1887 - THE CLA SENIOR LEAGUE IS FORMED
For twenty years lacrosse had been rapidly growing. Though Montreal
was the sports' centre, Ontario was where the greatest expansion was
taking place. The key year had been 1867. At the start of the season
there were only 6 clubs in the country. By year end there were 80, the
majority in southern Ontario. In 1868 a twelve team tournament was
held in Paris. Dr. George Beers organised the event and refereed most
of the games. Akwesasne shutout Prescott in the final 2-0. 1870 saw
the creation of the Excelsior Lacrosse Club. T.W. Duggan formed the
team at Brampton High School.
The creation of the Canadian Lacrosse Association(C.L.A.) was the
initial step towards league lacrosse in Ontario. One of the C.L.A.'s
first acts was to ban professionals from the game. At the time, 1880,
almost all paid players were natives. They were the best available and
some commanded a salary, however most only received travel expenses.
Any exchange of cash was unacceptable in the Amateur Era.
Throughout the early years Ontario's small town clubs were active in
local competitions. These battles were for little more than a trophy
and bragging rights. An example was the Calcutta Silver Cup. It was
donated to the Peterborough junior club in 1884. In August they hosted
a tournament with the cup as grand prize. Cobourg won the trophy by
beating the home side 3-1 in the final. A fortnight later Peterborough
travelled south to win the cup back. A century ago it was not a simple
trip down Highway #28. The Peterborough squad, accompanied by the Fire
Brigade Band, took a ferry down the Otonabee River then across Rice
Lake to Harwood. The rest of the journey was made by train. All that
effort to get beaten 3-1 again! As for the Calcutta Cup, like so many
similar trophies, it has left no trace. Probably melted down for its
silver content.
1887 was a landmark year as Ontario lacrosse started its own leagues.
The C.L.A. Senior and Intermediate leagues were created, the former to
rival the N.L.U.. The defection of both Toronto teams from the N.L.U.
was the new circuit's immediate gain. They were joined by eight other
clubs from Ottawa, Orillia, Richmond Hill, Niagara Falls,
St.Catharines, Brantford, Paris and Woodstock. There were even more
teams at the Intermediate level, so many that the league was divided
into zones, similar to minor lacrosse today.
In the Senior League matches were played to 3 or 4 goals, determined by
the teams or the amount of daylight. Like the N.L.U., Ontario clubs
also had local rivalries which were old and strong. Septmeber 3rd was
a memorable day for the Paris club. On that Saturday, the Brants
travelled down to Brantford and, led by George Tait's hattrick,
defeated their neighbours 4-1. It was their first win in the Telephone
City since 1879! Returning home that night, the players were met by an
italian band and escorted to the Bradford Hotal for supper. Later
there was a torchlight procession involving a crowd of over 400.
Not a bad way to end the season. Yes it was over for Paris because
Toronto had already clinched the championship. The Queen City boys
concluded their season by taking on the N.L.U. champs. Cornwall
humbled them 3-0.
To the east, Brockville and Ottawa replaced the Toronto teams. With
Jim McConaghy between the poles playing every minute Brockville claimed
two early wins over Ottawa and M.A.A.A.. Their third came in August,
again beating the Winged Wheels.
The titleholders fell off badly with a 3-5 record. For a change they
had Billy Aird from the start of the year. Unluckily he suffered a
season ending injury in their second game. On offence W.Hodgson took
the year off.
In their place Shamrocks returned to form and challenged Cornwall for
the pennant. The irish did not begin their schedule until July 2nd,
M.A.A.A.'s third game, and entered completely unprepared. Shanks
debuted as the Triple A's goaltender and produced a 22 minute shutout.
Shamrocks quickly put that setback behind them. The next week John
Reddy played his first contest in goal and shutout Cornwall in half a
hour. The Colts had won their previous two and would win all the rest.
One of the highlights of the year was the August 20th Cornwall home
game versus Brockville. It coincided with the Caledonian Picnic. 100
highlanders with pipes entertained the lacrosse fans. The Factory Town
also hosted the season finale on October 1st, between two 6-1 clubs.
With the championship on the line Colts had Norm Carpenter in goal. He
had missed the loss to Shamrocks and had since surrendered only two
goals in five games. The irish were at full strength but it wasn't
enough. The home side won three straight in only 30 minutes.
