Bennett's Breakdown: REMEMBERING

By Donnovan Bennett - Sportsnet TV Personality

Follow Donnovan on Twitter: @donnovanbennett

I’ve always found it fitting that Remembrance Day falls on the same week the CIS football conference trophies are awarded. All with different stories and different histories, the four trophies all in their own way represent segments of our country and they all connect current day young Canadians with young men just like them from the past.

Around the same time every year when personal accolades are being awarded to CIS players being described as “warriors” and “soldiers”, we collectively take time to remember young Canadian men of the same age from the past that truly live up to that description. When these single elimination games are being hyped as “do or die” contests comprised of “battles in the trenches”, we remember teams of battalions who are true champions.

There has always been a relationship between the military and collegiate football. Not just the military terminology and rank and file nature of depth charts and huddles. In the sport’s infancy, hundreds were drafted or volunteered to fight and many never returned from the duty they were called to answer. Nowadays the average university student’s only connection to the military is playing the video game Call of Duty. So one of the unintended consequences of continuing to hand out these trophies enriched with history is that the current players can literally touch the past.  

The Hardy Cup is given to the Canada West champion and is named after Evan Hardy, the former head of the agricultural engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. Even back when it was first awarded in 1922, there were a reported 1,000 fans in attendance. The Saskatchewan Huskies have won it 20 times, followed by Alberta with 18.

The only conference championship that is not named after the man who donated the trophy is out East. Named after Dr. B. L. Jewett, the Jewett trophy is awarded in the Loney Bowl. First presented in 1960, Saint Mary’s has won 24 times followed by Acadia, who have won 12. Even teams that no longer compete anymore like the UNB Red Bombers have won two, while the UPEI Panthers once played in the title game but lost.

Ironically, two Ontario schools first played for Quebec’s championship trophy, the Dunsmore Cup, in 1980 when Ottawa beat Queen’s. Although Laval has won the most with 12, the Gaels have seven.

The most historical among them is the Yates Cup, which was first awarded in 1898 when the U of T Varsity Blues won it. First donated by Dr. Henry Brydges Yates of McGill University back in the days that the “old four” of McGill, Western, Toronto, and Queen’s were the only teams competing.

Western has won it the most, capturing the trophy 30 times, followed by Toronto with 25. Despite being the CIS’s biggest conference, all but two OUA schools have hoisted the Yates. It is the oldest football trophy still awarded, even older than the Grey Cup. Not just relevant in amateur sports circles, it has pop culture relevance and is the answer to a jeopardy question as an asteroid is named after it. “YatesCup” is the astrological name of asteroid 12477.

From 1915 to 1918 it was not presented due to World War 1. The same is true for 1940 to 1945 due to World War 2. Meaning for the equivalent of the length of a CIS career, or the length of time you can graduate with an undergrad and a master’s degree; Canadian amateur football was put on hold while battle was waged on different fields.

Never when these trophies were first awarded did their founders imagine they would go on to be celebrated dates on the university calendar in front of thousands of Canadians in person and on TV, backed by corporate sponsors like Subway and Investors Group.

Of course, these games still hold intrigue to this day as they are for the right to continue to play for the Vanier Cup, named after Georges Vanier, the former Governor General of Canada. First awarded in 1965, most people don’t know that well before the NCAA’s BCS system the Vanier participants in its first two years of existence were invitees selected by a panel of judges.

Part of its legacy is its parity, as only six active schools have never played for the Vanier Cup. However, part of its legacy is also that it ties all these older, cherished trophies together cumulatively and continues to give them meaning and relevance.

So this weekend, when you see an RCMP member accompany one of those four conference trophies on stage, take the time to thank them for their current service. This week’s games are far from just the de facto CIS championship quarterfinals.

This week, when you are playing, coaching, attending or watching the conference championships, take a moment to reflect on the men and women in our country who did they same before you. How, in many ways, you share a commonality with them, and if your life is any different it is probably for the better. How many Canadians went away to fight for our right to enjoy a beautiful game on a beautiful fall weekend? How many parents lost the ability to see their children compete and graduate because their sons never came home? To me remembrance is not just about Flanders Fields, it is also about our athletic fields.

I tell people all the time that CIS athletics is important because it gives us a chance to appreciate the athletic endeavors of our country’s future. On Saturday, the moment of silence before kickoff and the missing dates in the record books are reminders to appreciate the heroic endeavors of our country’s past.

Follow Donnovan on Twitter: @donnovanbennett