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Standings
East (IRFU) W L T F A PTS
Hamilton Tigers 5 1 0 111 22 10
Ottawa Rough Riders 5 1 0 76 71 10
Toronto Argonauts 1 5 0 54 93 2
Montreal Winged Wheelers 1 5 0 39 91 2
             
ORFU W L T F A PTS
Toronto A.A.C 3 1 0 51 30 6
Toronto Parkdale 3 1 0 92 20 6
Peterborough Pets 0 4 0 19 112 0
             
CIRFU (University) W L T F A PTS
Toronto 6 0 0 166 27 12
Queen's 3 3 0 84 63 6
McGill 2 4 0 75 56 4
Ottawa 1 5 0 31 179 2
             
Alberta W L T F A PTS
Calgary Tigers            
Edmonton Esquimaux            

PLAYOFFS
Quarter-Final
Ottawa Rough Riders 14 Hamilton Tigers 8

Semi-Finals
Toronto Parkdale 9 Toronto A.A.C. 3

University of Toronto 37 Ottawa Rough Riders 7

GREY CUP
University of Toronto 26 Toronto Parkdale 6

Awards
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All-Stars

Stats

Links (Articles, Lineups etc.)

Synopsis
1909 marked the first year that the Grey Cup was presented to the top football team in Canada. The first Grey Cup was played between two Toronto teams, and neither of them was the Argonauts. The Argos were going through a bad time in 1909 and won only one of their six regular season games. The Hamilton Tigers and and the Ottawa Rough Riders were the powers of the IRFU in those years and it was a slight upset when the Rough Riders beat the Tigers in the quarter final. The ORFU had revived a bit after losing most of its teams to the upstart IRFU in 1907. Toronto Parkdale joined the ORFU to make it a three team lealgue and they defeate the Toronto Amateur Athletic Club in the semi-final to make it into the Grey Cup. The other Toronto team was the powerful University of Toronto Varsity Blues who went undefeated in the college ranks and easily handled the Rough Riders in the other semi-final to set up an all Toronto Grey Cup. An interesting note about the Ottawa Rough Rider team that year was it was coached by King Clancy, the first King Clancy and the father of the King Clancy well remembered for his involvement in hockey. The Ottawa - University of Toronto semi-final was actually billed by the Toronto press as the "Dominion Championship" as the ORFU champions were not considered much of a threat, especially in light of the lp sided games in 1907 and 1908 betweeen the IRFU and ORFU champions. An estimated 12,000 fans watch the semi-final compared to only 3,800 a week later for the Grey Cup. In the cup final, the Varsity Blue remained undefeated, beating Toronto Parkdale 26-6. Varsity was coached by Harry Griffith and wre led by Hugh Gall on the field. Gall kicked 8 singles and scored a touchdown in the win by the college squad..

Records are spotty about the West in 1909. The Calgary and Edmonton lealgues had merged into an Alberta league with the Calgary Tigers and Edmonton Esquimaux. Manitoba had its own league, but there was no interprovinicial play yet in the West.