Start date November 11, 1961 Champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers Site Exhibition Stadium | Champions Winnipeg Blue Bombers Date 2 December 1961 | |
Duration June, 1961 – October, 1961 East Champions Hamilton Tiger-Cats1961-11-25 West Champions Winnipeg Blue Bombers1961-11-22 People also search for 1962 CFL season, 1958 CFL season | ||
The 1961 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the eighth season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the fourth Canadian Football League season.
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CFL News in 1961
The Western Canada Intercollegiate Rugby Union merged with the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union.
The WIFU changed its name to become the Western Football Conference.
The CFL season schedule was partially interlocked to allow teams of the Eastern Football Conference to play regular season games against the teams of the Western Football Conference. Beginning this season, teams would play opponents in their own conference three times and opponents in the other conference once, meaning the length of the regular season remained unchanged in both conferences (i.e. sixteen games for Western teams and fourteen games for Eastern teams). The format would remain as such until 1974 when the Eastern Conference extended its schedule to sixteen games.
A third consecutive year of interleague exhibition matches were scheduled with teams in the National Football League. As in 1959 and 1960, in both of the two games played, both CFL teams lost (the Toronto Argonauts lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 36–7, on August 2, while the Montreal Alouettes fell to the Chicago Bears, 34–16, on August 5). The Hamilton Tiger-Cats had a better idea for success: challenge the nascent American Football League to a duel. The Tiger-Cats faced off against their cross-border "rivals", the Buffalo Bills, on August 8. The Tiger-Cats defeated the Bills, 38–21, giving the Canadian league its first win over an American team since 1941. The AFL, embarrassed over the loss, declined to play another international game, and with the CFL consistently losing to NFL teams, the CFL ended international competition.
The 49th edition of the Grey Cup was played in overtime for the first time at Toronto's CNE Stadium. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers won that game by defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats by a score of 21–14, to win the championship.
The CFL made rule changes for the 1962 season, permitting four defensive backs per team to have unlimited blocking during rushing plays, as long as they are lined up outside the ends. Additionally the tackle-eligible play became illegal.
Final regular season standings
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points
Grey Cup playoffs
Note: All dates in 1961