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History of sport in British North America
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Major expansion of Canadian curling
Curling was brought to Canada by the Scottish in the late 1700s, and the first Canadian curling club was formed in 1807 by 20 merchants. However, it wasn't untill around 1821 that many more curling clubs began to pop up aroung Canada. Kingston, Toronto, Quebec and Halifax had all founded city clubs and all enjoyed this winter game. -
First competitive inter-city curling game
The first competitive inter-city curling game in Canada was held in Trois Rivers and was played by the Quebec and Montreal curling clubs. Quebec came out as the victor of this heavily attended game, meaning that Montreal had to pay for the post game dinner. -
First Canadian manual of curling
In 1840, James Bickett, a Toronto Curling Club member wrote and published the first Canadian curling manual. This text included remarks on curling's history and it's evolution, it's founders, as well as the constitution of the Toronto Curling Club. -
Large standardization of Canadian curling
Quebec curling clubs joined the Scottish clubs that were situated in Canada in 1841, forming the Canadian branch of curling. The Scottish, who were the introducers of the game, helped the Quebec clubs standardize the game in the way we know curling today. However, there was the exception of both iron and granite curling rocks. -
Invention of Lacrosse
In 1850, Lacrosse was invented when Montreal's anglophone middle class adopted the aboriginal game of 'Baggataway', which was very violent and consited of aboriginal teams having hondreds of players on the feild at once. Players could hit other plays with wooden clubs and even tackle whoever had the 'ball', resulting in many severe injuries. -
Beging of rugby in Canada
In 1860, British soliders positoned around Montreal introduced rugby to the universtiy students at McGill. The game was very rough, much like this sport is today, but the game caught on fast and the soliders and University students organized friendly tournaments between the two groups. -
The begining of the end of cricket
After cricket was introduced in the late 1850s by the british, the game never caught on and began to take a sharp decrease in popularity which eventually led to the complete disaperance of the game in Canada at the end of 1890s. This greatly disappointed Britan because cricket was away for all colonies of the empire (India, Australia, New Zeland) to symbolize their loyalty and unity to this suprmacy. -
Extreme increase in lacrosse
By 1870, lacrosse had expanded throught Canada and now there were many Protestant Toronto and Montreal lacrosse clubs. The game had spread with the anglophone settlers from Montreal to distant places like Halifax and big cities like Toronto. By the end of the 1800s, lacrosse was the most popular summer sport. -
Evolution of rugby to soccer
Eventually, the US was begining to play something similar to rugby, so McGill and Harvard universities faced off in many matches, alternating which rules were used each time. Later on in the year, Canada was begining to adopt the US's rules and now there were two new different sports: What we know today as soccer, and rugby. The new US version of rugby (soccer) became much more popular, even though rugby was still commonly played. -
First game of Canadian Soccer
It was Harvard University's turn to use their set of rules for the series of footall/rugby matches against McGill. This was the first official time these rules were used in history, making March 14, 1874 the first official game of Soccer in Canada. The exciting and extremely competitive match was hosted by McGill university in Montreal. -
Major standardization and expansion of hockey
Stick and ball games both on and off the ice were continuously played throughout the 1800s, but in 1875 the game was changed to the modern form we follow today. Students at McGill university created and changed hockey's fomer rules into new and advanced standards. Most importantly, the safety of the game was improved, and penalties were much more enforced. This standardization led to the extreme increase in this game's popularity and, even later, promting Lord Stanley to create the Stanley cup. -
First indoor hockey game
On March 3, 1875 the first indoor hockey game was plyed at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal. The game was organized by James Creighton, a captin of one of the playing teams, who was a member of the Victoria Skating club and a figure skating judge. Both teams met the criteria of nine skaters on the ice (1 goalie, 8 players) and consisted of other members from James' skating club as well as close friends of members on it. After the game an apparent great fight broke out between the two teams. -
Invention of basketball
In the summer of 1890, the sport of basketball was invented by a Canadian who had immigrated to the US named James Naismith in Springfeild, Massachusetts. The game had insantly became popular as there was so little needed (basket and a ball) for the game, almost anyone rich or poor could take part in this sport. This game easily became one of the most popular summer sports, and the most popular indoor sport during the winter as well.
