1923 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

American football

NFL championship *

Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Leag ...

(11–0–1) College championship * Illinois Fighting Illini –

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

national championship

Association football

Bulgaria * Formation of the

Bulgarian Football Union The Bulgarian Football Union ( bg, Български футболен съюз, Bǎlgarski futbolen sǎyuz; BFS) is a football association based in Bulgaria and a member of UEFA. It organizes a football league, Bulgarian Parva Liga, and field ...

(BFU) England * The Football League – Liverpool 60 points,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

54, Huddersfield Town 53,

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

48, Everton 47,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

46 * FA Cup final –

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

2–0 West Ham United at Empire Stadium, Wembley, London. The match, known as the " White Horse Final", is the inaugural Wembley final. * The Third Division North expands from 20 to 22 clubs, bringing the total number of

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

clubs to 88. With

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921 Stalybridge Celtic ...

expelled, the new clubs are Doncaster Rovers,

New Brighton New Brighton is the name of several places, sports teams etc.: Australia * New Brighton, New South Wales, a town near Ocean Shores Canada * New Brighton, Calgary, Alberta, a neighborhood * New Brighton (Gambier Island), a settlement in British ...

(1923–1951) and

Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as Bo ...

. Germany * National Championship – Hamburger SV 3–0 Union Oberschöneweide at Berlin Romania * Rapid București is founded under the name "Cultural and Sporting Association CFR" (in Romanian: Asociatia culturala si sportiva C.F.R.) by a group of workers at the Grivita workshops. Spain * Celta de Vigo is founded after the merger of Real Vigo Sporting and Real Club Fortuna de Vigo. * Club Deportivo Villarreal, official founded on March 10, as predecessor for Villarreal CF. Turkey * Formation of the Turkish Football Federation (Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu or TFF) * Genclerbirligi of Ankara officially founded on March 14.

Athletics

Monaco * third Women's Olympiad in Monte Carlo UK * First British Track & Field championships for women, London US * First American Track & Field championships for women, New Jersey

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

VFL Premiership * 13 October – Essendon wins the 27th

VFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

Premiership, defeating Fitzroy 8.15 (63) to 6.10 (46) at

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

(MCG) in the 1923 VFL Grand Final. South Australian Football League * 29 September – Norwood 9.12 (66) defeats North Adelaide 6.4 (40) to win its second successive SAFL premiership * Magarey Medal won by

Horrie Riley Horrie Riley (10 September 1902 – 8 February 1970) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Sturt Football Club, Sturt in the South Australian National Football League, SAFL. Football Despite being one of the smaller players in the ...

( Sturt) West Australian Football League * 6 October – East Perth win its fifth consecutive premiership, beating East Fremantle 9.9 (63) to 7.4 (46) * Sandover Medal won by "Digger" Thomas (East Perth)

Bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

Sweden *

Championship final In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

– Västerås SK 2-1 IF Linnéa

Baseball

World Series * 10–15 October — New York Yankees (AL) defeats

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

(NL) to win the

1923 World Series The 1923 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1923 season. The 20th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion New York Yankees against the National League champion New York Giants. ...

by 4 games to 2 Major League Baseball * 18 April — opening of the original Yankee Stadium in the Bronx Negro leagues * The Eastern Colored League (ECL) plays its first season with six teams: Hilldale Daisies,

Brooklyn Royal Giants The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1905 by John Wilson Connor (1875–1926), owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe, the team initially played against white semi-pro teams. ...

, Cuban Stars (East),

New York Lincoln Giants The Lincoln Giants were a Negro league baseball team based in New York City from 1911 through 1930. Founding The Lincoln Giants can trace their origins back to the Nebraska Indians, of Lincoln, Nebraska, from the 1890s. According to Sol White ...

Atlantic City Bacharach Giants The Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Founding The club was founded when two African-American politicians moved the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, to Atlantic City in 1916 and ...

, and Baltimore Black Sox. Hilldale wins the first pennant. Afterward the league votes for expansion to eight teams, accepting the Harrisburg Giants and the Washington Potomacs. * The Negro National League completes its fourth season with the Kansas City Monarchs winning their first pennant after three years of domination by Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants. The other teams in the league are Indianapolis ABC's, Detroit Stars, St. Louis Stars, Cuban Stars (West), Toledo Tigers, and Milwaukee Bears. The Tigers and Bears disband during the season and three teams play under "associate" status for the remainder of the season: Cleveland Tate Stars, Birmingham Black Barons, and Memphis Red Sox. * Oscar "Heavy" Johnson wins the NNL triple crown, leading in batting average, home runs, and

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

, while Wilbur "Bullet" Rogan leads in wins and strikeouts. Raleigh "Biz" Mackey is the batting leader in the ECL with Jesse "Nip" Winters leading in most pitching categories. * There is no World Series between the two champions this year, owing to enmity between Rube Foster and the ECL president Ed Bolden

Boxing

Events * 18 June — Jimmy Wilde's long reign as

World Flyweight Champion This is a list of world flyweight boxing champions, as recognized by the four major sanctioning organizations in boxing: * The World Boxing Association (WBA), established in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA). The WBA often recognize up ...

ends when he is knocked out by Filipino Pancho Villa in the 7th round in New York City * 31 August — Harry Greb, arguably the greatest-ever middleweight, takes the world title when he defeats Johnny Wilson over 15 rounds in New York City * 14 September — Jack Dempsey knocks out

Luis Firpo Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

in the second round of a sensational fight at the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...

in New York City to retain his World Heavyweight Championship title. Lineal world champions * World Heavyweight Championship – Jack Dempsey *

World Light Heavyweight Champion This is a chronological list of world light heavyweight boxing champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations: Championship recognition 1903–1910 The light-heavyweight division was created in 1903, the brainc ...

ship – Battling Siki → Mike McTigue *

World Middleweight Champion Championship recognition 1884–1910 Champions were recognized by public acclamation. A champion in that era was a fighter who had a notable win over another fighter and kept winning afterward. Retirements or disputed results could lead to a cha ...

ship – Johnny Wilson → Harry Greb *

World Welterweight Champion In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

ship – Mickey Walker *

World Lightweight Champion This is a list of world lightweight boxing champions by organization, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations: * The World Boxing Association (WBA), founded in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA), * The World ...

ship – Benny Leonard *

World Featherweight Champion Championship recognition Public Acclamation: 1884 to 1921 Champions were recognized by wide public acclamation. A heavyweight champion was a boxer who had a notable win over another notable boxer and then went without defeat. Retirements from the ...

ship –

Johnny Kilbane John Patrick Kilbane (April 9, 1889 – May 31, 1957) was an American featherweight boxer in the early part of the 20th century. He held the World Featherweight title from 1912 to 1923, the longest period in the division's history, having defen ...

→

Eugene Criqui Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

→ Johnny Dundee *

World Bantamweight Champion This is a list of world bantamweight boxing champions, as recognized by the four major sanctioning organizations in boxing: * The World Boxing Association (WBA), established in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA). The WBA often recognize ...

ship – Joe Lynch *

ship – Jimmy Wilde → Pancho Villa

Canadian football

Grey Cup *

11th Grey Cup The 11th Grey Cup was played on December 1, 1923, before 8,629 fans at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. Queen's University shut out the Regina Rugby Club 54–0, the biggest Grey Cup victory margin ever achieved. External links * * Grey Cup ...

in the Canadian Football League – Queen's University 54–0 Regina Roughriders

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

Events * In a cool, damp English summer, a

West Indian team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West Indies. The players on ...

is on tour, winning six and losing seven first-class matches. England * County Championship – Yorkshire *

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

–

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

* Most runs – Patsy Hendren 2934 @ 77.21 (HS 200*) * Most wickets – Maurice Tate 219 @ 13.97 (BB 8–30) * Wisden Cricketers of the Year –

Arthur Gilligan Arthur Edward Robert Gilligan (23 December 1894 – 5 September 1976) was an English first-class cricketer who captained the England cricket team nine times in 1924 and 1925, winning four Test matches, losing four and drawing one. In fi ...

, Roy Kilner, George Macaulay,

Cec Parkin Cecil Harry Parkin (18 February 1886 – 15 June 1943), known as Cec or Ciss Parkin, was an English cricketer who played in 10 Test matches between 1920 and 1924 and made 157 appearances for Lancashire County Cricket Club. Life and career Par ...

, Maurice Tate Australia * Sheffield Shield – New South Wales * Most runs – Percy Chapman 782 @ 65.16 (HS 134*) * Most wickets – Arthur Mailey 55 @ 21.58 (BB 6–45) India * Bombay Quadrangular – Parsees New Zealand * Plunket Shield – Canterbury South Africa * Currie Cup – not contested West Indies * Inter-Colonial Tournament – not contested

Cycling

Tour de France * Henri Pélissier (France) wins the 17th Tour de France Giro d'Italia * Costante Girardengo of Maino wins the eleventh Giro d'Italia

Figure skating

World Figure Skating Championships * World Men's Champion – Fritz Kachler (Austria) * World Women's Champion – Herma Szabo (Austria) * World Pairs Champions –

Ludowika Jakobsson-Eilers Ludovika Antje Margareta Jakobsson-Eilers (née Eilers, 25 July 1884 – 1 November 1968) was a German-Finnish figure skater. Competing in pair skating with her husband Walter Jakobsson, she won the gold medal at the 1920 Summer Olympic ...

and Walter Jakobsson (Finland)

Golf

Major tournaments * British Open – Arthur Havers * US Open – Bobby Jones * USPGA Championship –

Gene Sarazen Gene Sarazen (; born Eugenio Saraceni, February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of seven major championships. He is one of five players (along ...

Other tournaments * British Amateur – Roger Wethered * US Amateur –

Max Marston Maxwell Rolston Marston (June 12, 1892 – May 7, 1949) was an American amateur golfer. He worked as an investment banker in Philadelphia. He was a member of the Cranford Golf Club in Cranford, New Jersey and lived on Central Avenue in the town. ...

Horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

England * Grand National – Sergeant Murphy *

1,000 Guineas Stakes The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 ...

– Tranquil *

2,000 Guineas Stakes The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) and scheduled to take place each year at ...

– Ellangowan * The Derby – Papyrus * The Oaks – Brownhylda * St. Leger Stakes – Tranquil Australia * Melbourne Cup – Bitalli Canada *

King's Plate The King's Plate (known as the Queen's Plate between 1860 to 1901 and 1952 to 2022) is Canada's oldest Thoroughbred horse race, having been founded in 1860. It is also the oldest continuously run race in North America. It is run at a distance of ...

– Flowerful France * Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe – Parth Ireland * Irish Grand National – Be Careful * Irish Derby Stakes – Waygood USA *

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...

– Zev * Preakness Stakes – Vigil *

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...

– Zev

Ice hockey

Stanley Cup * 29–31 March — Ottawa Senators wins the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

for the fifth time, defeating the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

by 2 games to 0 in the

1923 Stanley Cup Finals The 1923 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the NHL champion Ottawa Senators and the WCHL champion Edmonton Eskimos. The previous WCHL-PCHA playoff format was abandoned, and the Ottawa Senators now had to play first the PCHA champion Vancouver Ma ...

Sweden *

Klass I The Klass I was the top level ice hockey league in Sweden from 1923 to 1927. It existed alongside the Swedish Ice Hockey Championship, where the national champion was crowned. Klass I existed along with the second-tier league Klass II. Klass I was ...

, a professional ice hockey league in Sweden, as predecessor for

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, an ...

, first officially game held on January 23.

Motorsport Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

Multi-sport events

Far Eastern Championship Games * The 6th Far Eastern Championship Games is held at Osaka, Japan.

Rowing

The Boat Race * 24 March — Oxford wins the 75th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race

Rugby league

England * Championship – Hull Kingston Rovers *

Challenge Cup final The Challenge Cup of Rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season, 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley Bulldogs, Batley and St Helens R.F.C., St. Helens at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Headingley, ...

– Leeds 28–3 Hull F.C. at

Belle Vue, Wakefield Belle Vue, also known as the Be Well Support Stadium for sponsorship reasons, in Wakefield, England, is the home of Wakefield Trinity rugby league club. It is on the A638 Doncaster Road, a mile south of Wakefield city centre. History Ear ...

* Lancashire League Championship – Wigan * Yorkshire League Championship –

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

* Lancashire County Cup – Wigan 20–2

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Sta ...

* Yorkshire County Cup – York 5–0

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

Australia * NSW Premiership – Eastern Suburbs 15–12 South Sydney (grand final)

Rugby union

Five Nations Championship * 36th Five Nations Championship series is won by England who complete the Grand Slam.

Speed skating

Speed Skating World Championships * Men's All-round Champion – Clas Thunberg (Finland)

Tennis

Australia * Australian Men's Singles Championship – Pat O'Hara Wood (Australia) defeats

Bert St. John Cecil Bertram Vernon St John (28 July 1879 – 19 September 1932) was an Australian tennis player. St. John won the doubles title alongside Pat O'Hara Wood at the Australasian Championships, the future Australian Open, in 1923, and reached th ...

(Australia) 6–1 6–1 6–3 * Australian Women's Singles Championship –

Margaret Molesworth Maud Margaret 'Mall' Molesworth (née Mutch; 18 October 1894 – 9 July 1985) was a tennis player from Queensland, Australia who won the inaugural Australasian Championships women's singles title in 1922 and successfully defended her title in 1 ...

(Australia) defeats Esna Boyd Robertson (Australia) 6–1 7–5 England * Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship – Bill Johnston (USA) defeats Francis Hunter (USA) 6–0 6–3 6–1 * Wimbledon Women's Singles Championship –

Suzanne Lenglen Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen (; 24 May 1899 – 4 July 1938) was a French tennis player. She was the inaugural world No. 1 from 1921 to 1926, winning eight Grand Slam titles in singles and twenty-one in total. She was also a four-time World ...

(France) defeats

Kitty McKane Godfree Kathleen "Kitty" McKane Godfree (née McKane; 7 May 1896 – 19 June 1992) was a British tennis and badminton player and the second most decorated female British Olympian, joint with Katherine Grainger According to A. Wallis Myers of ''The Dail ...

(Great Britain) 6–2 6–2 France * French Men's Singles Championship – François Blanchy (France) defeats Max Decugis (France) 1–6 6–2 6–0 6–2 * French Women's Singles Championship –

(France) defeats Germaine Golding (France) 6–1 6–4 USA * American Men's Singles Championship – Bill Tilden (USA) defeats Bill Johnston (USA) 6–4 6–1 6–4 * American Women's Singles Championship – Helen Wills Moody (USA) defeats Molla Bjurstedt Mallory (Norway) 6–2 6–1 Davis Cup *

1923 International Lawn Tennis Challenge The 1923 International Lawn Tennis Challenge was the 18th edition of what is now known as the Davis Cup. For the first time, the competition was split into two zones: the America Zone and the Europe Zone. This change was necessitated by having mor ...

– 4–1 at West Side Tennis Club (grass) New York City, United States

Notes

The Grand Final was postponed owing to heavy rain, creating the latest finish to a VFL/AFL season.

References

{{Sports by year 1901 – 1950 Sports by year