Vanier Cup - History

History

The Vanier Cup was created in 1965 as the championship trophy of the Canadian College Bowl. For the first two years of competition, the Canadian College Bowl was an invitational event, with a national panel selecting two teams to play, much like the system employed by American college football today. In 1967, the Canadian College Bowl was declared the national football championship of the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union, now Canadian Interuniversity Sport, with a playoff system determining the two participants.

The Vanier Cup was played in Toronto, Ontario, from its inception in 1965 through 2003. However, after the CIS opened the game to host conference bids in 2001, the possibility arose to have games held outside Toronto. The 2004, 2005 and 2008 games were hosted by the OUA at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, and the 2006 game was hosted by the University of Saskatchewan at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon. Four times, the game has been played in the same city and during the same weekend as the Grey Cup: 1973, 2007 and 2012 in Toronto and in 2011 in Vancouver at BC Place Stadium.

The 2009 and 2010 games where held at Laval University in Quebec City, making it the first time the province of Quebec hosted the Vanier Cup. As of 2011, 40 of the 47 Vanier Cups have been played in Toronto, three elsewhere in Ontario, two in Quebec, one in Saskatchewan and one in British Columbia. No games have been staged in the Atlantic region. The game is regularly broadcast nationally and in 2008 was on the cable network The Score, before returning to TSN in 2009, where it has been since then.

In November 2010, the rights to the Vanier Cup were purchased by sports marketing company MRX. The 2011 game was held in Vancouver, on the same weekend as the 99th Grey Cup and for the first time it was fully integrated into the Grey Cup Festival as a festival event. The 48th Vanier Cup and the 100th Grey Cup are scheduled to be held on the same weekend at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Today, the Vanier Cup is played between the winners of the Uteck Bowl (formerly Atlantic Bowl) and the Mitchell Bowl (formerly the Churchill Bowl). The Uteck and Mitchell Bowls, in turn, are contested by the Loney Bowl (AUS), Hardy Cup (Canada West), Dunsmore Cup (RSEQ), and Yates Cup (OUA) champions. The Vanier Cup's most valuable player is awarded the Ted Morris Memorial Trophy. It was first awarded at the first championship in 1965 and named in honour of Teddy Morris, who died the same year. Morris, a Hall of Fame former Toronto Argonauts player and coach, was an organizer of the first bowl and champion for developing Canadian players.

The Bruce Coulter Award was first awarded in 1992 and is dependent on what position the winner of the Ted Morris Trophy played. If the winner is from the offence, then the Bruce Coulter Award winner will be the most outstanding defensive player or vice-versa. It was named after Bruce Coulter, long-time Head Coach at Bishop's University and former offensive and defensive player with the Montreal Alouettes in the 1950s. Coulter was inducted as a builder in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1997.