The 1924 UBC football team, playing what was then known as Canadian rugby, pioneered the university’s long-standing uninterrupted grid-iron program and set the foundation for amateur football in British Columbia when they partook in the sport’s first organized league in the province, a four-team, inter-city circuit. They were underdogs at UBC at the time as the soccer and rugby teams opposed the addition of football, causing a delay in planning that began back in 1922. The unified front of the city’s soccer and rugby teams denied the burgeoning football program access to the fields, limiting the first year of play to a January-February schedule.
But persevere they did, and by the 1925 season UBC had decided to make football an official minor sport. The team responded by– capturing their first championship – what could ostentatiously be termed the B.C. title – with a 3-2 record, outscoring their opponents 69-31.
The 1924 UBC roster: George Anderson, Lever Bates (playing coach), Mr. Brennan, Mr. Castleman, Peter Demidoff, Mr. Evans, Mr. Fleet, Mr. Gustafson, Harold Hall, Mr. Hislop, John Hockin, Alex McLurg, Angus McPhee, Mr. Morgan, Wils Morris, Ken Noble, Charles Schultz, Harry Seed, Duncan Todd, Bert Tupper, Mr. Winn, and Mr. Woodworth.
