Saturday, November 15, 1906 was a most
memorable day in Hamilton for the many followers of the Tiger Football team. In
the morning edition of the Hamilton Times carried the following brief preview of
the upcoming game :
Today’s Card
Canadian Championship
“Montreal at Hamilton – Referee, F.D.
Wooloworth
Big Game This Afternoon
“It looks as if the football match between
the Tigers and the Montreals in the Dominion championship series will be played
in the rain. The Montreal crowd, about a hundred strong, arrived here on the
G.T.R. about 10 o’clock. They made the Royal Hotel their headquarters, and all
had pretty badges of red and black.
“The game will be called at 2:45.”
Hours before game time, the streets near the
Cricket grounds, Bold, Reginald streets, and Charlton Avenue were filled with a
heavy amount of traffic. Tiger Rooters arrived en masse, mainly by foot. The
scene inside the wooden-fenced Cricket grounds was animated as seating was
gone, and large numbers of fans watched the game while standing around the
field, while some young fans climbed trees or telephone poles to see the game.
Some watched from the rooftops of nearby houses:
“Five thousand people filled the stands and
stood around the field at the cricket grounds, and witnessed the best played,
most exciting and most stubborn game of a decade
“A great array of old time football stars
were on hand to see the game, men who in their day were the rule makers and the
players whose names were as familiar as those of DuMoulin, Moore, Simpson,
Flett, Stinson, Craig and a host of others are today. By all it was agreed that
the game was dandy.
“The day was favorable for good football, the
light being even but not bright, and there being no wind. The grounds however,
were slippery, the rain having left an inch or so of soft surface, the west end
of the field, which the Montrealers had for their defense ground in the first
quarter being the worst. This probably accounted for the fact that almost all
the scoring was done at the west end.”1
1 Hamilton Times. December 3, 1906.
In the end, it was a relatively easy win for
the Tigers :
“Hamilton Tigers demonstrated their right to
be called football champions on Saturday, defeating the Quebec champions by a
score of 11 to 6 in a hard game in which the local team fought for every point
scored, and did not get a single talley through chance or luck, while their
opponents got their only try simply by a fluke.”1
The Times coverage of the game included a
cartoon
From
the Side Line
“Simpson was the hero of the day.
“The rooters were out in force, and sang
well, but it is a question if their noise did not spoil many a Tiger
combination.
“Perhaps some of the Toronto sporting writers
will remember what they said was going to happen when Montreal got at the
Tigers.
“The G.N.W. gave a capital telegraph service.
“If there is a man on the whole Hamilton team
who did not do his level best, and do it well, he managed to disguise the fact
nicely.
“David Tope was never afraid to take a
desperate chance.
“The rooters marched in a body to Tope’s
house and sang ‘Champions Again’ and a few bars for Davie. After that they
marched right down the middle of the road to the centre of the city, singing
all the way.
“The Montrealers took their defeat
gracefully. They were outplayed at their own game, and could not deny the fact.
“The Tigers and rooters attended the Grand in
the evening.”1
It would be fully two weeks before the Tigers
played again. The title game for the football championship of the Dominion was
played in Montreal on the McGill campus. The team from McGill was the winning
side from the Intercollegiate Union.
On the day of the game, the Hamilton Times carried three brief items referencing that day’s big game:
“Football.”
Hamilton Times. December 01, 1906.
“The Times will bulletin the score and
quarter of the Great Football Match in Montreal today. Come round the Times and
follow the game.”
“Great Rugby Game Today : Champion Tigers
Meet McGill Team at Montreal.”
Hamilton Times. December 01, 1906.
“Quite a crowd of football fans left the city
last night for the east on the G.T.R. Most of them were bond for Montreal to
see the Hamilton Tigers and McGill College team battle for the Dominion championship.”
“Weather is Balmy : Immense Crowd Gathering
For Tiger Game at Montreal”
Hamilton Times. December 1, 1906
“Noon – McGill campus will be in about the
same condition for the football match today between McGill and the Hamilton
Tigers as the cricket grounds were in Hamilton two weeks ago. The weather is
balmy and the snow has practically all disappeared from the gridiron. Both
teams are in excellent shape, although the Tigers did not take particular of
themselves last night, having enjoyed a little whirl around town. The visitors
look upon the McGill team as an easy proposition. 5,000 will see the match.”
The attendance projections were far too
optimistic. A bigger crowd than that which attended the game could well-have
happened had the weather co-operated :
“Between 1,700 and 1,800 people saw the game,
of which fully one-half were students. It was a fair crowd, and many of the
Tiger plays came in for praise.
“With a solid north wind blowing almost a
gale, and on a soft, wet snowy field, with a flurry of snow in the air, the
teams lined up shortly after 2:15.”2
2 Hamilton Times December 3, 1906.
The game was the first Dominion championship game
was the first after a drastic change in the rules had been put into effect:
“For the first time since the makers of Rugby
football laws put their heads together to frame up rules with a view to
producing a game that would be good alike for players and spectators, resulting
in the adoption by the Ontario Union of the snap back game, and the elimination
by the Quebec and Intercollegiate Unions of the old style scrimmage and its
long line of snappers, the Canadian championship has been fought out to a
finish, and the best team has won the title and its honor. On Saturday, the
Hamilton Tigers defeated their last foes, the winners of the Intercollegiate
championship, and proved their superiority over all teams that play any style
of Rugby.”2
The Times reporter who had gone to Montreal
with the team to provide coverage of the game lavished praise on the Tigers :
“This year the title and the glory go
together, and there is none to dispute Hamilton’s claim. The Tigers have
finished four seasons without once having been beaten, under any rules, in any
championship game. They have met the best that any union could produce and have
come out of every contest not only with victory but with honor, and their
opponents have had to admit that they played clean, honest brainy football and
merited all they won. No other team, in the annals of football in Canada, has
ever made such a record, and Hamilton has good reason to be proud of the
achievements of her sons.”2
Virtually every play in the game was described
in detail in the Times, creating a very lengthy article. On the final page of
the December 3, 1906 edition, the following appeared :
Get a Copy of
the ‘Times’
With
an account of the Football Match
Hamilton vs.
McGill
In
wrappers in Tigers’ colors, all
Ready for mailing, one cent.
The 1906 Hamilton Tigers were Canadian Champions.
The 1906 Hamilton Tigers were Canadian Champions.
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