1961 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.

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 played 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. The format remained 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, both CFL teams lost, with the Toronto Argonauts falling to the St. Louis Cardinals, 36–7, on August 2, and the Montreal Alouettes losing 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 went to overtime for the first time at Toronto's CNE Stadium. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers won championship over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 21–14.
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.

Regular season standings

Final regular season standings

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points
TeamGPWLTPFPAPts
Winnipeg Blue Bombers16133036025126
Edmonton Eskimos16105133425721
Calgary Stampeders1679030031114
Saskatchewan Roughriders16510121131411
BC Lions1611322153934

Note: All dates in 1961

Conference Semi-Finals

Conference Finals

Playoff bracket

Grey Cup Championship

The 1961 Grey Cup remains the only CFL title game decided in overtime. It also marked the fourth time in five years that the championship was decided between the Blue Bombers and Tiger-Cats.

CFL Leaders

Offence

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