The Argonaut Rowing Club is an amateur

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

club in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. The club was founded in 1872. The current junior head coach is Connor Elsdon. In the past, the club fielded teams in

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and the football team continues today as the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

History

The club, one of the oldest and largest of its type in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, dates back to 1872, founded by a group of amateur oarsmen known as the ''Orioles'', which had been participating in races in southern Ontario in the 1860s. The founders chose the blue colours of

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

universities (the "Double Blue") as the club colours. The first president was Henry O'Brien. The original club house was at the foot of York Street in

Toronto Harbour Toronto Harbour or Toronto Bay is a natural bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Today, the harbour is used primarily for recreational boating, including personal vessels and pleasure boats providing scenic or p ...

(now filled in and part of the train tracks south of Union Station). It was only large enough for one boat, replaced by a larger clubhouse that was lost by fire in 1879 and rebuilt. The club relocated to the current Dowling Avenue location in 1921 after the harbour location was redeveloped for port usage, purchasing land along the waterfront within the new breakwater protected shoreline. In 1947, a fire gutted the club house at Dowling, and almost destroyed the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

, which was on display at the club at the time. Lotte Marks' ''Argonaut Waltzes'' (1899) is a musical work dedicated to the Argonaut Rowing Club of Toronto. Argonaut rowing teams have represented Canada at several Olympics. Argonaut teams represented Canada at 1904, 1908, 1912 and 1952 while Argonaut members represented Canada at other Olympics. Club membership declined in the late 1970s and by 1979, the Argonauts only had four members represent the club at the Henley Regatta. The club made a recovery in the 1980s to the current state. Argonaut Rowing Club Clubhouse

Football

Club members also participated in other sports including the football Argonauts, which was founded as the Argonaut Rugby Football Club in 1873. The football team eventually became a professional club (and adopted its team colours from the rowing club, which they still use to this day) and its revenues subsidized the club as a whole. The football team was sold in 1956, and the funds from the sale were used to set up a trust which funds rowing club activities. Two years later, in 1958, the football team joined the Canadian Football League, where it has played since.

Ice hockey

The club also fielded ice hockey teams in the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern ...

(OHA) on and off from 1904 to 1923. The Argonauts operated

senior ice hockey Senior hockey refers to amateur or semi-professional ice hockey competition. There are no age restrictions for Senior players, who typically consist of those whose junior ice hockey, Junior eligibility has expired. Senior hockey leagues operate un ...

, intermediate ice hockey and

junior ice hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from ...

teams during their time in the OHA. The junior team won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHA champions in the 1911–12 season and the 1919–20 season. The junior team also won the national championship at the

1920 Memorial Cup The 1920 Memorial Cup final was the second junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers of the Ontario Hockey League, Ontario Hockey Assoc ...

, participating under the name Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers. The ice hockey team is credited by

Frank Selke Francis Joseph Aloysius Selke (; May 7, 1893 – July 3, 1985) was a Canadian professional ice hockey executive in the National Hockey League. He was a nine-time Stanley Cup champion with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens and a Hocke ...

as the originators of the modern defence pairing. Until 1906, defencemen in ice hockey were known as the ''point'' and ''cover point''. The two points lined up one behind the other at face offs. The Argonaut team moved the players to ''left'' and ''right'' in the positions used today. The setup is considered to be originated from the style of plays of the Argonauts. The team ran set plays reminiscent of football, and moved the players to fit the set plays. The Argonauts were very successful in the first decade of the 1900s and the style caught on in the OHA.Selke, p. 21 Regular season statistics for the senior team * 1904–05 – 3rd in Group 3, but out of playoffs * 1905–06 – 1st in Group 1, but lost in final * 1906–07 – 4th in Group 1, but out of playoffs * 1909–10 – 1st in Group 1, but lost in final * 1910–11 – 1st in Group 1, but lost in final * 1911–12 – 2nd in Group 1, but out of playoffs * 1913–14 – 4th in Group 2, but out of playoffs * 1914–15 – 3rd in Group 2, but out of playoffs * 1915–16 – tied 1st in Group 2, lost in Group Final * 1919–20 – 4th in Group 2, but out of playoffs * 1920–21 – 6th, but out of playoffs * 1921–22 – 6th, but out of playoffs * 1922–23 – 4th, but out of playoffs

Facilities

The club uses the 4,000 metre long Ontario Place West Channel water course running along the Western Beaches of Toronto from the west side of

Ontario Place Ontario Place was an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toron ...

to the mouth of the Humber River within the breakwall. The current clubhouse is a two-storey brick building.

References

Sources

External links

Argonaut Rowing Club
{{Coord, 43.632006, -79.436039, display=title Clubs and societies based in Toronto Rowing clubs in Canada Sports clubs and teams in Toronto Sports clubs and teams established in 1872 Toronto Argonauts owners