Historic Football Fields of Winnipeg

[Stats Junkie]

Old Driving Park

The first documented field used for football in Winnipeg was Old Driving Park. From the earliest mentions of football in newspapers in the early 1880s until the end of the 1900-01 season, this was where most football games were played.

Old Driving Park was sometimes mentioned as the Driving Park, the cricket grounds or simply as the field on Broadway behind the courthouse and gaol (jail). It was located on the site of what is now called Memorial Park.


Map dated 1884

In 1898, the land was gifted to the University of Manitoba to become the permanent site for the fledgling university. Due to uncertainty regarding development plans, football relocated to another site for the 1898-99 season before returning the following season. During its final season at Old Driving Park, this location was referred to as the Varsity field a couple of times.

Organized football really started in the fall of 1887 with the first season of scheduled games taking place in 1888-89. Football finally gained traction with the formation of the Manitoba Rugby Football Union for the 1892-93 season. MRFU teams that called Old Driving Park home were:

Winnipeg (Rugby) Football Club – the original football team in Winnipeg
St.John's Rugby Football Club – consisted of alumni, faculty, students and other persons associated with St.John's College
Osborne Football Club – servicemen stationed at Fort Osborne
Royal Canadian Dragoons – Canada's mounted military
Wesley Rugby Football Club – alumni, faculty, students and other persons associated with Wesley College.

Note: from 1888-89 until 1902-03, football in Manitoba was split into two sessions. The autumn session was played late September until early November while the spring session was played mid April until mid May.

[Big Daddy]

Hey Stats Junkie - not sure what this is, but I like it!  Is this the first part in a series, and you are going to continue?  I hope so, loving this history.  Thank you!

[Stats Junkie]

Yes, this is first of a series of posts about the historical fields used by Winnipeg football teams at the senior/pro level.

It is something I've been thinking about doing for some time and got inspired by Ed Tait's 10 lists in 10 days.

[DM83]

Very cool.

I am a retiring (soon) history teacher, so many places make me have second looks.
Being a Bomber fan since Wally Gabler and Dave Rainey  graced our field, and having played for the Bisons., in an alumni game we played some of the ex Bombers including Doug Strong, Gene Lakusiak, amongst others..

I remember training camps at the old Canada Packers site, St. James High school, the Rods field and  later, when they went to Brandon.  However, The best site was St.Johns Ravenscourt. What a beautiful site. I had attended the Dave Keon- Billy Harris hockey school, there a few years before the team was there for training camp.

This is a good list. I mentioned going to the  Canada Packers site to some of my 70 year old contemporaries and they didn't know that the team was nomadic back in the 60's or 70's
Interestingly or weird Jim Spavital was the head coach during the Ravenscourt tenure. As we watched from the sidelines, he gathered the troops together, and he supposedly had a team rule/policy of no standing around with " hands on their hips", and when he got them huddled  together, they  or he chanted G.A.T.A and repeated it a few times, as the team joined in the chant. I was told it meant "Get after their *****".

Anyway, how about a list of where the team practiced, training camps.  I could only imagine what the American imports thought about practicing on that Canada Packers field. What a dump.

[Waffler]

The map has north on the right hand side, makes more sense to me rotated.

Good stuff StatsJ. Thanks.

[Stats Junkie]

Anyway, how about a list of where the team practiced, training camps.  I could only imagine what the American imports thought about practicing on that Canada Packers field. What a dump.

I will only be focusing on fields used for games.

The map has north on the right hand side, makes more sense to me rotated.

It makes sense. Several vintage maps of Winnipeg have an odd orientation.

[Stats Junkie]

Fort Garry Park

The second stop for football in Winnipeg was Fort Garry Park which was located at the southeast corner of Main Street and Broadway. The land was owned by the Canadian Northern Railway (75%) and the Hudson's Bay Company (25%). Fort Garry Park was initially used for cycling, trap shooting, lacrosse and cultural events. A dirt track for cycling surrounded the grass field.

Map dated 1906


Alternate map which shows University of Manitoba, Provincial Gaol & Fort Osborne.

The MRFU temporarily moved to Fort Garry Park for the 1898-99 season after Old Driving Park had been gifted to the University of Manitoba. The MRFU returned to Fort Garry Park for the 1901-02 season and remained there until 1904. A new home was required for the 1905 season after a permanent grandstand was erected leaving a field that was less than regulation size for football.

Fire consumed the grandstand and dressing rooms in September 1906. The Canadian Northern Railway then reclaimed the land to expand its rail yard.

Note: One article mentioned that some children were perched on top of a nearby Canadian Northern Railway boxcar to get a view of a football game.

MRFU teams that called Fort Garry Park home were:

Winnipeg (Rugby) Football Club – the original football team in Winnipeg
St.John's Rugby Football Club – consisted of alumni, faculty, students and other persons associated with St.John's College
Royal Canadian Dragoons – Canada's mounted military
Wesley Rugby Football Club – alumni, faculty, students and other persons associated with Wesley College.
Winnipeg Rowing Club – local rowing club
Shamrock Association Football Club – association football (soccer) team that took up rugby football for a couple of seasons

Note: The Winnipeg Rowing Club (aka RC's) chose to take up football because of the success that the Argonaut Rowing Club in Toronto had developing its rowers. Apparently there were a number of synergies between rowing and football.

The RC's joined the MRFU for the 1902-03 season but they were reluctant to play the spring session. For 1903, the RC's informed the MRFU that their continued participation was conditional on an autumn only football schedule.

[Stats Junkie]

River Park

The MRFU changed locations for the 1905 football season moving south of the Assiniboine River. River Park was a recreational area centred on Osborne Street and south of Jubilee Ave and Clare St. A privately owned pontoon foot bridge was located at the foot of Osborne St crossing the Red River to Elm Park.

From the Manitoba Historical Society website:
"Construction of River Park commenced in 1891, flourishing until the mid-1930s. The growing use of automobiles, the Great Depression, and urban development caused a gradual abandonment and decay between 1934 and 1941. In February 1942, it was sold and demolished to make way for residential development.

A set of three interpretive plaques describing the development of River Park and the surrounding neighbourhood are located in Elva Fletcher Way at the northwest corner of Osborne Street and Jubilee Avenue, beside an enclosure built to mimic an old streetcar."

The last remnants of River Park are located on the shore of the Red River in what is now called Churchill Park.


Map dated 1915

It appears as though the main sports field was located on the southwest corner of Osborne St at Jubilee Ave. The MRFU played senior football games at River Park 1905-1915, 1919 and 1922-1927.

MRFU teams that called River Park home were:

Winnipeg Rugby Football Club – the original local football club
St.John's Rugby Football Club – consisted of alumni, faculty, students and other persons associated with St.John's College
Winnipeg Rowing Club – local rowing club
Shamrock Association Football Club – association football (soccer) team that took up rugby football for a couple of seasons
Tiger Rugby Club – played as Tigers and Tammany Tigers
Victoria Rugby Club – August 30, 1915, the Victoria Hockey Club took over operations of the Winnipeg Rowing Club
University of Manitoba Varsity – students & alumni of the U of M
St.John's Rugby Club – this version of the St.John's relied heavily on persons who had a loose affiliation with St.John's College which now fell under the banner of the University of Manitoba.

Visiting teams that played at River Park:

Brandon Rugby Football Club (MRFU) – star player was Art Ross. I think he has a hockey trophy named after him. Brandon played home games at the athletic grounds.
Fort William – a team from Fort William (now Thunder Bay) played an exhibition game in Winnipeg vs. Winnipeg Rowing Club in 1909. Teams played 13 players per side in the first half – a member of the St.John's team played for Fort William in the second half.
Hamilton Tigers (IRFU) – Hamilton Tigers played a series of games in western Canada in 1913. To bolster the roster, Hamilton brought along extra players from Hamilton Alerts (ORFU) & Hamilton Rough Riders (intermediate team).
Regina Rugby Club (SRFU) – played in Winnipeg as part of the WCRFU playoffs
Edmonton Elks (ARU) – played in Winnipeg as part of the WCRFU playoffs
50th Battalion (ARU) – Calgary based team. Played in Winnipeg as part of the WCRFU playoffs
Regina Roughriders (SRFU) – played in Winnipeg as part of the WCRFU playoffs

Note: Only one exhibition game was played in 1915 between the Tiger Rugby Club and the Winnipeg Rowing & Canoe Club (separate and distinct from the Winnipeg Rowing Club). The WR&CC used players from the Victoria Rugby Club which had suspended operations on the eve of the 1915 MRFU season.

Note: River Park was the site of the first legal forward pass in Canadian rules football. On September 14, 1929 a juvenile game between Valor Road & Columbus featured four completed passes with 2 going for touchdowns. The passes are credited to S. Hazlewood.