The Toronto Rifles were a minor-league professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team active between 1964 and 1967. It was based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The team's home fields were

Maple Leaf Stadium Maple Leaf Stadium was a jewel box-style baseball stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at the foot of Bathurst Street on the south side of Lake Shore Boulevard (formerly Fleet Street). It was built in 1926 by Lol Solman for his Toronto M ...

(1965) and

Varsity Stadium Varsity Stadium is an outdoor collegiate football stadium located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Toronto Varsity Blues, the athletic teams of the University of Toronto. Athletic events have been hosted on the site since 1898; the ...

from 1966 to 1967.http://virology-online.com/Store/store001/8141-section219/Continental-Football-League--1965-69----Toronto-Rifles.html The team was owned by Montreal businessman Johnny Newman. As the Quebec Rifles, the team was the first professional American football team to be based in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It played the 1964 season in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in the original United Football League. When the Continental Football League (COFL) was established for the 1965 season with former UFL teams, the Quebec Rifles were admitted and transferred to Toronto to become the Toronto Rifles due to the lack of a suitable facility in Montreal. The Rifles competed in the Continental League from 1965–67, but the owners pulled out in the middle of their final season after having lost a reported $400,000 in their final full season. The league took over the club and planned to have it play all of its games on the road, but several weeks later the team folded after having played only four games. The team finished second in the league in 1965, losing to the

Charleston Rockets The Charleston Rockets were a professional American football team based in Charleston, West Virginia. They began play in 1964 as a member of the United Football League, and became a charter franchise in the Continental Football League The Con ...

in the league championship. In 1967, however, 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 ...

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

signed away the Rifles' head coach, Leo Cahill, quarterback

Tom Wilkinson Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson (born 5 February 1948)Born January–March 1948, according to the ''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com is an English actor of film, television, and stage. He has rece ...

and running back Joe Williams. Meanwhile,

Alan Eagleson Robert Alan Eagleson (born April 24, 1933) is a disbarred Canadian lawyer, hockey agent and promoter. Clients that he represented included superstars Bobby Orr and Darryl Sittler, and he was the first executive director of the NHL Players Ass ...

took over the franchise. The team declared bankruptcy four games into the 1967 season and the league folded the franchise at the same time as the Akron Vulcans. The Rifles had a Canadian-based rival, the

Montreal Beavers The Montreal Beavers were a professional American football team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The franchise began as the Indianapolis Warriors of the United Football League in 1961, where they played for four seasons. During that time the Wa ...

, when in the Continental Football League.

Seasons

Source: THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 10, No. 5 (1988) - The Continental Football League: A mini tragedy of five acts, Sarge Kennedy

Personnel

Players

* Allen Ray Aldridge LB 1966 * Charlie Baillie 1964 - with the Quebec Rifles * Robert Blakley RB 1965-1966 * Phil Chiarella LB 1964 - with the Quebec Rifles * Milt Crain Center * Ed Harrington, DE *

John Henry Jackson John Henry Jackson (1938 - December 11, 2018) was an American-Canadian football player and restaurateur.Morgan Campbell"John Henry Jackson was a quarterback, restaurateur and pioneer" ''Toronto Star'', December 13, 2018. Football career Born in C ...

, QB * Monte Kiffin, D * Dick Limerick Flanker * Rich Lucka Guard * Leo Mavity Safety * Bob Vokey punter, receiver and safety 1964 - with the Quebec Rifles, now a golf club craftsman * Ernie Wade Tackle *

QB 1966 * Joe Williams RB Source: THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 10, No. 5 (1988) - The Continental Football League: A mini tragedy of five acts, Sarge Kennedy

Head coaches

* 1964:

Sam Etcheverry Samuel "The Rifle" Etcheverry (May 20, 1930 – August 29, 2009) was a professional American and Canadian football player and head coach. Etcheverry played the quarterback position, most famously with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Footba ...

(former quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes and a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame; his nickname in his playing days was The Rifle) * 1965-1966: Leo Cahill (also GM; future CFL coach with the Toronto Argos) * 1967:

Jackie Parker John Dickerson "Jackie" Parker (January 1, 1932 – November 7, 2006) was an American gridiron football player and coach. He was an All-American in college football and an outstanding professional football player in the Canadian Football League ...

(former CFL player with the Toronto Argos and Edmonton Eskimos)

References

{{Continental Football League

Rifles A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with bo ...

Continental Football League teams United Football League (1961–1964) teams American football teams established in 1965 American football teams disestablished in 1967 1965 establishments in Ontario 1967 disestablishments in Ontario Defunct Canadian football teams