby becoming rugger and association becoming assoccer or just soccer. Honestly, I don’t make this stuff up.
The third rugby article referenced the then upcoming Wales v England international match and lists the Welsh team. It indicates how closely linked BC was to the UK 100 years ago in culture and sports.
I’ve also included the full graphic of the main sports page from the January 9th 1926 Daily Colonist so you can look around at other sports stories.
The Sports Page from January 9th 1926
