History of Canadian sports facts for kids
The history of Canadian sports shows how games and activities have grown and changed over time. It can be split into five main periods: early fun activities before 1840; the start of organized games from 1840 to 1880; national groups forming between 1882 and 1914; a big boom in both amateur and professional sports from 1914 to 1960; and new developments in the last 50 years.
Some sports are known around the world as being very Canadian. These include ice hockey, lacrosse, curling, and ringette. Even though many people think of baseball as American, it actually started in Beachville, Ontario, Canada. Also, American football was first developed by Canadians at McGill University before it split into American and Canadian football. Many Canadians play and watch sports. For example, 1.4 million Canadians play hockey, and it's a big part of Canada's identity.
Today, the most popular team sports in Canada are ice hockey, baseball, softball, Canadian football, and basketball. Girls and women play in most of these sports too. Individual sports like figure skating, skiing, golf, paddling, swimming, and track and field have always been important. Recently, "extreme" sports like snowboarding, rollerblading, and mountain climbing have also become popular. Sports teach us important values like personal health, teamwork, responsibility, loyalty, equality, and the joy of playing.
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How Canadian Sports Began
When people moved to Canada from other countries, they brought their favorite sports with them. They often changed these games to fit Canada's snowy weather. The games of the First Nations (Canada's Indigenous peoples) greatly influenced sports like lacrosse. British soldiers and settlers brought games like football, rugby, curling, and cricket. Sailors brought rowing races. These sports helped people stay active, build team spirit, and stay healthy. They were also a fun alternative to older, more violent "blood sports."
First Nations Games
First Nations peoples played many sports. They had races using toboggans, snowshoes, and canoes. They also enjoyed archery, wrestling, spear throwing, and running events. These games were fun for the community. They also helped people practice important survival skills, like being able to handle pain and tough conditions. The history of lacrosse is especially linked to First Nations games.
First Organized Sports
Organized sports in Canada started around the 1770s. Horse racing often began at British military bases. Curling became popular in Scottish communities. Lacrosse was played among First Nations groups. Some of Canada's first sports heroes were rowers who won international championships.
Sports and Canadian Identity
By the 1700s, French Canadians were influenced by First Nations culture. They started competing in activities like canoeing, snowshoeing, tobogganing, and lacrosse. Through these sports, French Canadians showed their strength and built a sense of national identity. This was different from the British idea of sports for gentlemen.
In English Canada, the ideas of English author Thomas Hughes were very important. His book Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857) taught that sportsmanship helped build good character and prepare people for citizenship. These ideas still influence youth sports programs in Canada today.
Canadians in the 1800s started to believe they had a special "northern character." They thought that the long, harsh winters made people strong in body and mind. Sports like ice hockey and snowshoeing showed this toughness. These sports became seen as truly Canadian. While Canadians are often seen as peaceful and polite outside the rink, they cheer loudly at hockey games, loving the speed and excitement.
Sports Fans and Funding
Larger cities had many people who could pay to watch sports. To get fans to games that were further away, people used steamers, and later trains and trams. As early as the 1830s, special trips were made for horse races. By the 1860s, special transport took fans to rowing, track and field, and bicycle races.
Baseball became popular in the 1870s. It was seen as a rule-based game that could help reduce crime and disorder. However, when professional baseball started in the 1880s, players and fans sometimes misbehaved. Gambling became common, and working-class players and fans became more involved. This led to a split between amateur baseball for gentlemen and the professional game.
Even small towns had local teams, but people also loved the famous players on big-city teams. New technologies like the telegraph, radio, and television allowed people to follow major games live. This helped fans feel connected to their teams and to Canada's growing popular culture.
Stadium Funding
In recent years, building new stadiums for professional sports has cost a lot of money. Because fans love their local teams so much, leaders often invest public money in new arenas. When a new arena opens, attendance usually goes up by 15-20% for the first few years. This "honeymoon" effect typically lasts about 5 to 8 years.
Media Coverage
When daily newspapers became popular in Canadian cities in the late 1800s, they started covering local and national sports in detail. This helped readers feel proud of their community and connected them to the wider "world of sport." The telegraph allowed for almost real-time updates. Even across Canada's vast distances, fans felt like they were part of a shared national audience as they followed Canadian and American hockey and baseball teams, as well as sports like rowing and boxing.
Sports Organizations
In the early 1900s, major sports created national volunteer organizations to manage their games. By 1914, there were 20 such groups. The Amateur Athletic Union of Canada (AAU) became the main leader by 1919. It helped Canadian athletes compete in the Olympics. These groups believed sports helped build good citizens and a strong Canadian identity. They tried to keep sports amateur, meaning players weren't paid.
However, in the 1930s, there were disagreements about amateur rules. Hockey, basketball, and lacrosse groups left the AAU. By 1939, the AAU mainly oversaw track and field and other individual Olympic sports. The Canadian Olympic Association became separate in 1948.
The Canadian Track and Field Association (C.T.F.A.) managed track and field from 1909 to 1967, under the AAU. In 1968, the C.T.F.A. became independent. The AAU eventually dissolved in the early 1970s as each sport's national group went its own way. In 1991, the C.T.F.A. changed its name to Athletics Canada.
Ice Hockey
People had played stick-and-ball games on ice for many years, especially in Eastern Canada and at military forts. But modern hockey rules were set by students at McGill University in 1875. The game quickly spread across Canada. In 1893, Lord Stanley, Canada's governor general, created the Stanley Cup, making the sport even more popular. Hockey was truly Canadian, a winter sport played on outdoor ice.
Professional teams started appearing around 1900. In 1904, five cities in the U.S. and Ontario formed the International Hockey League (IHL). This league paid salaries, attracting many Canadian stars. Canadian amateur teams then secretly paid their players too. The IHL ended in 1907. In 1908, the first Canadian professional league, the Ontario Professional Hockey League, began. The Timiskaming League, funded by mining money, also started paying players.
By 1910, hockey had split into two parts. Amateurs played for the new Allan Cup, while professionals played for the Stanley Cup. The National Hockey Association (NHA) was formed, organizing teams as businesses. It was the first to use standard player contracts and a salary cap. Professional hockey also came to the west coast with the Patrick family, who started the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). Professional hockey was now played from coast to coast in Canada.
In 1917, the NHA became the National Hockey League (NHL). After a slow start, the NHL grew by adding teams in the United States. By 1940, it had strong teams in Montreal, Toronto, Boston, New York, Chicago, and Detroit, known as the "Original Six." After 1926, the NHL controlled most professional hockey. Other professional leagues eventually closed down. The NHL expanded into the U.S. and created a system of minor leagues to control players.
Amateur hockey continued to be strong. The Winnipeg Falcons, a team of Icelandic Canadians, won the Canadian national championship and the 1920 Olympic gold medal. Their success made them a symbol of Canadian strength.
During the Great Depression, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association faced money problems. They had to rethink their strict amateur rules. The Canadian team's poor performance at the 1936 Olympics also led to big changes.
The NHL then partnered with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). This partnership gave the NHL more control over players through rules like waivers, the reserve clause, and the draft. Even though the NHL only had six teams, they controlled the best players. Players could be signed to an NHL team's organization as young as twelve.
The "Original Six" era made the NHL the biggest draw in Canada. The rivalry between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs was a huge part of this. The Canadiens' Maurice "Rocket" Richard (1921–2000) became a Canadian hero, especially in Quebec. He played from 1942 to 1960, scoring many goals and leading the Canadiens to eight Stanley Cups. He was known for his exciting style and determination.
After World War II, the amateur hockey system declined as professional hockey grew. More minor leagues appeared, and the NHL started showing games on TV. Several amateur leagues became professional. The NHL's growth into the U.S. created more demand for players. By the 1960s, the NHL expanded to 12 teams, filling new spots with players from minor leagues. The NHL's control over junior players also changed. Instead of signing young players for life, teams started drafting players. Junior leagues became very important in Canada.
By the 1960s, Canada struggled to form strong amateur teams for international play. University players and a dedicated national team couldn't compete with the organized amateur teams from Europe, especially the Soviet Union. Eventually, Canada's hockey federation decided to allow professionals in the Olympics and world championships.
In September 1972, Canada's best NHL players played against the top amateurs from the Soviet Union in a friendly series. This Summit Series was planned to increase hockey competitions between the two countries. Canadians thought it would prove their hockey greatness. However, the Soviets wanted to surprise the world. The series became a huge event, seen as a "Cold War" battle between East and West. Canada fell behind but won the last three games in Moscow to win the series four games to three, with one tie.
The Summit Series sparked new interest in developing hockey in Canada. Before 1919, there were few safety rules in amateur hockey. By 1945, rules against boarding and hits from behind were added, and fighting was penalized more. By 1972, professionals still didn't wear helmets, which were required in amateur play. Fighting was still allowed in both amateur and professional games in Canada. There was also a new focus on improving coaching quality. Canada returned to international play once the IIHF and Olympics allowed professionals.
At the same time, more professional teams were formed with the World Hockey Association. New teams appeared in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec, and Ottawa. Several of these teams joined the expanded NHL in 1979. The 1980s saw more European players join the NHL. In the 1990s, some Canadian NHL teams moved to the United States due to economic reasons, though Ottawa gained a team.
Women's hockey also grew in popularity in the 1980s. The first women's world championship was held in 1990. Women's ice hockey became an Olympic medal sport in 1998. Women players became so skilled that professional leagues were created, and some women even played in men's professional leagues.
The Memorial Cup, a tournament for junior-level teams started in 1920, became more popular. Junior leagues also grew and expanded into the United States near the border. Like professional teams, junior leagues started allowing non-Canadian players. Cable television also began showing more junior-level games.
By 2022, the NHL had 32 teams. The junior leagues had combined into three main leagues across Canada. The number of European players was limited. In 2002, Canada won its first men's Olympic ice hockey title in 50 years at Salt Lake City, using NHL players. The Canadian team won another title in 2010 at the Vancouver Olympics, where Canadian-sized rinks were used.
Ringette
Canada Sports Hall of Fame member Sam Jacks invented ringette in West Ferris (now North Bay, Ontario) in 1963. He was born in Scotland but moved to Canada when he was five. Red McCarthy helped design the first official rules for ringette, using ideas from basketball. The Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) helped develop the sport early on. Later, the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO), led by Sam Jacks, took over. They eventually passed the copyright for the rules to the Ontario Ringette Association (now Ringette Ontario), which then went to Ringette Canada.
Football, Rugby, and Soccer
The game of soccer has a long history in England. Around 1823, it changed into rugby. The first game in Canada was in the 1860s, played by British officers and university students in Montreal. Universities and rowing clubs quickly adopted the new sport. Americans were developing a similar game. In 1874, McGill University played two games with Harvard, switching between their different rules. Over time, Canada increasingly adopted American rules, making the two versions of football very similar. In 1898, Canadian rules were made official. The main differences were the field size and having three downs instead of four.
Governor General Earl Grey donated a championship trophy in 1907 for the best amateur team. This Grey Cup went to the professional champions starting in 1954. Big changes, like the forward pass, came in the 1920s and 1930s as American athletes and coaches arrived. In 1936, worried about becoming too American, the Canadian Rugby Union limited the number of foreign players. These limits are still in place today. After 1945, football grew at both university and professional levels. The Canadian Football League (CFL) spread teams across the country, and crowds loved the games. The Grey Cup championship game, first shown on TV in 1952, attracts over 4 million viewers. The CFL added five American teams in 1993, but this didn't work out well, and those teams eventually left or folded. Despite some challenges, football is doing well in Canada in the 21st century.
Soccer in Canada has become more popular recently, especially as a school sport for both boys and girls. It actually has more players than ice hockey. At the professional level, the Toronto FC became the first Canadian club in the American Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2007. In 2009, Vancouver got an MLS team, and Montreal got one in 2010. Both Vancouver and Montreal's clubs started in lower professional soccer leagues.
Other Sports
Lacrosse
Lacrosse was created in the 1850s when the middle class in Montreal adopted the First Nations game of "baggataway." This was a rough game played by hundreds of players. In the 1860s, the Montreal Shamrocks became a very strong team. Field lacrosse spread across Canada with English-speaking settlers. By the early 1890s, it was Canada's most popular summer game. The "golden age" was in the 1900s, with two professional leagues. However, increasing violence led to the professional leagues closing in 1914. The game's popularity then shrank to a few cities and small towns. It never became popular in schools or churches, which limited its growth.
In 1931, promoters introduced "box lacrosse" to attract more fans in the summer. Box lacrosse is played in a smaller space, often indoors or in baseball stadiums. It was a very physical game. During the Great Depression, fewer fans could afford to attend. The promoters didn't make a profit, but they changed Canadian amateur lacrosse, making it different from the field lacrosse played in the U.S., Britain, and Australia. In 1987, the National Lacrosse League began, with teams in both the United States and Canada.
Field lacrosse saw a comeback in the late 1990s when some Ontario universities added it to their women's sports programs. Now, university women play a game once mainly linked to Canadian masculinity.
Basketball
James Naismith, a Canadian who moved to the U.S., invented basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the 1890s. It quickly became popular as an indoor winter sport that didn't need much equipment. It grew in popularity at high schools and colleges in both the U.S. and Canada. In 1946, the owners of the Toronto Maple Leaf hockey team started a professional basketball team, the Toronto Huskies, in a new league. Seven thousand people watched their first game, but the Huskies lost, and attendance dropped. The team finished last and soon closed. They faced management problems and couldn't compete with Toronto's successful hockey, baseball, football, rugby, and wrestling teams.
Boxing
Boxing, both amateur and professional, has been practiced in Canada since before the country was formed. Professional boxing was illegal in Canada during the early days, but fights still happened in barns and fields outside major towns. The first widely recognized world boxing champion from Canada was George Dixon, a Black man from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Despite its smaller population, Canada has produced many world-class boxers.
Curling
Curling, which became an Olympic sport in 1998, arrived with Scottish soldiers in the 1750s. The Royal Caledonian Curling Club in Scotland standardized the rules in the 1830s. In curling, players slide a 42-pound granite stone towards a target on the ice. Other players use brooms to sweep the ice in front of the stone, which helps it travel further and straighter. By 1903, Winnipeg had become the world's curling capital, and it was a very competitive winter sport played across Canada.
Baseball and Cricket
Cricket never became very popular in Canada, even though some people tried to promote it as a way to connect with the British Empire. It was seen as a sport for the upper class and couldn't compete with baseball. Also, Canada's short summer season was a disadvantage for cricket. During the First World War, Canadian soldiers in Britain played baseball, not cricket.
Ultimate and Disc Sports (Frisbee)
Organized disc sports began in Canada in the early 1970s. This was helped by efforts from Irwin Toy (the Frisbee distributor in Canada) and events like the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships in Toronto (1972–1985) and the Vancouver Open Frisbee Championships (1974–1976). Freestyle, double disc court, disc guts, ultimate, and disc golf were the first disc sports events. The first Canadian Ultimate Championships (CUC) for the open division were held in Ottawa in 1987. The OCUA later hosted the CUC in 1993, 1999, 2002, and 2011.
Women in Sports
While sports are very important in Canadian culture, girls and women didn't always participate as much as men. For a long time, some people believed that intense physical activity could be dangerous for girls' and women's health. However, better science, research, education, and changing social attitudes helped more girls and women get involved. New laws also helped create more access and opportunities.
In the past, rules for girls' and women's games sometimes differed by region. For example, in basketball, eastern provinces had "girls' rules" that were more gentle, while western provinces used the same rules as men's games. It took time for uniform rules to develop for women's basketball nationally and internationally. Sports created specifically for females, like synchronized swimming, netball, and ringette, have had their own unique history and growth.
The growth of women's sports has sometimes been slower than men's. Historically, fewer women were interested in sports, and there were few women in leadership roles in sports organizations. There were also fewer women coaches in women's sports. Media often focused on men's sports, which some saw as suggesting that women who were serious about sports were "crossing gender lines."
However, women's participation in sports began to speed up after 1980. Important steps included the Fitness and Amateur Sport Act of 1961 and the 1970 report by the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. Perhaps the most important event was the National Conference on Women and Sport in 1974, sponsored by Marion Lay and the government. This conference brought together coaches, administrators, and athletes to discuss issues and plan for the future. The 1980s saw even more progress, with programs like Sport Canada's Women's Program (1980) and the Female Athlete Conference (1981). The Constitution Act of 1982 also helped.
Early on, women faced challenges in Canadian sports. They had to overcome the idea that women's bodies were too delicate for strong physical activity. The "new woman" movement around 1900, which saw women becoming more involved in education, work, and voting rights, began to challenge these ideas. Women started with activities like bicycling.
The 1920s were a breakthrough for women in sports, including working-class young women. The Women's Amateur Federation of Canada (WAAF) was formed in 1926 to create new opportunities, especially in international competitions. The WAAF worked to prove that strong physical activity and competition were not "unwomanly." They even set up medical checks for all women athletes. The WAAF partnered with the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada, which allowed Canadian women to compete in the Olympics and the British Empire Games.
1920s Milestones
Many barriers for women in sports fell in the 1920s. The Edmonton Grads became world champions in women's basketball in 1924. Canadian women participated in the Olympics for the first time. Women sportswriters, like Phyllis Griffiths, were hired to cover their achievements in newspapers.
1930s Challenges
The 1930s brought some setbacks. Critics suggested that non-competitive activities were more suitable for women.
In Canadian women's ice hockey, the Preston Rivulettes faced challenges getting enough ice time and money from their small fan base. Despite this, the Rivulettes dominated women's hockey in the 1930s, winning many championships. With money tight during the Great Depression in Canada, women's sports faced difficulties.
1940s Star Athlete
Figure skater Barbara Ann Scott was the top female athlete of the 1940s. She won the 1948 Olympic championship and two World championships (1947–1948). The media covered her extensively, focusing on her beauty and "sweetheart" image as much as her athletic achievements.
Post-WWII Decline
After 1939, the focus on male strength during the Second World War limited opportunities for women in sports. Women's ice hockey largely disappeared during the war. After the war, some believe that a push for women to return to traditional family roles caused women's sports to fade into the background.
1970s Revival
Even though feminists in the 1970s didn't always focus on sports, more and more women started doing aerobics and organized sports.
1980s Progress
Women became much more active after 1980. In 1981, Abby Hoffman, a former Olympian, became director general of Sport Canada. Her "Policy on Women's Sport" called for "equality." The Amateur Athletic Union of Canada (AAU) also became more supportive.
Canadian court cases dealt with women's rights to participate in sports. Human rights commissions across the provinces handled many cases about fairness for women in sports. Gender equality in sports became a political issue, leading to reports and decisions like the Canadian Sport Council including gender equity quotas in their rules.
1990s New Challenges
New challenges arose for sportswomen trying to achieve equal status with men. These included raising money, attracting large audiences, and finding sponsors.
The growth of women's athletics in higher education from 1961 to 2001 was reviewed. The creation of the National Fitness and Amateur Sport Advisory Council helped women's university sports gain momentum. More women students also increased the visibility of their sports. Women focused on organizing their sports and raising awareness among both male and female students. In 1969, the Canadian Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Union was formed to oversee events and national championships. It later merged with the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union in 1978.
Multi-sports Games
Olympics
Canadians have competed in the Olympics since 1900.
The 1976 Summer Olympics, held in Montréal, was the first Olympics in Canada. The entire province of Quebec prepared for the games, which sparked new interest in amateur sports across the province. The spirit of Quebec nationalism helped motivate the organizers. However, the city went $1 billion into debt. The Games helped introduce Quebec (and Canada) to the rest of the world. Nadia Comaneci's amazing gymnastics performances helped make the sport popular in Canada.
Like Montreal, Calgary, Alberta, which hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics, used the event to show itself as a world-class city.
The 2010 Winter Olympics were held from February 12 to February 28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and nearby areas.
Commonwealth Games
Canada hosted the very first British Empire Games in 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario. Canada also hosted the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta, and the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia. Halifax, Nova Scotia was considered to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games but withdrew its bid because the costs were too high.
Pan American Games
Canada has hosted the Pan American Games three times. Winnipeg hosted the games in 1967 and 1999. Toronto hosted the 2015 Pan American Games. The Toronto 2015 Pan American Games was the largest multi-sport event ever hosted in Canada in terms of the number of athletes competing.
See also
- Heritage Minutes
- History of sport
