1928: "The Most Sensational Upset Of All Time in Junior Rugby In The City"

If you are particularly observant, you will have noticed a page in the banner above that appeared a few weeks ago and has changed names numerous times since. At this time, it bears the name "Junior QRFU (1918 - 1928)" and it will continue to change as I add seasons at the back end. 

The "Defunct Teams" page includes (at least for now) some details about a team from the Rideau Aquatic Club then often referred to as simply the Rideaus. While that team was undeniably the most successful of its little league, it didn't seem quite fair to ignore all the others. So instead of focusing on the Rideaus only, I started a page specific to the league in which they all participated.

The Rideaus were not a charter member of the league, entering it only in its second season in 1919. The league became affiliated with the Quebec Rugby Football Union the following year.

In short order, Rideaus became dominant to the point that some found it detrimental. While they constantly won the local title with ease, they fared very poorly against outside competition. Some speculated that this was due to a lack of a proper challenge in its own league.

Then in 1927, a team from Ottawa College joined the circuit and in 1928, they shocked the junior rugby football world (well, at least the local one) by defeating the Rideaus, breaking the "Paddlers'" 29-game local winning streak in the process!

The game is recapped below, as is the other game played in the four-team league that day, a matchup of the Ottawa South Roamers and Gladstone. 

As exciting as the win may have been as it happened, it would turn out to have little impact. Rideaus won the rematch 18-00 a few weeks later, and every other match on their schedule for that matter, to collect a 5-1 record. Ottawa College would stumble in overtime to the Ottawa South team in the last week of the season to be knocked off the top spot in the league at 4-2. 

And so this was the sixth straight city championship for the Rideaus and they would get skunked against the Montreal AAA team in the QRFU playoffs for the fourth year in a row, too. The City Junior League was pretty much business as usual in 1928, except for that one game which rattled the cage for a while.