Introduction
The Grey Cup is one of the largest and proudest Canadian traditions. Having been around since 1909, it is both the trophy given to the winner of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the game that decides who wins. Over 100 editions of the game have been played, all of them in Canada in the fall, and many of them in outdoor stadiums, fully exposed to the elements. This means that the weather will often be a major factor in the game, and with the game scheduled years in advance, there have been a large number of times when the players, fans, and officials have been at the mercy of everything nature decided to throw at them that day. This means that unlike the Super Bowl, where the game is usually played in a Dome in a warm city to prevent the weather from interfering, weather often plays a major role in Canada’s football championship. Here are some examples of extreme Grey Cup weather impacting the outcome of a game.
1950 Grey Cup: Mud Bowl
Played on November 25, the 1950 Grey Cup was an early example of extreme Grey Cup weather impacting the game’s outcome. Earlier that day, Toronto’s Varsity Stadium which is where the game was held, had heavy snowfall the previous day. Although equipment was used to clear the field, the equipment damaged the turf. To make things worse, the precipitation continued the day of the game, and with conditions warming, the snow turned to rain, making the ground slippery. Things like passing the ball which are an undeniably large part of the game, were made much more difficult. “You couldn’t catch the ball. You’d let it hit, hear it splat and then you picked it up and tried to run with it,” said Nick Volpe, the kick returner for the Toronto Argos in that game.
Due to the poor conditions, only one touchdown was scored that game, by Toronto quarterback Al Dekdebrun, who ran the ball across the goal line. Toronto won the game in their home stadium 13-0 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. It is the most recent shutout in the Grey Cup, as Winnipeg’s offence struggled.
1962 Grey Cup: Fog Bowl
It’s not often that a sports game gets divided into two. While it’s true that there are things like baseball rain delays, most of them are for singular regular season games. Having a championship game interrupted by weather and delayed until another day would seem ridiculous given the amount of hype based around them. However, this extreme weather Grey Cup had so much going on in it that it was delayed part-way through. The game started on December 1st and finished the next day, both in Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium. It was also the 50th Grey Cup game played.
The game, that was played between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, started off looking like it was going to be a clean game where weather was not going to play that big of a role. However, starting in the second quarter, the area around the stadium became extremely foggy due to the air coming from Lake Ontario. The fog got worse throughout the game, to the point where it eventually became so thick that fans couldn’t even see what was happening on the field. Receivers couldn’t see the ball being thrown to them, and kick returners wouldn’t be able to see the ball being kicked, and had to wait until they heard it land to know where it was. As a result, with 9:29 left in the fourth quarter, with Winnipeg up 28-27, the game was delayed. Play resumed from that same point the next day. However, nobody scored after the game resumed, giving the Bombers the victory.
1965 Grey Cup: Wind Bowl
Three years later, the Tiger-Cats and Blue Bombers would have a rematch, also in Toronto’s exhibition stadium. Winnipeg playing in Toronto seems to be a formula for extreme Grey Cup weather impacting the game. The weather coming from Lake Ontario was also the starting point for extreme weather in this game. However, this time, the weather coming from the lake wasn’t fog, it was wind.
Sustained winds usually over 50 km/h (31 mph) with gusts of up to 80 km/h (50 mph), made both passing and kicking the ball into the wind quite difficult. To combat this, Winnipeg coach Bud Grant and Hamilton coach Ralph Sazio agreed to change the punting rules and make it so that when the team going against the wind was kicking, the ball would be declared dead the moment the returner caught it, acting as a mandatory version of the NFL’s fair catch rule. Even with this rule change, all scoring was done by the team with the wind advantage (Hamilton in odd quarters, and Winnipeg in even quarters). Grant was so afraid of kicking into the wind, that three times in the game, he chose to have his Blue Bombers concede a two-point safety instead of punting into such a stiff breeze. The six points generated by this turned out to make the difference, as Hamilton won by exactly six points, with their 22-16 victory, and avenging their fog bowl loss three years prior.
1977 Grey Cup: Ice Bowl
Getting away from Toronto, the 1977 Grey Cup was held in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, with the hometown Alouettes facing the Edmonton Eskimos. On November 25th, two days before the game, Montreal was hit by a large blizzard. As is standard, the grounds crew used salt in an attempt to melt the snow. However, the temperature went down very quickly soon afterwards, meaning that the melted snow froze back up, turning into ice, which remained on the field for the game.
The entire time before the game, players were attempting to find ways to find shoes that would provide a grip on the slippery ground. Players tried using screw-on cleats, broomball shoes, Astroturf cleats and more. Montreal defensive back Tony Proudfoot saw a stapler and used it to put staples in his shoes. His teammates one by one began copying the move both before and during the game, with half to three-quarters of the team using this technique by half-time.
The staples seemed to make a difference, as the Montreal players were slipping significantly less than the Edmonton players, with Montreal winning in their home stadium 41-6, with Edmonton committing 10 turnovers.
1982 Grey Cup: Rain Bowl
Losing in 1977 must have ignited Edmonton, as they appeared in, and won the next 5 Grey Cups. The last of these was the 1982 Rain Bowl held in Toronto, which was once again held in Exhibition Stadium against the hometown Toronto Argos. Toronto was unable to move the ball well after mid-way through the 2nd quarter, as the cold rain made things more difficult. However, Edmonton’s offence, led by quarterback Warren Moon, the only player to be in both the CFL and NFL Halls of Fame, was able to overcome these conditions, leading Edmonton to a 32-16 victory, with Moon winning game MVP. The poor fan experience in the game led to many fans wanting a Dome Stadium to be built, leading to the creation of the SkyDome, which was later renamed the Rogers Centre.
1991 Grey Cup: Coldest Grey Cup
The first-ever Grey Cup game held in Winnipeg was the coldest Grey Cup on record, with the temperature reaching a freezing -16 C (3 F) at kickoff, and the wind chill made it feel like -35 C (-31 F) by halftime. Despite making it uncomfortable, the weather had little impact on the game, with the Toronto Argos defeating the Calgary Stampeders 36-21, mostly due to a dominant 4th quarter.
1996 Grey Cup: Snow Bowl
Held in Hamilton, Ontario, the 1996 Grey Cup is one of the most well-known extreme weather Grey Cups of all time, where the Toronto Argos played the Edmonton Eskimos. The temperature was -10 C (14 F) with winds of 20 km/h (12 mph). Despite being warmer than the 1991 Grey Cup, due to the nearby Lake Ontario, plenty of precipitation fell. Since it was below freezing, this led to heavy snowfall. Possibly the most memorable play of the game was when Edmonton Quarterback Danny McManus threw to his receiver Eddie Brown, who originally dropped the ball, but kicked it back up, and then caught it.
The game had an exciting finish and was close until Toronto recovered Edmonton’s onside kick, clinching a 43-37 victory and stopping Edmonton’s last-ditch attempt at a comeback.