Alberta Rugby Football Union

The Alberta Rugby Football Union was formed on September 25, 1911, and governed the newly emerging and evolving sport of football in the province for over 2 decades before it was disbanded in 1936.[1] First the Calgary Rugby Football Union (CRFU) was created on September 29, 1908.[2][3] The CRFU would play the champion from Edmonton to determine the winner of the Alberta Rugby Football League for 4 seasons from 1907 to 1910. After that the Alberta Rugby Football Union was formed in 1911. It joined the Manitoba Rugby Football Union and the Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union to form the Western Canada Rugby Football Union (WCRFU) in 1911.[3][4]

Alberta Rugby Football Union teams won three WCRFU championships and lost two Grey Cup games in 22 years of competition.

With the formation of the WCRFU in 1911, the ARFU Champion would compete in a playoff with the winners of the other Western Canadian unions to determine the WCRFU Champion. After reaching an agreement with the Eastern Canadian based Canadian Rugby Union in 1921, the WCRFU was able to compete in the Grey Cup Championship game. That year, the AFRU champion Edmonton Eskimos (no relation to the modern team) won the WCRFU championship to become the first ever western team to compete for the Grey Cup.[5]