1909 in sports explained

1909 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

International football

West Auckland Town, an English amateur team, defeats FC Winterthur of Switzerland 2–0 to win the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, one of the earliest international club competitions

Brazil

4 April — Sport Club Internacional is founded in Porto Alegre
12 October - Coritiba Foot Ball Club is founded in Curitiba

England

The Football League – Newcastle United 53 points, Everton 46, Sunderland 44, Blackburn Rovers 41, The Wednesday 40, Woolwich Arsenal 38
FA Cup final – Manchester United 1–0 Bristol City at Crystal Palace, London

Germany

National Championship – Phönix Karlsruhe 4–2 Viktoria Berlin at Breslau

Hungary

Budapest Honvéd FC founded on August 3.

Romania

Formation of the Romanian Football Federation (Federaţia Română de Fotbal or FRF)

Scotland

Scottish Football League – Celtic
Scottish Cup final – competition cancelled following a riot at a replay between Rangers and Celtic; the first match was drawn 2–2 and the replay ended 1–1

Spain

Formation of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (Real Federación Española de Fútbol or RFEF). It is originally known as the Federación Española de Clubs de Football.
Real Sociedad was founded in San Sebastián on September 7.

Athletics

February 12 - American athlete James Clark runs world record Marathon (2:46:52.6) in New York City at the Brooklyn Marathon
May 8 - American long-distance runner Albert Raines set a world's best time in the marathon (2:46:04) at the Bronx Marathon
August 23 - Fred ‘Tenby’ Davies (Wales) defeats Bert Day (Ireland) at Pontypridd to become world champion over the half-mile distance run.

Australian rules football

VFL Premiership

South Melbourne wins the 13th VFL Premiership: South Melbourne 4.14 (38) d Carlton 4.12 (36) at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

Bandy

Sweden

Championship final – AIK 7–3 Djurgårdens IF

Baseball

World Series

8–16 October — Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) defeats Detroit Tigers (AL) to win the 1909 World Series by 4 games to 3

Boxing

Events

March 10 - Jack Johnson fights Victor McLaglen to no decision in 6 rounds (Exhibition fight at the Vancouver Athletic Club)
June 19 — Monte Attell wins the World Bantamweight Championship joining his brother Abe Attell, who holds the World Featherweight Championship, as the first pair of brothers to hold world titles simultaneously.

Lineal world champions^[1]

World Heavyweight Championship – Jack Johnson
World Light Heavyweight Championship – vacant
World Middleweight Championship – Stanley Ketchel
World Welterweight Championship – vacant
World Lightweight Championship – Battling Nelson
World Featherweight Championship – Abe Attell
World Bantamweight Championship – Jimmy Walsh → "Fighting" Jimmy Reagan → Monte Attell

Canadian football

Grey Cup

4 December — 1st Grey Cup – University of Toronto Varsity Blues 26–6 Toronto Parkdale Canoe Club.

Cricket

Events

15 June — representatives of England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lord's to form the Imperial Cricket Conference (ICC)

England

- County Championship – Kent Minor Counties Championship – Wiltshire
Most runs – Ernie Hayes 2105 @ 36.29 (HS 276)
Most wickets – Colin Blythe 215 @ 14.54 (BB 9–42)
Wisden Cricketers of the Year – Warren Bardsley, Sydney Barnes, Douglas Carr, Arthur Day, Vernon Ransford

Australia

- Sheffield Shield – New South Wales Most runs – Vernon Ransford 825 @ 103.12 (HS 182)
Most wickets – Jack O'Connor 40 @ 23.00 (BB 7–36)

India

Bombay Triangular – Europeans

New Zealand

Plunket Shield – Auckland

South Africa

Currie Cup – not contested

West Indies

Inter-Colonial Tournament – Barbados

Cycling

Tour de France

François Faber (Luxembourg) wins the 7th Tour de France^[2]

Giro d'Italia

Luigi Ganna (Italy) wins the inaugural Giro d'Italia

Eton wall game

Events

30 November — a goal is scored in the St. Andrew's Day match at Eton College, the last time this has happened in the St. Andrew's Day game (the most important match of the year) though points have been scored by other methods

Figure skating

World Figure Skating Championships

World Men's Champion – Ulrich Salchow (Sweden)
World Women's Champion – Lily Kronberger (Hungary)
World Pairs Champions – Phyllis Johnson and James H. Johnson (Great Britain)

Golf

Major tournaments

British Open – John Henry Taylor^[3]
U.S. Open – George Sargent

Other tournaments

- British Amateur – Robert Maxwell US Amateur – Robert A. Gardner

Horse racing

England

Australia

Melbourne Cup – Prince Foote

Canada

King's Plate – Shimonese

Ireland

Irish Grand National – Little Hack II
Irish Derby Stakes – Bachelor's Double

USA

Kentucky Derby – Wintergreen
Preakness Stakes – Effendi
Belmont Stakes – Joe Madden

Ice hockey

Stanley Cup

March — Ottawa Hockey Club wins the Eastern Canada Hockey Association (ECHA) championship and the Stanley Cup.
March — Renfrew Creamery Kings win the Federal Hockey League championship and challenge for the Stanley Cup, but cannot play because the Stanley Cup trustees rule their players are ineligible.

Amateur hockey

February — the Allan Cup is donated to be the amateur championship hockey trophy of Canada
March — Ottawa Cliffsides win the Inter-Provincial Amateur Hockey Union (IPAHU) and the Allan Cup. The Cliffsides then lose a challenge to Queen's College of Kingston, Ontario.

Professional hockey

25 November — Eastern Canada Hockey Association (ECHA) disbands over the plans of the Montreal Wanderers to change rinks. The Wanderers are shut out and the new Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) is formed with the remainder of the ECHA teams. The CHA will disband in January 1910.
2 December — The Montreal Wanderers form the National Hockey Association (NHA) with the Renfrew Creamery Kings, Cobalt Silver Kings and Haileybury Comets of the Temiscaming league. The NHA owners also organize a new team Les Canadiens which is the basis of today's Montreal Canadiens. The NHA will absorb Ottawa and the Montreal Shamrocks of the CHA in January 1910.

Motorsport

See main article: 1909 in motorsport.

Rowing

The Boat Race

3 April — Oxford wins the 66th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race

Rugby league

International

10 February — Great Britain defeats Australia to claim the first ever Ashes series in the final match of the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain

England

Championship – Wigan
Challenge Cup final – Wakefield Trinity 17–0 Hull F.C. at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds
Lancashire League Championship – Wigan
Yorkshire League Championship – Halifax

Australia

14 September — NSW Premiership is won by minor premiers South Sydney on a forfeit after Balmain withdraws from the grand final

Rugby union

Home Nations Championship

27th Home Nations Championship series is won by Wales
Wales defeats France in a 1909 non-championship match. It is later retrospectively regarded as a Grand Slam winner.
October 8 – The first rugby football match to be played at Twickenham Stadium is won by the Harlequins when they defeat Richmond at the brand new ground.