161-531: The Grey Cup ( French : Coupe Grey ) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football . The game is contested between the winners of the CFL's East and West Divisional playoffs and is one of Canadian television 's largest annual sporting events. Since 2022,
322-572: A halftime show , often featuring performances by well-known Canadian musical acts such as Nickelback , who performed at the 2011 game. In recent years, a former football player, a celebrity, or another special guest participates in the coin toss ceremony to recognize their community involvement or significance. Nicknamed Canada's "Grand National Drunk", the Grey Cup party originated in the 1948 championship when hundreds of Calgary Stampeders fans descended on Toronto for their team's first appearance in
483-587: A 14–1–1 record during the season and were considered overwhelming favourites against the surprise Eastern champions, the 5–11 Ottawa Rough Riders. The first half did not go as Edmonton hoped, though, as Ottawa, led by rookie quarterback J.C. Watts , emerged with a 20–1 lead. Quarterback Warren Moon led the Eskimos back in the second half, and with the game tied at 23, Dave Cutler kicked the game-winning field goal with just three seconds remaining. Edmonton's championship run came to an end in 1983 when they lost in
644-605: A Calgary fumble 109 yards in the 2017 Grey Cup game which was won by Toronto. The 1954 game also marked the end of the amateur era as the top teams completed their transition to professional organizations. As the 1950s wore on, the Big Four and WIFU distanced themselves from the CRU, forming the Canadian Football Council in 1956 to administer the game at the professional level. Two years later, on January 18, 1958,
805-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
966-746: A better record. The consequences of the new rules were felt immediately, as the league gave a playoff spot to the Stampeders having a better record than the Alouettes, and decided the East Division Final would be a 2-game-total-point Final between the Toronto Argonauts and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who finished first and second, respectively. The crossover, if necessary, would begin in 1987. In financial difficulty,
1127-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
1288-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
1449-474: A national governing body and eventually a Dominion championship for what at that time was still a game called and practically identical to rugby union began in the early 1880s, culminating in the creation of the Canadian Rugby Union in 1891 and the first CRU-recognized national championship the following year. After that, national championship games were held every year prior to the creation of
1610-705: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
1771-526: A preexisting injury. Toronto won the game 13–0, the last time a team has been shut out in a Grey Cup game. The ORFU, the last purely amateur union competing for the Grey Cup, withdrew from Cup competition in 1954. Although the Big Four and WIFU champions had faced each other in the Grey Cup final since 1945, the ORFU's withdrawal left the IRFU and WIFU unchallenged as Canada's top football unions. The Eskimos faced
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#17327718006511932-427: A record crowd of 68,318. The game became known as the "Ice Bowl", as low temperatures froze snow on the field that had been melted by groundskeepers with salt, making the artificial turf extremely slippery. The Alouettes adapted to the field conditions by affixing staples to the soles of their shoes, improving their traction, and won the game by a 41–6 score. Upset at losing the 1977 game under poor weather conditions,
2093-590: A record eight games, winning three. Five coaches share the record for Grey Cup championships at five: Wally Buono (the CFL's all-time leader in total games won), Don Matthews , Frank Clair , Hugh Campbell and Lew Hayman . Two individual awards are handed out following each game. The Most Valuable Player award is given to the top performer in the Grey Cup. Between 1974 and 1990, the league named both offensive and defensive most valuable players. Three people have been named MVP on three occasions: Doug Flutie , Damon Allen and Sonny Wade . The Dick Suderman Trophy
2254-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
2415-683: A result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including the United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ,
2576-421: A series of bizarre incidents, the first occurring during the 1957 Grey Cup . Toronto-based lawyer and fan David Humphrey had talked his way past stadium security and had been allowed to watch the game from the sidelines. Ten minutes into the fourth quarter, Hamilton's Ray Bawel intercepted a pass and it appeared he would return the ball for a touchdown when Humphrey stuck his leg out and tripped Bawel as he ran up
2737-560: A silver chalice attached to a large base on which the names of all winning teams, players and executives are engraved. The Grey Cup has been broken on several occasions, stolen twice, and held for ransom. It survived a 1947 fire that destroyed numerous artifacts housed in the same building. The Grey Cup was first won by the Toronto Varsity Blues of the University of Toronto . Play was suspended from 1916 to 1918 due to
2898-474: A tie: CFL Commissioner Sid Halter determined the teams would play an overtime period that consisted of two five-minute halves. That rule remained the CFL standard into the 2000s. Winnipeg scored the lone touchdown in overtime to defeat Hamilton 21–14. Winnipeg and Hamilton met again in 1962, the 50th Grey Cup , immortalized as the "Fog Bowl". The game was held at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium , and began on Saturday, December 1, 1962. The fog rolled in early in
3059-592: A title game. They kept the trophy until 1914 when they were defeated by the Argonauts, who made the trophy available to subsequent champions. Canada's participation in World War I resulted in the cancellation of the championship from 1916 to 1918, during which time the Cup was forgotten. Montreal Gazette writer Bob Dunn claimed that the trophy was later rediscovered as "one of the family heirlooms" of an employee of
3220-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
3381-457: A working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As
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#17327718006513542-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
3703-552: Is Canada's largest annual sports and television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of about 4 million. Two awards are given for play in the game: the Most Valuable Player and the Dick Suderman Trophy as most valuable Canadian player. In 2019, Andrew Harris was the first player to win both the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian and Most Valuable Player the same year, playing for
3864-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
4025-730: Is also Canada's representative member of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), the world's governing body for American football . In this capacity, it organizes the Canada men's national team which competes in IFAF competitions using American rules. The organization, which is now known as Football Canada, was founded on June 12, 1880, as the Canadian Rugby Football Union , disbanded then revived on October 21, 1882, and re-organized as
4186-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
4347-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
4508-470: Is given to the most valuable Canadian. It is named in honour of Dick Suderman , who died of a brain hemorrhage in 1972 while an active player for the Edmonton Eskimos. Dave Sapunjis and Don Sweet have each won the award three times (however, Sapunjis is the only player to win the award in back-to-back years). Andrew Harris was the first person to win both awards in the 107th Grey Cup for
4669-563: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
4830-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
4991-401: Is made of black-lacquered aluminum with silver plates engraved with the names of each winning team's players and executives since 1909. The trophy, one of Canada's best known symbols, ran out of room for new additions following the 2012 Grey Cup . The league announced that the base would be redesigned but remain similar in shape to its current design. In 2020 the new base required the removal of
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5152-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
5313-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
5474-639: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
5635-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
5796-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
5957-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
6118-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
6279-615: The 1919 season . Due to disagreements on playing rules in Western Canada, lack of interest in Eastern Canada, and students prioritizing studies instead of intercollegiate sports; national playoffs were not held in 1919. Despite the divergence, the sport continued to be referred to as rugby for many years. The CRU did not change its name despite the obvious confusion (rugby union was known as English rugby in Canada). By
6440-400: The 1923 final , the critics felt they deliberately ran up the score to prove that point. Regina was western Canada's dominant team, appearing in the Grey Cup on six occasions between 1928 and 1934, but lost to their eastern opponents each time. Regina helped revolutionize Canadian football in 1929 , however, as they attempted the first forward pass in Grey Cup history. The Winnipeg 'Pegs (now
6601-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
Grey Cup - Misplaced Pages Continue
6762-563: The Blue Bombers ) became the first western Grey Cup champion in 1935 when they defeated the Hamilton Tigers, 18–12. While the Grey Cup was slow to achieve national popularity, the advent of the east versus west format helped make the game the nation's largest sporting event. As the quality of senior football improved, university teams realized they were no longer able to compete on equal footing and withdrew from competition for
6923-694: The Canadian Rugby Union on December 19, 1891. The CRU was founded to govern a sport which at the time had rules similar to the rugby football being played in the United Kingdom . In 1909, Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey , Governor General of Canada , donated a trophy to the CRU to be awarded for the Rugby Football Championship of Canada. This trophy became known as the Grey Cup . Even by this time, however,
7084-609: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
7245-517: The Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only a second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and
7406-533: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
7567-503: The First World War and in 1919 due to a rules dispute. The game has typically been contested in an east-versus-west format since the 1920s. The game was always played on a Saturday until 1968, but since 1969 (except for 1970) has always been on a Sunday. Held in late November (in some years in early December, most recently in 2021), and mostly in outdoor stadiums, the Grey Cup has been played in inclement weather at times, including
7728-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
7889-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
8050-588: The Montreal Alouettes in three consecutive Grey Cups in the mid-1950s, winning all three. Edmonton's first title in 1954 ended in bizarre fashion after Jackie Parker scored a touchdown (converted by Bob Dean) from a fumble recovery late in the game that gave Edmonton a 26–25 lead. At the time in Canadian football, touchdowns were only worth 5 points. Parker's 90-yard fumble return was the longest in league history until Toronto's Cassius Vaughn returned
8211-797: The National Hockey League where the Conn Smythe Trophy was presented before the Stanley Cup , the presentation of the trophy has been typically preceded by the presentations of the Dick Suderman Trophy and the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player awards, in contrast to the other three leagues who usually present the World Series MVP , NBA Finals MVP , and Super Bowl MVP awards, respectively, after their championship trophy. Similar to
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#17327718006518372-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
8533-415: The Olympic Stadium in Montreal, with an all-time record of 68,318 set in 1977. The 1940 Grey Cup was a two-game series. Toronto and Ottawa each hosted a game. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from
8694-415: The Toronto RCAF Hurricanes defeated the Winnipeg RCAF Bombers 8–5 to become the first non-civilian team to win the national championship. Two years later, the St. Hyacinthe–Donnacona Navy defeated the Hamilton Flying Wildcats , 7–6; no Grey Cup championship since then has featured two eastern teams. The conclusion of the war led to the reformation of civilian teams; the Big Four resumed play in 1945, and
8855-428: The Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by
9016-405: The Winnipeg Blue Bombers . The city of Toronto has hosted the most Grey Cup games with 48, including 30 of the first 45 games played. The first game was held on December 4, 1909, at Rosedale Field . Hamilton and Ottawa hosted several early games while Sarnia and Kingston each hosted one as the game's early years were dominated by teams in southern Ontario. The Grey Cup game and champion first left
9177-428: The Winnipeg Blue Bombers . The trophy was commissioned in 1909 by The Earl Grey , then Canada's governor general , who originally hoped to donate it for the country's senior amateur hockey championship. After the Allan Cup was donated for that purpose, Grey instead made his trophy available to the winner of the Canadian Dominion Football Championship , the national championship of Canadian football. The trophy has
9338-436: The World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
9499-497: The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco; the Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to
9660-403: The "Mud Bowl". Deep ruts in the field and poor weather in the days leading up to the game resulted in a sloppy field covered in large puddles of water. The game also gained notoriety for the near drowning of Winnipeg's Buddy Tinsley , who was found face down in a large puddle, apparently unconscious. Tinsley later said that he had not lost consciousness, but his leg had gone numb from a hard hit to
9821-427: The ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in
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#17327718006519982-400: The 1909 plaque. To accommodate all the plaques within the base of the Grey Cup, they were redesigned using laser etching and a modern typeface that allowed for vertical reduction of the characters and letters that had improved legibility. The trophy is customarily escorted to the new champions by two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and presented by the commissioner of the CFL. Like
10143-402: The 1940s, however, another development was to cause further changes to the CRU's mandate. It was now clear that two of its member leagues, the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union in Eastern Canada and the Western Interprovincial Football Union in the West were far more competitive than other circuits. By the 1950s, the two major unions had become openly professional, and in 1956 formed
10304-437: The 1950 " Mud Bowl ", in which a player reportedly came close to drowning in a puddle, then the 1962 " Fog Bowl ", when the final minutes of the game had to be postponed to the following day due to a heavy fog, and the 1977 " Ice Bowl ", contested on the frozen-over artificial turf at Montreal 's Olympic Stadium . Most recently, in the 2017 game snow fell, at times heavily, throughout the game. The then-Edmonton Eskimos formed
10465-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
10626-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
10787-422: The Alouettes between 2000 and 2010. In 2009 , they defeated the Roughriders in dramatic fashion: placekicker Damon Duval missed a last-second field goal attempt that appeared to give Saskatchewan the victory. However, the Riders were penalized for having too many men on the field, allowing Duval a second opportunity. His second attempt was successful, giving Montreal a 28–27 victory. The 100th Grey Cup game
10948-465: The CFC withdrew from the CRU and the Big Four & WIFU merged into the Canadian Football League (CFL). The new league formally assumed control of the Grey Cup from the CRU. In the CFL's initial seasons, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were the league's dominant team, appearing in nine Grey Cups and winning four titles between 1957 and 1967. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers opposed Hamilton on six of those occasions, winning four titles. The two teams were involved in
11109-475: The CRU received $ 50,000 per year to assist the development of amateur football. As an organization with no direct jurisdiction over the professional clubs and having become a distinct sport from rugby union by this time, the CRU changed its name to the Canadian Amateur Football Association (CAFA) in 1967. The CAFA changed its name again to Football Canada in 1986. In French, its name had long been Football Canada. Men's Women's Played from 2014-20,
11270-409: The Canadian Football Council (CFC) as an umbrella organization. In 1958, the CFC seceded from the CRU and became the Canadian Football League , whose teams became the sole competitors for the Grey Cup (though the amateurs had effectively been locked out since 1954). During the CFL's Grey Cup meetings in November 1966 , the CRU transferred its ownership of the Grey Cup to a CFL trusteeship. In exchange,
11431-438: The Canadian amateur rugby football championship beginning in 1909. He initially failed to follow through on his offer; the trophy was not ordered until two weeks prior to the first championship game. The first Grey Cup game was held on December 4, 1909, between two Toronto clubs: the University of Toronto Varsity Blues defeated the Parkdale Canoe Club 26–6 before 3,800 fans. The trophy was not ready for presentation following
11592-710: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
11753-917: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
11914-538: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
12075-441: The Eskimos hoped for a rematch with Montreal in 1978 . Both teams reached the final game, which Edmonton won 20–13. It was the first of five consecutive championships, a streak that remains unmatched in the history of the Grey Cup. The Eskimos' dynasty dominated the league, losing a total of only six games during the three seasons from 1979 to 1981. The 1981 Grey Cup was expected to be yet another easy win for Edmonton, who posted
12236-484: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
12397-461: The Grey Cup at home, the 2013 Saskatchewan Roughriders, the 2012 Toronto Argonauts, the 2011 BC Lions, the 1994 BC Lions, the 1977 Montreal Alouettes, and 1972 Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Individually, three players have won seven Grey Cups: Jack Wedley (Toronto, Montreal Navy), Bill Stevenson (Edmonton) and Hank Ilesic (Edmonton, Toronto). Ilesic is one of seven players to appear in nine Grey Cup games. Among quarterbacks, Anthony Calvillo appeared in
12558-582: The Grey Cup except 1899, 1903 and 1904. While the Stanley Cup was created in 1893 as the Canadian amateur hockey championship, professional teams were openly competing for the trophy by 1907. Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey , the Governor General of Canada , planned to donate a new trophy to serve as the senior amateur championship; however, Sir Montague Allan donated the Allan Cup before he could finalize his plans. Grey instead offered an award for
12719-783: The Grey Cup in 1933. By 1938, only three unions continued to compete under the banner of the CRU: the IRFU (now commonly known as the Big Four) and the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) in the east, and the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) in the west. The CRU experimented with a two-game, total points series to determine the champion in 1940 . The Ottawa Rough Riders won both games against Toronto's Balmy Beach , 8–2 and 12–5. The Grey Cup returned to its one-game format
12880-674: The Grey Cup in Canada with a 26–23 victory in the 1994 final . Baltimore returned to the title game one year later and became the only American team to win the trophy by defeating the Calgary Stampeders, 37–20. The establishment of the National Football League 's Baltimore Ravens in 1996 caused the Stallions to seek a new city to avoid direct competition with an NFL team. The team moved to Montreal, forming
13041-523: The Grey Cup was not contested since 1919. The trophy was commissioned in 1909 at a cost of $ 48. The chalice is made of sterling silver and stands 33 centimetres (13 in) tall. Its original base was made of wood, with silver shields listing each championship year and winning team's name, beginning with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The players of the 1915 championship Hamilton team, apparently as revenge for Toronto's refusal to relinquish
13202-518: The Grey Cup's longest dynasty , winning five consecutive championships from 1978 to 1982. Competition for the trophy has been exclusively between Canadian teams, except for a three-year period from 1993 to 1995, when an expansion of the CFL south into the United States resulted in the Baltimore Stallions winning the 1995 championship and taking the Grey Cup south of the border for the only time in its history. Serious efforts to organize
13363-687: The Hall of Fame at all times. Like the Stanley Cup, but unlike the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the NFL's Super Bowl, a new trophy is not made every year for the winning team to keep; rather, the Grey Cup is loaned to the winning team for a year. English and French are the official languages of the game. Each year, the host city organizes numerous events as part of the annual Grey Cup festival. Gala concerts, parties, and fan festivals are held in
13524-643: The Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as
13685-451: The OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as a second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
13846-535: The Ottawa Rough Riders, in the final all-"Roughriders" Grey Cup game. Both teams fought a see-saw battle, which was decided in the dying seconds of the game when Ottawa quarterback Tom Clements threw to Tony Gabriel , which stood out as the winning touchdown, 23–20. The 1977 Grey Cup was the first held at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, contested by the home town Alouettes and the Eskimos in front of
14007-454: The Ottawa defence by lying down on the sidelines, as if asleep. He received the pass from quarterback Keith Spaith while still on his back. The victory completed the only undefeated season in the history of Canadian professional football. The boisterous celebrations that followed the win gave rise to the legend of Calgary alderman and future mayor Don Mackay riding his horse into the lobby of
14168-615: The Royal York Hotel. This event was repeated in the 2012 Grey Cup game in Toronto to much of the delight of the fans of both teams. The Calgary Grey Cup Committee maintains the tradition of organizing a pancake breakfast at each year's championship. A 2012 survey found that Canadians consider the Grey Cup to be the most important annual event to attend. Fans of all teams converge at the game venue, including some who have attended 60 or more Grey Cups. The influx of people from across
14329-553: The Toronto trust company where it had been sent for storage. The Grey Cup game was also cancelled in 1919 due to a lack of interest from the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and the intercollegiate unions, along with rules conflicts between the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) and the western union; Canada was still struggling in its recovery from the Spanish flu epidemic that occurred during
14490-457: The WIFU the following year. A push by the sport's organizers to adopt an increasingly professional attitude dominated the post-war period: poor field conditions, previously accepted as part of the game, resulted in numerous complaints against the CRU following the 1949 and 1950 Grey Cups. Field conditions at Toronto's Varsity Stadium were so poor in 1950 that the game has since gained infamy as
14651-681: The West Semi-Final game; the Argonauts defeated the BC Lions to win the championship that year, ending the team's 31-year Grey Cup title drought. Despite Toronto's win, the CFL felt that the overall quality of play in the East Division had deteriorated compared to that of the West. In 1986, it altered the playoff format to allow the first non-playoff team in one division to take the last playoff spot, but stay in their division if they had
14812-590: The annual International Bowl series was a collaboration between Football Canada and USA Football featuring a series of exhibition games between the rival football nations in Texas in January and February. The event built on the previous International Bowl (2010 – 2013) format of Team USA vs. Team World. Canada's under-18 team for the International Bowl was selected from the top players and coaches at
14973-478: The chalice broke away from its base again as the Calgary Stampeders celebrated their win. The CFL commissioned a replica of the trophy in 2008. The Grey Cup has been stolen on two occasions: it disappeared for three days in 1967 when it was taken from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a prank, and in December 1969 it was stolen from the offices of the Ottawa Rough Riders at Lansdowne Park . The thieves attempted to ransom
15134-455: The contest allowed the league to endure its challenges. The CFL survived into 1997 and was buoyed by an interest-free loan from the NFL, a new television deal with The Sports Network which, along with the launch of its popular Friday Night Football program, has been credited with saving the league. That year's Grey Cup, held in Edmonton and won by Toronto, drew nearly 22,000 more fans than
15295-419: The country is estimated to have an economic impact of over $ 120 million for the region hosting the championship game. The Toronto Argonauts have won the most Grey Cup championships (19), followed by the Edmonton Eskimos (now Elks) (14) and Winnipeg Blue Bombers (12). The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have made the most Grey Cup appearances (30). The Tiger-Cats remain the only team yet to win this millenium. Since
15456-608: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Football Canada#Champions prior to 1909 Football Canada is the governing body for gridiron football in Canada headquartered in Ottawa , Ontario . Football Canada focuses primarily its own Canadian form of the sport, and is currently the world's only national governing body for Canadian football . The governing body
15617-480: The current incarnation of the Alouettes franchise and ending the CFL's excursion into the United States. The league approached the 1996 Grey Cup in dire financial straits: the American expansion had been a failure, the 120-year-old Ottawa Rough Riders franchise ceased operations at the conclusion of the regular season, and out of the eight remaining teams, seven had lost money and two required direct assistance from
15778-459: The days leading up to the championship game. The CFL hands out its annual awards during the festival, and an annual Grey Cup parade is held. Historically, the festival also featured the "Miss Grey Cup" beauty pageant; this was discontinued in 1992. The game itself includes a performance of the Canadian national anthem (usually sung in both English and French, the official languages of the game) and
15939-495: The defunct United States Football League approached the CFL about merging the two leagues. The league showed little interest at the time, but as it continued its decline, the CFL reevaluated its position. In 1992, the CFL announced that it would expand into the United States . The Sacramento Gold Miners joined the league and became the first American team eligible to win the Grey Cup. The league added three additional American teams in 1994 and two in 1995 (with one team folding), but
16100-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
16261-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
16422-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
16583-596: The favoured Calgary Stampeders , served as a morale booster for the city of Montreal, which was reeling in the aftermath of the October Crisis . The 1970s belonged to the Edmonton Eskimos , however, as they ended the decade as one of the most dominant teams in CFL history, reaching the Grey Cup nine times between 1973 and 1982. The team competed in three consecutive finals early in the decade, losing to Ottawa in 1973 and Montreal in 1974 , before winning
16744-405: The first championship game between two western Canadian teams. The 1989 Grey Cup is considered one of the finest games in Canadian football history: The Saskatchewan Roughriders won their second championship by defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 43–40 in the highest scoring Grey Cup game of all-time. Saskatchewan kicker Dave Ridgway 's last-second field goal won the game and made him a legend in
16905-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
17066-478: The following year. Both the Big Four and WIFU suspended operations in 1942 due to the Second World War . Grey Cup play was expected to be suspended along with the unions; however, the military felt the game and sport would serve as a morale booster and organized teams at bases across the country. For the following three years, Grey Cup competition was limited to military teams, and in the 1942 Grey Cup ,
17227-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
17388-608: The franchise's fourth championship in 1975 . The 1975 championship was held in Calgary and was the first Grey Cup played on the Canadian Prairies . A young woman infamously streaked across the field during the national anthem despite frigid temperatures well below freezing. The only time the Eskimos did not reach the Grey Cup final during this span was in 1976 , when the Saskatchewan Roughriders met
17549-421: The game and Winnipeg holding onto a 28–27 lead, officials made the unprecedented decision to suspend play until the next day. Though the league feared that continuing fog on the morning of December 2 would force the complete abandonment of the game, it lifted in time for the contest to resume. Around 15,000 of the original 32,655 spectators watched Winnipeg win the Grey Cup without further scoring by either team. It
17710-769: The game was held on the third Sunday of November. The Toronto Argonauts have the most Grey Cup wins (19) since its introduction in 1909, while the Edmonton Elks (formerly the Edmonton Eskimos) have the most Grey Cup wins (11) since the merger in 1958. The latest, the 111th Grey Cup , took place in Vancouver , British Columbia, on November 17, 2024, when the Toronto Argonauts defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 41-24. The Grey Cup
17871-456: The game with an undefeated record, having outscored their opposition 226 to 55 during the season. They dominated Edmonton, recording the first shutout in Grey Cup history with a 23–0 victory. Multi-sport star Lionel Conacher was Toronto's top player, scoring 15 of his team's points before leaving the game after the third quarter to join his hockey team for their game. The same Edmonton team (renamed as Elks for that single season) challenged for
18032-530: The game, 25-year veteran Lui Passaglia ended the longest career in CFL history by kicking what was ultimately the game-winning field goal. The Calgary Stampeders matched the Lions' feat the next year by becoming the second 8–10 team to win the Grey Cup, defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers by a 27–19 score in front of 65,255 fans, the second largest crowd in the game's history. The 2005 Grey Cup
18193-626: The game, and the Varsity Blues did not receive it until March 1910. They retained the trophy in the following two years, defeating the Hamilton Tigers in 1910 and the Toronto Argonauts in 1911 . The University of Toronto failed to reach the 1912 Grey Cup , which was won by the Hamilton Alerts over the Argonauts. The Varsity Blues refused to hand over the trophy on the belief they could keep it until they were defeated in
18354-516: The game. Bringing chuckwagons and horses, the fans organized a pancake breakfast – a staple of the Calgary Stampede – for bewildered Torontonians. According to historian Hugh Dempsey , "The Grey Cup was just another game until Calgary went down to Toronto with chuckwagons and everything and turned it into an event." The Stampeders won the game on the strength of the "sleeper play", a touchdown scored by Norm Hill after he hid himself from
18515-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
18676-408: The highest paid player in football history at that time. The Argonauts reached the 1991 Grey Cup and defeated the Calgary Stampeders 36–21. With 261 all-purpose yards on the game, including a then-Grey Cup record 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, Ismail was named Grey Cup Most Valuable Player . The potential for the league to enter the American market was discussed in 1987 when operators of
18837-429: The influence American football . The CRU elected W. A. Hewitt president for the 1915 season . He appointed a commission to establish uniform rules of play at different levels including collegiate and senior. He approached multiple football coaches and sought feedback on best ways to implement standard playing rules. After the CRU did not operate from 1916 to 1918 due to World War I , Hewitt returned as president for
18998-526: The initiative failed in most markets, and by 1996, the CFL again operated exclusively within Canada. The lone successful American market was in Baltimore, home to the Stallions . The team averaged over 35,000 fans per game in its inaugural season, nearly double that of Toronto or Hamilton. They matched that success on the field by becoming the first American team to play in the Grey Cup. The BC Lions kept
19159-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
19320-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
19481-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
19642-445: The last months of World War I. Competition finally resumed in 1920 with the 8th Grey Cup game, won 16–3 by the Varsity Blues over the Argonauts. It was the University of Toronto's fourth, and final, championship. Competition for the Grey Cup was limited to member unions of the CRU, the champions of which petitioned the league body for the right to challenge for the national championship. The Western Canada Rugby Football Union (WCRFU)
19803-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
19964-432: The league to stay afloat. The Edmonton Eskimos could not afford to bring their players' families to the championship game. The Toronto Star echoed fears spoken by fans and media across the country when it asked if the 1996 championship, won by Toronto over Edmonton, would be the final Grey Cup. While the league struggled, the Grey Cup game itself retained its popularity and remained a national institution. The strength of
20125-462: The league, Ottawa hosted the 105th Grey Cup at TD Place Stadium in 2017, as part of celebrations to mark 150 years of Confederation . The 55th Grey Cup , played at the end of the 1967 CFL season , was also held in Ottawa as part of celebrations to mark 100 years of Confederation. In May 2020, due to postponement of the regular season and other factors relating to the COVID-19 pandemic , it
20286-461: The loss of the playoff spot was disastrous for Montreal, which ceased operations one year later. The crossover rule was eliminated and not revisited until a decade later due to Montreal's folding (ironically, the crossover rule returned with the Alouettes' revival). Reduced to eight teams, the CFL shifted Winnipeg to the East Division, making the 1988 Grey Cup between the Blue Bombers and Lions
20447-478: The merger and creation of the Canadian Football League began in 1958, the Eskimos have won the most Grey Cup Championships (11) and have made the most Grey Cup appearances (19). The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have the most losses in Grey Cup play (19). The defending champions are the Toronto Argonauts who won the 111th Grey Cup in 2024, their second title in 3 years. Six teams in CFL history have won
20608-547: The more famous Stanley Cup used exclusively today by the NHL, members of the winning teams are allowed time to celebrate with the trophy in their own fashion, often taking it to their home towns or tours in locations across Canada. The board of directors for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame act as the Grey Cup's trustees and control its rental for events. The trophy is accompanied by a designated representative of
20769-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
20930-510: The new home of the Argonauts beginning in the 2016 season. The 104th turned out to be one of the most memorable, with the Ottawa Redblacks winning their first Grey Cup by a score of 39-33 over the heavily favoured Calgary Stampeders as Henry Burris passed to Ernest Jackson for a touchdown in overtime--only the third overtime game in the history of the Grey Cup. After having been promised the 102nd Grey Cup game as an incentive to rejoin
21091-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
21252-429: The prairie province. Declining interest in the CFL during the 1990s left the league in financial difficulty. Hoping to restore the league's credibility with fans, a new ownership group featuring Bruce McNall , hockey player Wayne Gretzky and actor John Candy purchased the Toronto Argonauts in 1991 and lured American college standout Rocket Ismail to Canada with a four-year, $ 26.2 million contract which made him
21413-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
21574-473: The previous year. The CFL restored its reputation over time, enjoying new popularity into the 2000s such that it no longer had to rely on an exciting Grey Cup final to achieve stability for the next season. In 2000 , the 8–10 BC Lions made history when they defeated the Montreal Alouettes, 28–26, becoming the first team in history to win the Grey Cup with a losing record in the regular season. In
21735-406: The prior summer's Football Canada Cup. Football Canada offers coaches training through the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) for flag, touch and tackle football. NCCP streams As part of its NCCP program, Football Canada's Safe Contact module teaches safe contact tackling and blocking as well as concussion education. In 2014, the organization partnered with the CFL to further refine
21896-474: The province in 1931, when Montreal hosted the event and the Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers won the 19th Grey Cup . The game did not leave central Canada until 1955 when the 43rd Grey Cup was played in Vancouver. That contest achieved what was at the time an all-time Canadian football attendance record of 39,491. It was the first of 16 games hosted by the British Columbia city, second among all host cities. The four highest attended Grey Cup games have been held at
22057-407: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
22218-404: The rules being played in Canada were vastly different from the rules used in countries that were part of the International Rugby Board (IRB). In the years that followed, the CRU made numerous rule changes that resulted in a game reasonably similar to the American one but unrecognizable to a rugby union enthusiast. In the early-1910s, CRU held annual discussions dealing with rules changes due to
22379-430: The second quarter and became increasingly dense as the game progressed. By the fourth quarter, the players were unable to see the sideline markers and the fans unable to see the play. The players were unable to see the ball in the air – kick returners listened for the sound of the ball hitting the ground – and the action was largely invisible to the television audience. With nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds remaining in
22540-445: The shelf upon which it sat collapsed. The trophy has been broken on six other occasions: in 1978, when it was dropped by celebrating Edmonton Eskimos players; in 1987, when an Eskimos' player sat on it; in 1993, when Edmonton's Blake Dermott head-butted it; in 2006, when the chalice broke away from its base as the BC Lions celebrated their victory; in 2012 when one of the handles broke off as the Toronto Argonauts celebrated; in 2014 when
22701-422: The sideline. Unsure how to handle the situation as there was no rule designed to cover it, referee Paul Dojack invented one on the spot. He placed the ball half the distance to the Winnipeg goal line from the point Bawel was tripped. The incident did not affect the final score, as Hamilton won 32–7. The league also created a new rule during the 1961 Grey Cup as it was the first in history to end regulation time in
22862-414: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
23023-416: The trophy again in 1922 , but lost 13–1 to their eastern opposition, the Queen's University Golden Gaels . For Queen's, it was the first of three consecutive titles. Western teams continued to vie for the trophy, but were consistently outclassed for several years. Eastern teams and critics felt the quality of the western game was inferior to theirs, and when Queen's defeated the Regina Rugby Club 54–0 in
23184-417: The trophy in 1912 and 1913, added a shield for the 1908 Tigers team to give the appearance that their organization had won the first Grey Cup. A 1947 fire destroyed the clubhouse of the Toronto Argonaut Rowing Club and damaged the Grey Cup. Many other trophies and artifacts in the clubhouse melted or were damaged beyond repair but the Grey Cup survived by catching onto a nail attached to a surviving wall when
23345-425: The trophy, but the CFL refused to pay and made plans to replace it with a duplicate. An anonymous phone call led to the trophy's recovery two months later in a locker at Toronto's Royal York Hotel . The thieves were never found. The current design of the Grey Cup's base was introduced in 1987, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the first Grey Cup championship. The base stands 84 centimetres (33 in) high and
23506-619: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
23667-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
23828-425: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
23989-481: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
24150-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
24311-446: The world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in
24472-417: Was announced that the 108th Grey Cup festivities in Regina, Saskatchewan (which were to be the first to be hosted by the new Mosaic Stadium ) had been cancelled and postponed to 2022, and that the site of the game, if held, would be based on regular season records rather than as a neutral site . The Grey Cup itself was later cancelled in August along with the 2020 CFL season , which was the first year that
24633-531: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
24794-425: Was formed in 1911, but the CRU did not come to a participation agreement with it until 1921, allowing the Edmonton Eskimos (no lineage to the team that used that name 1949–2020) of the WCRFU to challenge. Facing the Argonauts in the 9th Grey Cup , the Eskimos became the first western team – and the first from outside Toronto or Hamilton – to compete for the trophy. The Argonauts entered
24955-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
25116-469: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
25277-422: Was played on November 25, 2012, at the Rogers Centre in Toronto between the Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders. The Toronto Argonauts won the Grey Cup with a score of 35–22. As per a new title sponsorship deal with Shaw Communications announced in May 2015, the event was thenceforth known as the Grey Cup presented by Shaw . The 104th Grey Cup game was played at BMO Field in Toronto, which became
25438-411: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
25599-436: Was the first title game completed on a Sunday; the Grey Cup moved from its traditional Saturday start to Sunday in 1969; however, the game was played on a Saturday for the last time in 1970. The Saskatchewan Roughriders won their first ever Grey Cup in 1966 when they defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders 29–14 at Empire Stadium in Vancouver before 36,553 fans. The Montreal Alouettes' 1970 Grey Cup championship, an upset win over
25760-437: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
25921-401: Was the second overtime game in Grey Cup history, and the first one using the league's shootout overtime format (introduced in 2000). Both the Eskimos and Alouettes scored touchdowns on their first possessions, while Edmonton scored a field goal in its second and held Montreal scoreless to win the game by a 38–35 score. The game was played in the middle of a stretch of eight Grey Cup appearances by
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