Old Four Explained

Old Four
Teams:4
Region:Central Canada
Map:Central Canada.svg
Map Size:225

The Old Four is a soccer conference composed of four public institutions of higher education in Central Canada. The name is also an appellation for the four universities as a group, consisted of McGill University, Queen's University, University of Toronto and University of Western Ontario. They are home to the original four soccer teams in Canadian collegiate athletics.[1] The Old Four holds an annual exhibition tournament over the Labour Day weekend, although the teams do not accumulate points toward the regular season of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport competition.

As the name suggests, the Old Four schools are among Canada's oldest and most prestigious universities. Except for the University of Western Ontario, all were founded by royal charter during the British colonial era before Canadian Confederation. Historically, these schools have held intense rivalries in athletics. Today, the Old Four are all research universities and members of Canada's U15 Group of Canadian research universities. They are the only universities in eastern Canada with endowments of over $1 billion respectively.

The Old Four was for several decades also a conference for Canadian football competition between these same four schools, but conference realignment, beginning in the early 1970s, has meant that it no longer exists in its original form.

Members

The Old Four schools are all public institutions unaffiliated with any religion. Although three were founded as religious schools, they have all since become secular institutions.

InstitutionLocationTeam nameVenueFounding religious affiliationFounded
McGill UniversityMontreal, QuebecMartlets, RedbirdsPercival Molson Memorial StadiumNonsectarian1821 as McGill College
Queen's UniversityKingston, OntarioGaelsRichardson Memorial StadiumPresbyterian1841 as Queen's College
University of TorontoToronto, OntarioVarsity BluesVarsity StadiumAnglican1827 as King's College
University of Western OntarioLondon, OntarioMustangsTD Waterhouse StadiumAnglican1878 as The Western University of London Ontario

Summary of tournament finals

YearLocationMen's winnerMen's runner-upScoreWomen's winnerWomen's runner-upScore
2002Montreal???-?WesternMcGill2-1
2003LondonWesternMcGill1-0WesternMcGill4-3
2004KingstonWesternMcGill2-1McGillWestern2-1
2005MontrealTorontoQueen's2-1McGillQueen's1-0
2006TorontoWesternQueen's3-0McGillWestern6-2
2007LondonWesternMcGill1-0McGillQueen's1-0
2008TorontoMcGillToronto2-0McGillToronto3-1
2009LondonWesternMcGill2-1McGillQueen's3-0
2010KingstonMcGillQueen's2-1McGillToronto1-0
2011MontrealTorontoMcGillP-P*TorontoMcGillP-P*
2012TorontoTorontoWestern1-1 (5-4 PK)McGillWestern2-1
2013LondonQueen'sWestern1-1 (4-2 PK)TorontoMcGill0-0 (4-3 PK)
2014KingstonMcGillWestern1-0WesternMcGill1-0
2015MontrealWesternMcGill2-1WesternMcGill2-2 (5-3 PK)
2016TorontoWesternMcGill3-1McGillToronto1-0
2017LondonWesternQueen's2-1Queen'sWestern1-0
2018KingstonWesternQueen's2-1Queen'sToronto1-0

Note: The 2011 finals were cancelled due to field conditions.[2]

External links

Conference news

Notes and References

  1. Web site: U of T Soccer to Host Old Four Tournament. 2008-09-02. "The University of Toronto Varsity Blues soccer program is proud to host a very time-honoured tradition - the annual Old Four tournament, August 30–31, 2008 at the Varsity Centre. This tournament features the original four football schools in Canadian university sport: McGill University, Queen’s University, the University of Western Ontario and the University of Toronto."
  2. Web site: OLD FOUR MATCHES CANCELLED DUE TO WET FIELD CONDITIONS. 2012-08-28. "Both men’s and women’s gold-medal matches at the 2011 Old Four tournament have been cancelled due to excessive water on the field."