Oct 4, 1873: The Toronto Argonauts kickoff

Football team was formed 143 years ago this week

Although the sport’s exact origin is highly contested, the Toronto Argonauts were indisputably one of the first professional teams to play the game known today as American football.

On Oct. 4, 1873 — 143 years ago — the Toronto Argonauts Football club was officially formed as part of the Argonaut Rowing Club, which had been founded the year before.

The game was not yet football in its current incarnation; rather, it was a modified form of rugby, consisting of “tries” (placing the ball over the goal line) and “goals” (kicking over the uprights).

The Argonaut Rowing Club — and, subsequently, the Argonaut Football Club — derived its colour scheme from both Oxford and Cambridge’s hues of blue. The team began as an exclusive affair; only those who were already members of the Argonaut Rowing Club, with a vested interest in rugby, were permitted to join.

That changed a year later, when the Rowing Club allowed non-members to play on the team for $1 a season.

The Argos’ status and legacy has continued to grow throughout the years. Their blue scheme was adopted by the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs, and the team was the very first to play at the newly constructed Sky-Dome in 1989 (now the Rogers Centre) before moving this season to their new home at BMO Stadium.

Affectionately dubbed the Double Blue and the Boatmen, the Argos initiated what is now a thriving sports culture in Toronto — all thanks to an idea spawned by some 19th-century rowers.