Guelph students began college with a flag fight
In a grassy corner of the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC), near the end of September 1907, the anxious freshmen stood together in a crowd.
In their midst was a tall pole where their flag — a red cloth — hung in the air. Facing them was the sophomore class, planning their assault. The occasion was first flag fight, a part of the annual initiation of the freshmen into the student body of the college.
Since its founding, each sophomore class at the OAC took responsibility for initiation of the freshmen. Far from the genteel Orientation Week at today’s University of Guelph, early initiations typically involved filth, combat and a dose of humiliation. The sophomores varied the routine each year but it frequently involved wrestling, rending of clothing and putrid missiles or showers. The sophomore class of 1907 decided on something a little different. They came up with the flag fight — a pitched battle — and prohibited any form of weaponry such as rotten eggs or knotted towels.
The annual initiation was a local spectacle watched by many Guelphites — as well as the girls of the nearby Macdonald Hall, which surely raised the stakes for the male participants.
It seems that the flag fight impressed the townsfolk so much that Mr. Alexander Petrie, owner of a local drugstore, among other enterprises, had photos of the event turned into a series of postcards. The postcards present the combat in four phases: (1) The Challenge, in which the freshmen on the left surrounding their flag await the charge of the sophomores massing on the right; (2) The Attack, in which sophomores attempt to break through the pack, climb the pole, and tear down the flag; (3) The Repulse, in which the freshmen fend off the attackers and individual wrestling matches break out; and (4) The Finish, in which the sophomores give up after 20 minutes or so, leaving the field to the freshmen. As the final photo shows, few participants left the field with their shirts and hats intact, long considered a signature of OAC initiations. Many sported shiners and bloody noses too.
The flag fight became an enduring part of initiation at the OAC in later years, although each sophomore class changed its conditions as it saw fit. In 1908, for example, the sophomores introduced the use of eggs and tomatoes, liberated from campus labs and nearby gardens, as missiles to soften up their opponents. The stratagem worked — the sophomores were able to tear down the flag and win the contest.
The flag fight was typical of the sort of hazing rituals then common in colleges. The rationale for these rituals is disputed. They may be intended to foster group solidarity, express dominance for one group over another, or identify committed group members. S.J. Neville, one of the sophomores who organized the 1907 event, reported that it established goodwill between the freshmen and themselves, who he described as “natural enemies” otherwise.
Neville expressed dismay with other occasions when the flag fight was more vicious. In 1913, for example, the sophomores doused the freshmen with a mixture of water, tar and carbon disulphide — a noxious chemical known to cause tingling or numbness, cramps, muscle weakness, pain, distal sensory loss, and neurophysiological impairment. Neville reports that, not surprisingly, this display of dominance resulted in a lot of bad blood between the two classes thereafter.
Authorities sought to curtail initiations. Nocturnal events were banned at the OAC in 1916. In 1922, the flag fight was the only event allowed. Initiations were banned in Ontario universities in 1926; however, the flag fight continued for some time at the OAC, perhaps because it was governed by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Today, however, the flag fight and the sort of college initiation it exemplified are but a memory recorded for us in Mr. Petrie’s popular postcards.