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The McGill Redbirds (formerly the McGill Redmen) and McGill Martlets are the varsity athletic teams that represent
McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec, Canada.


Team name

According to Suzanne Morton, a professor of history at McGill, the name "McGill Redmen" was first adopted in 1927, initially intended to reflect James McGill's Scottish heritage and hair color. Despite this, after the hiring of a new football coach from the United States sometime before 1940, Indigenous imagery was brought in to accompany the name as a show of spectacle. Men's teams became colloquially known as the "Indians" and from 1961 to 1967 women's teams were formally known as the "Super Squaws". 1950s McGill team logos featured Aboriginal Canadian iconography and reports by news sources in the 1950s refer to the "McGill Indians" in their sports reporting. Stereotyped Indigenous iconography was on McGill football and hockey team jerseys and helmets until 1992 when a student-led campaign against the name and imagery led to their removal. At the same time, a large crest depicting an Indigenous man wearing a headdress was removed from the McGill gym. A second student-led campaign, #ChangeTheName, was organized in 2017 by the McGill Student Union Indigenous Affairs committee. In a 2018 referendum organized by McGill's student union, 78.8% of 5,856 participating students voted in favour of changing the teams' name. On April 12, 2019, McGill announced that "McGill University's men's varsity teams will cease to be called the Redmen." On November 17, 2020, "Redbirds" was announced as the new name for the McGill men's varsity teams.


Mascot

Since 2005, the mascot for both the men's and women's varsity teams has been Marty the
Martlet A martlet in English heraldry is a mythical bird without feet that never roosts from the moment of its drop-birth until its death fall; martlets are proposed to be continuously on the wing. It is a compelling allegory for continuous effort, expre ...
. The mascot made its first appearance at the 2005
Homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...
men's football game, where it was presented to the McGill Athletics Department by the Student Organization for Alumni Relations.


Football

The McGill
U Sports football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic confer ...
Redbirds is one of the oldest in all of Canada, having begun organized competition in 1874. The team has appeared in three
Vanier Cup The Vanier Cup (french: Coupe Vanier) is the championship of Canadian university football. It is organized by U Sports football and is currently played between the winners of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl. It is named after Georges Vanier, ...
national championships, in 1969, 1973 and 1987, with the team finally winning the title in the 1987 game. McGill plays out of
Percival Molson Memorial Stadium Percival Molson Memorial Stadium (also known in French as ''Stade Percival-Molson''; commonly referred to as Molson Stadium in English or Stade Molson in French) is an outdoor football stadium in Downtown Montreal, on the slopes of Mount Royal, ...
, where the
Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
's
Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...
also play. After their 2005 suspension, the team struggled with three losing seasons, including two winless seasons in 2007 and 2008. The program showed signs of hope as the team won three games in 2009, but soon sank back down to futility with consecutive winless campaigns in 2010 and 2011.


Ice hockey

On March 3, 1875 the first organized indoor game was played at Montreal's
Victoria Skating Rink The Victoria Skating Rink was an indoor ice skating rink located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened in 1862, it was described at the start of the twentieth century to be "one of the finest covered rinks in the world". The building was used dur ...
by
James George Aylwin Creighton James George Aylwin Creighton (June 12, 1850 – June 27, 1930) was a Canadian lawyer, engineer, journalist and athlete. He is credited with organizing the first recorded indoor ice hockey match at Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1875. He helped ...
and several
McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
students. In 1877, several McGill students, including Creighton, Henry Joseph, Richard F. Smith, W.F. Robertson, and W.L. Murray codified seven ice hockey rules. The McGill University Hockey Club – later re-christened "The Redmen" – was founded in 1877, arguably making the McGill men's hockey team the first and oldest
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
club in the world. The university operates both men's and women's teams in U Sports. The teams play at McGill's
McConnell Arena McConnell Arena is an ice hockey arena located on the corner of Pine Avenue and Park Avenue right beside Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The arena is owned and operated by McGill University, and is the home to the McGill Redbirds men's an ...
. The men's team has won championships in 1883, 1903, 1905, 1912, 1918, 1921, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1946, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, including the
2012 CIS University Cup The 2012 CIS Men's University Cup Hockey Tournament (50th Annual) was held March 22–25, 2012. This event marked the 50th anniversary of the inception of the University Cup tournament to decide the Men's University Hockey Champion. It is the secon ...
national championship. The women's team has won championships in 1985, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. On November 15, 2003, Kim St. Pierre was the first woman in U Sports history to be credited with a win in a men's regular season game. This occurred when McGill defeated the
Ryerson Rams TMU Bold (known as the Ryerson Rams prior to August 2022) are the varsity athletic teams that represent Toronto Metropolitan University (previously known as Ryerson University) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Toronto Metropolitan University operates ...
by a score of 5–2.


Other sports


Lacrosse

Lacrosse was played to a limited extent at McGill as early as 1873. The 15-man McGill Lacrosse Club of 1898 was led by F. L. Thompson (President), R. H. Craig (Vice President), and A. J. Grant (Secretary Treasurer). Numerous American clubs, including Brooklyn, Staten Island,
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
, and
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, challenged that McGill Lacrosse Club, but it was impossible to accept on account of approaching exams. McGill's lacrosse tradition was not re-established until 2001, when a McGill freshman organized a student lacrosse club. In 2002 the team gained Level-3 varsity club status at McGill, and joined the
Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association The Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) is an association of men's field lacrosse teams connected with several universities in Ontario and Quebec. Teams compete in the fall with league playoffs typically in early November. Hist ...
, Canada's premier league founded in 1985. In 2007 the team's status was elevated to a Level-2 varsity team by McGill Athletics. McGill has twice won Canada's national championship, the Baggataway Cup, in 2012 and 2015. McGill competes in the CUFLA East versus Bishop's, Carleton, Nipissing,
Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
,
Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...
and Queen's Universities. Four-time recipient of the Harry Griffith's Award in 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2015, the team has won eight CUFLA East conference titles in 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. The team has achieved a record of 97–11–1 since 2011 versus Canadian opponents. The hybrid Canadian-box-American-field lacrosse program is geographically diverse with student-athletes recruited from across Canada and the US. The team plays home games in McGill's
Percival Molson Memorial Stadium Percival Molson Memorial Stadium (also known in French as ''Stade Percival-Molson''; commonly referred to as Molson Stadium in English or Stade Molson in French) is an outdoor football stadium in Downtown Montreal, on the slopes of Mount Royal, ...
.


Soccer

The soccer program at McGill operates for a big part of the school year. On top of the regular U Sports fall season there is a Quebec indoor season, which runs from January to mid March. Preparation for the U Sports season starts with try-outs in mid-August and several preseason games against NCAA teams.


Sailing

McGill's sailing program was founded in 1937, and the first regattas took place in Kingston. McGill's first win came in the 1938 Canadian Intercollegiate Dinghy Racing Association National Championships. Today, the team competes in the
New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association The New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) is one of the seven conferences affiliated with the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) that schedule and administer regattas within their established geographic regions. NEISA i ...
, which itself is a part of the
Intercollegiate Sailing Association The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) is a volunteer organization that serves as the governing authority for all sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada. History The fi ...
and in the Canadian Intercollegiate Sailing Association. The team trains out of the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club throughout the fall and competes in dinghies such as the collegiate
420 420 may refer to: * 420 (number) * 420 (cannabis culture), informal reference to cannabis use and celebrations on April 20 **California Senate Bill 420 or the Medical Marijuana Program Act *AD 420, a year in the 5th century of the Julian calendar * ...
and the
Flying Junior The International FJ is a Dutch sailboat that was designed by Uus Van Essen and Conrad Gülcher as a trainer and one design racer, first built in 1956. The boat was initially called the Flying Dutchman Junior (after the Flying Dutchman o ...
.


Baseball

The baseball team plays in the Canadian Collegiate Baseball Association (CCBA). They have won seven national championships (2006 and 2010 under the old CIBA banner and 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 under the new CCBA banner), and have appeared in two national finals (2005 and 2008). In the 2016 CCBA National Tournament, held at
Ahuntsic Park Ahuntsic Park (french: Parc Ahuntsic) is an urban park in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is bordered by Henri Bourassa Boulevard to the north, Saint Hubert Street to the east, Lajeunesse Street to the west and ...
in Montreal, the Redmen went 2–1 in pool play, advancing to the semi-finals where they defeated the
Saint Mary's Huskies The Saint Mary's Huskies are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Their primary home turf is Huskies Stadium located in the centre of the University's campus. In September 2 ...
by a score of 21–0, and then defeated the
Montreal Carabins The Montréal Carabins are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Teams play at the CEPSUM Stadium and at l'aréna du CEPSUM, located at the Université de Montréal campus. ...
in the national championship game 3–2 on a walk-off home run by catcher Christopher Stanford. This victory marked a three-peat for the Redmen as Canadian National Champions, a streak which has now been extended to five straight national championships. The team plays out of Trudeau Park in Côte-Saint-Luc.


Controversy


2005 hazing scandal

A 2005
hazing Hazing (American English), initiation, beasting (British English), bastardisation (Australian English), ragging (South Asian English) or deposition refers to any activity expected of someone in joining or participating in a group that humiliates, ...
scandal forced the cancellation of the final two games in the McGill Redbirds football season. An investigation into the incident showed that "the event did involve nudity, degrading positions and behaviours, gagging, touching in inappropriate manners with a broomstick, as well as verbal and physical intimidation of rookies by a large portion of the team." In 2006, McGill's Senate approved a proposed anti-hazing policy to define forbidden initiation practices.McGill get tough with hazing
The Globe and Mail, 11 Jan. 07. Caroline Alphonso.


See also

* Indigenous team name controversy *
U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...


References


External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, McGill Redmen, color=white , list = {{Quebec Sports {{RSEQ {{Ontario University Athletics {{U Sports men's ice hockey {{U Sports soccer {{U Sports volleyball U Sports teams U Sports teams in Montreal U Sports teams in Quebec Quebec Rugby Football Union teams
Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...