The Toronto Argonauts

Our sports culture guide covers the Argonauts as one of Toronto's five major pro teams. Their actual founding story explains an odd fact hiding in plain sight: why a football team is named after Greek mythological sailors.

A rowing club's football side (1873)

The Toronto Argonauts Football Club started in 1873 as part of the Argonaut Rowing Club, founded the year before by Toronto resident Harry O'Brien — the football side was essentially a winter activity for a summer rowing club's members. It played its first game, against what's now the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, on October 4, 1873.

One of the oldest teams in North America

That 1873 founding makes the Argonauts the oldest professional sports team in North America still competing under its original name — trailing only MLB's Chicago Cubs (1870) and Atlanta Braves (1871) in continuous existence among all major pro sports franchises on the continent.

The most Grey Cups of any team

The Argonauts have won 19 Grey Cup championships, more than any other team in Canadian football history, across 25 total Grey Cup appearances. They now play at BMO Field, the same stadium covered in our sports guide as Toronto FC's home — two very different sports sharing one Exhibition Place venue.

Sources

• The Canadian Encyclopedia — Toronto Argonauts
• Wikipedia — Toronto Argonauts

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