The Quebec Rugby Football Union (QRFU) was a football league consisting of teams from Quebec and formed in 1883. Eastern Ontario teams like Ottawa City and Ottawa College joined in 1894.
League formation and play The QRFU was formed officially on January 16, 1883, 10 days after the Ontario Rugby Football Union. Teams from the QRFU would compete against member clubs of the ORFU for the Dominion Championship of the CRFU beginning the following season. The QRFU adopted the ORFU point-scoring system in 1884 with the formation of the Canadian Rugby Football Union. The Montreal Foot Ball Club claimed the first ever CRFU Championship 30–0 over the Toronto Football Club.
Teams of the QRFU played 15 men to a side, and did not adopt a down system until 1904, when it agreed that a team must make five yards on its third scrimmage, regardless of the gain or loss on the previous two, to keep possession of the ball.
Scoring The QRFU valued a goal from the field (field goal) as six points, a try (touchdown), goals from a try, penalties and free kicks as four points; two points for safety touches; and one point for kicks to the deadline, rouges and touch in goals.
Teams
McGill University (1883–1897) Montreal Football Club (1883–1906) Britannia Football Club (1882–1896, 1899–1903) Quebec City (1883, 1893) Bishop's College (1884–1885, 1889, 1891) St. George's College (1887) Victoria Football Club (1890) Ottawa City Football Club (1894–1897, 1903–1906) (suspended after the 1897 season for excessive rough play) Ottawa College (1894–1904) Kingston Granites (1898) Brockville Football Club (1899–1902) Westmount Football Club (1904–1906) St. Patrick Saints (1905–1906)
QRFU Champions Year Champion1883 Montreal Football Club1884 Montreal Football Club1885 Montreal Football Club1886 Montreal Football Club1887 Montreal Football Club1888 Montreal Football Club1889 Montreal Football Club1890 McGill University1891 Montreal Football Club1892 Montreal Football Club1893 Montreal Football Club1894 Ottawa College1895 Montreal Football Club1896 Ottawa College1897 Ottawa College1898 Ottawa College1899 Ottawa College1900 Brockville Football Club1901 Ottawa College1902 Ottawa College1903 Ottawa Rough Riders1904 Ottawa College1905 Ottawa Rough Riders1906 Montreal Football Club 1907–36 No League1937 Westmount 1938–42 No League1943 Lachine RCAF Hurricanes1944 St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy
Most QRFU Championships 11- Montreal Football Club (1883–89, 1891–93, 1895, 1906) 8- Ottawa College (1894, 1896–99, 1901–04) 1- McGill University (1890) 1- Ottawa Rough Riders 1905 1- Brockville Football Club 1900
Incarnations of QRFU The QRFU ceased operations in the 1907 after losing their best teams to the IRFU. The league returned in 1937 for a single season and made another return during World War II.
The league is not related to, nor shares any history, with the Quebec Rugby Federation, which administers rugby football in Quebec.
See also Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (1907–1959) Ontario Rugby Football Union
References https://web.archive.org/web/20141213001357/http://www.cfl.ca/page/his_timeline_1890 https://web.archive.org/web/20121022100332/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/23-01-876.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20121022100101/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/23-02-885.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20121022100345/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/23-04-900.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20121022100349/http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/23-05-908.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20101218180627/http://profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/23-06-916.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20101218193052/http://profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/24-01-919.pdf