UBC Thunderbirds - Football

Football

The UBC Thunderbirds football team has won the Hardy Trophy conference championship 15 times, which is third all-time among competing teams. On a national level, the team has won the Vanier Cup championship three times, in 1982, 1986 and, most recently, in 1997. The team has also lost twice in the title game, in 1978 and 1987. The Thunderbirds program has also yielded three Hec Crighton Trophy winners, Jordan Gagner in 1987, Mark Nohra in 1997, and, most recently, Billy Greene in 2011.

The team has a long-standing rivalry with the cross-town Simon Fraser Clan. While the two teams did not play within the same governing bodies until 2002 (SFU played in the NAIA while UBC has always competed in the CIS), they would compete in an annual match-up known as the Shrum Bowl, named after Gordon Shrum. After SFU moved to NCAA II, it seemed as though the game would stop, however, the two teams would indeed play in October 2010 at Thunderbird Stadium using Canadian rules. The game has not been played since then, as scheduling conflicts have prevented the two teams from playing.

In recent years, the program has seen little success. Since 2007, the Thunderbirds have qualified for the playoffs just once and last had a winning record in the 2004 season. The team's best campaign came in 2011 when they finished with a 6-2 record and in second place in the CWUAA with an appearance in the Hardy Cup. Quarterback Billy Greene would also become the third Thunderbird to win the Hec Crighton trophy that year. However, all team accolades would be for naught as an ineligible student-athlete, who played in all eight games, would force UBC to forfeit all six regular season wins as well as its post-season results from that year. The school was fined and the program was placed on probation for the following season. This seemed to halt any progress that was made as the team finished 2-6 for the 2012 season and out of the playoffs for the fifth time in six years.