The Encyclopedia of CFL History

Year by Year

Click on the year you want more information on in the table below.  Here are some key dates.:

• 1861- First recorded football game in Canada. 
• 1898 - First regular season played (only challenges and playoffs held prior to this)
• 1909 - First Grey Cup
• 1921 - Major rules changes:  Number of players on field reduced to 12  and ball snapped by center
• 1921 - First Western Challenge for the Grey Cup.
• 1929 - Forward pass introduced in limited form
• 1935 - First Grey Cup win by a West team (Winnipeg)
• 1948 - Calgary invades Toronto and transforms the Grey Cup
• 1950 - Hamilton Tigers and Hamilton Wildcats merge to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
• 1954 - BC Lions join the West and the last year amateurs competed for the Grey Cup

Years with an * indicate that individual stats are currently available as a link in Word or PDF format on the page for each year.  From 1930-40 and 1945-49, the only stats available are the East (Big Four / IRFU) scoring leaders. The IRFU suspended play for 4 years from 1941-44. Stats from 1950-53 include the East scoring stats and more complete stats from the West (WIFU).  Starting in 1954, complete stats are available for both the East and West though some stat categories were not tracked until much later (e.g. sacks in 1981 and tackles in 1987).

	1861	1862	1863	1864	1865	1866	1867	1868	1869	1870	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875	1876	1877	1878	1879
1880	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890	1891	1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898	1899
1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909	1910	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919
1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930*	1931*	1932*	1933*	1934*	1935*	1936*	1937*	1938*	1939*
1940*	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945*	1946*	1947*	1948*	1949*	1950*	1951*	1952*	1953*	1954*	1955*	1956*	1957*	1958*	1959*
1960*	1961*	1962*	1963*	1964*	1965*	1966*	1967*	1968*	1969*	1970*	1971*	1972*	1973*	1974*	1975*	1976*	1977*	1978*	1979*
1980*	1981*	1982*	1983*	1984*	1985*	1986*	1987*	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997*	1998	1999
2000	2001*	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013