‘Winnipegs’ didn’t rate much ink…

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/06/2010 (5657 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If they were still walking the Earth today, the editors of this newspaper, given the benefit of hindsight, might now agree news of the formation of the Winnipeg Rugby Club probably warranted significantly better play than it received back in 1930.

Just for the record, and after browsing our archives, the front page of the Manitoba Free Press’s June 11, 1930 edition — the day after the establishment of the club now known as the Blue Bombers — featured the following headlines:

— “North Saskatchewan Forest Fires Menacing”

— “Quotarians Here For Monster Convention”

— And our personal favourite: “Left-handed Ex-Convict Is Sought In Chicago Slaying.”

The establishment of the most storied sports franchise in this city was well back in that day’s 26-page edition of the Free Press — past a Piggly Wiggly advertisement promoting pure beef sausage selling for 15 cents a pound, past the Studebaker ad ($1,155 brand new) and the spot for Lifebuoy Health Soap that featured a photo of a guy and his sweetie in a car and the teaser: “How Fred’s happiness was nearly ruined by B.O. (body odour).”

Shoot, you even have to look hard on the sports page to find news of the rugby club’s formation. The big sports story of the day was an upcoming boxing match at the Amphitheatre that featured “up and coming Winnipeg boy” Frank Battaglia vs. Patsy Pollock of Chicago on a card that was scheduled to include “3 snappy preliminaries.”

But right there below the story on the Varsity vs. St. Andrews United Churches League soccer game — for those of you scoring at home, Varsity won 3-nil — is the news that would ultimately become so historic for local sports fans, under this juicy headline: “Winnipeg Rugby Club is Formed.”

R.M. (Dick) Mahoney was named president of the team, which replaced the Tammany Tigers in the Manitoba Rugby Football Union and would be known as the “Winnipegs” until 1936, when Vince Leah nicknamed them the Blue Bombers.

According to the story, the meeting included the election of a board, was well attended and “judging from the amount of enthusiasm shown, the club under Mr. Mahoney’s guidance will be a real live wire in the Manitoba Union.”

Those live wires became the first team from Western Canada to win the Grey Cup in 1935 in front of 6,405 fans at the Hamilton Amateur Athletic Association Grounds, thanks to the work of Bud Marquardt, Fritz Hanson, et al. It was the first of the franchise’s 10 championships. Along the way, they have provided some of the most dramatic sporting moments — and important historical dates — in this province’s rich history.

It is a franchise that has survived two world wars, floods, fires and countless financial near-deaths. It thrived under the on-field leadership of football legends like Bud Grant, Cal Murphy and Mike Riley and made famous the likes of Hanson, Jack Jacobs, Ken Ploen, Leo Lewis, Dieter Brock, Joe Poplawski, James Murphy, Charles Roberts, Milt Stegall and many others who graced its uniform.

This is a franchise that has seen thousands lining the streets for its Grey Cup victory parades — even though footage of the last celebration now seems as grainy as that of the Hindenburg crash — and hundreds of thousands filling seats at the old Osborne Stadium and now Canad Inns Stadium. If all continues to roll according to plan, they’ll be in new digs at the University of Manitoba by the 2012 season.

So you wonder if anyone, let alone the folks at the newspaper, knew on this date back in 1930 how big this franchise would eventually become.

Maybe most readers just glanced at the story. Maybe some desperately wanted to be first in line to score tickets. Or maybe they were more interested in finding out what time The Divorcee, starring Norma Shearer — “The most talked-of film in years!”– was running at The Met, or if those “stamped unbleached cotton fudge aprons” were still on sale at Eaton’s for 19 cents.

In any case, the Winnipegs are still here, and love ’em or loathe ’em, they remain one of the best sporting soap operas anywhere in production.

Yes, it’s a franchise with its warts and scars, but we will say this about the ol’ gal today on its anniversary: not bad for 80. And here’s to a whole lot more.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca