Skip To Main Content

Scoreboard

McGill University Athletics

This famous Notman compostite depicts the third game of the historic McGill-Harvard series of football in 1874, a game played on Oct. 23 at the Montreal Cricket Grounds. The McGill club consisted of the following members: D. Rodgers, captain; O’Hara Baynes, G.E. Jenkins, J.S. Hall, J.B. Abbott, R.W. Huntinden, H. Gilbert, D.E. Bowie, H. Joseph, H.W. Thomas, C. Thomas and P.J. Goodhue. The Harvard club was as follows: H.R. Grant, captain; W.R. Tyler, H. Lombard, A.L. Goodrich, A. Cabot, M. Whitney, W.C. Sanger, F.E. Randall, H.C. Leeds, H.L. Morse and J. Lyman. The game officials, dressed in three-piece suits with top hats, were: R.L. McDonnell, A.F. Ritchie, J.S. McLennan, Walter Hartwell, F.S. Watson, G.E. Jenkins, J.R. Abbott.
Notman Archives (McCord Museum, McGill University)
A composite image from a game of North American-style rugby football played between McGill and Harvard on Oct. 23, 1874 depicts the first game of the sport played in Canada. In 1874 students at McGill College challenged the Harvard College team to a match of two games to be played in Cambridge, Mass. on May 14 and 15, 1874.William Notman/courtesy McCord Museum and McGill University

Men's Rugby By Paul Attfield, The Globe and Mail, May 13, 2024

American ‘football’ turns 150 as Harvard, McGill mark historic 1874 match

Thirty-five years before the first awarding of the Grey Cup, and almost a century before the Super Bowl came into existence – and long before it evolved into one of the most-watched sporting spectacles on the planet – the first formal games of North American-style rugby football were played on a field in suburban Boston.

One hundred and 50 years ago Tuesday, a crowd of roughly 500 people paid 50 cents each to watch the first in a two-day series of games between McGill University and Harvard University, each showcasing their own version of "football."

LINK TO COMPLETE STORY
Print Friendly Version
© 2026 McGill University Athletics and Recreation
McGill University McGill Admissions Accessibility