Gents, I have to get something off my chest here...
This year is the Toronto Argonauts 150th anniversary and they seem to be trying to establish this false narrative that they are the oldest football team in existence. This is nothing more than a scurrilous lie! Of course, as we all know, The Hamilton Tigers football club was formed 3 years prior to the Argonauts and is widely recognozed as the oldest pro football team still in existence today.
The Argos are making their claim on two basis. First, they claim that because the Tigers changed their name to the Tiger-Cats in 1950 (after merging with the flying wildcats) that somehow its not the same club. This is so silly it deserves no response.
Second, they try to claim that because the Hamilton Tigers briefly paused operations during WWII that somehow the club didn't exist before then. While its true that enough of the Tigers players went to war (voluntarily or not) that the team had to pause playing for a couple of years, I hardly think these working class heros can be faulted for doing their patriotic duty in a time of global crisis. The Argonauts continued to field a team throughout the war because the sons of privilege that made up the high society Toronto Argonauts Rowing Club and PAID their way onto the football team managed to avoid getting drafted into the war somehow. Funny how that always happens, the rich start the war and the working class fight it. This is hardly a history for the argos to be proud of.
If you are watching the game on Sunday watch for me and my friends. We will be the ones unfurling a large banner that says "Hamilton Tiger-Cats since 1869. Oldest Professional Football Team" in front of the Argos fans.
My wife has been instructed to post my obit here in case I don't make it out.