Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Guilty until Proven Innocent How the Ontario Hockey Association Came to Enact Its Harsh Rules Against Professionalism KEVIN SLATER n 1897, in Ontario, professionalism in sport The latest sign of this growth of professionalism is Iwas considered a bad thing. In a city like Toronto, the action of a Western Ontario club in importing which was often deemed to be more English than players from an Eastern city. It is time that we got England itself, the late-Victorian-era values of fair play back to the proper idea of sports — that the highest 1 and sportsmanship were the order of the day. It was an aim of honest athletics is enjoyment, not victory. era in which it was believed that sport should be played for sport’s sake, the notion of winning at all costs was It was clear that the individuals running the oha were thought to be terribly gauche, and it was better to lose of the same mind as the newspaper reporters, and in his with honour than risk one’s reputation by trying to win address at the oha Annual Meeting on December 4, 1897, by underhanded means. President James McFadden stated: By 1897, lacrosse had already been rocked by professional scandals and was generally considered to be Professionalism is the curse of all amateur pursuits. corrupt. Football had also had its fair share of contro- As long as the sport is kept pure, so long does it versy and was generally thought to be only slightly better flourish, but as soon as the thin edge of profession- than lacrosse. Hockey was on a slippery slope in Ontario, alism is allowed to creep in, immediately the sport and the newspapers, particularly those in Toronto, deteriorates. But if it is in the power of the Ontario warned that unless the Ontario Hockey Association Hockey Association to keep the professional out in (oha) got its affairs in order quickly, professionalism the cold, there is no danger of the decadence of would kill the province’s fastest-growing winter sport. hockey. The sport will be kept uncontaminated and TheToronto Evening Star was particularly vocal about free from the professional microbe if the O. H. A. is 2 the need to stamp out professionalism: allowed to control affairs. Indications are that if the Ontario Hockey Associa- It was with this in mind that the oha adopted a new tion does not bestir itself the professionalism and rule for the upcoming 1897/98 season: “When the status semi-professionalism which have materially injured of any individual is questioned, the burden of proving lacrosse, and are endangering football, will do his innocence shall rest with the accused, inasmuch as serious harm to the only winter game of importance. the real and true facts of the case must lie within his own 1 2 • The Hockey Research Journal, September 2020 personal knowledge and consequently he should be in a Osgoode, the only team with a hope of catching the Gran- position, if unjustly accused or suspected, to prove his ites for first place in the group. Osgoode Hall brought innocence to the satisfaction of the executive.” 3 Boys down from Barrie to play cover-point for this im- Apart from protests from a couple of individuals who portant game, and thanks to his help, the Legalites felt the new rule, under which players were presumed outscored the Granites, 7–6, to keep their championship guilty until they proved their innocence, was “contrary hopes alive. At the time, the Granites said nothing of to general law,” the regulation was passed almost unani- Boys’s inclusion on the Osgoode roster. mously. In later years, William Hewitt, who served as One week later, the clubs met again as the Toronto secretary of the oha for over 60 years, stated that the Group schedule was drawing to a close, and the Gran- regulation “might have violated the Magna Carta,” but ites still held a slight edge in the championship race with it was “deemed appropriate by the oha in 1897.” But how a 9–1 record and two games remaining, compared with did the oha come to the point where it felt the need to Osgoode’s 9–2 record. Notably absent from the Granites’ implement such harsh rules? midweek game against the Torontos was their point player, Walter Meharg, who was said to be “in Montreal The First Ringer on business.” It was suggested by some that the business After the oha was formed in Toronto in Meharg was conducting was the recruitment of a star November of 1890, it managed to get through its first two player or two from Montreal to, in the words of the seasons without a single recorded instance of unjust re- Toronto Daily Mail, “counteract the Osgoode importa- cruiting practices of any kind. In fact, the first dispute tion from Barrie.” The Mail also suggested the Granites over player eligibility did not involve a claim of profes- were not the only ones up to some funny business, as the sionalism, but rather a case of a team bringing in a ringer. Osgoodes were planning on bringing in a star player The “ringing in of players” can be defined as the fraud- from Kingston or Ottawa for the big game. ulent introduction of a player onto a team to which he The rumours about Osgoode Hall picking up a player does not belong in order to seek an advantage. It was con- from eastern Ontario turned out to be false, but they did sidered unsporting to bring in a player of notable skill have Boys in the lineup once again. As for the Granites, level to compete for a team in a town in which he was just prior to game time, they announced that Fred Dixon not a resident. These players were sometimes known as was injured and would be unable to play; fortunately, one “hockey tourists.” W. Murray of the Montreal Crystals happened to be in The first such case of “ringing” involved the use of a Toronto and was willing to fill in. The Granites ended up player named William Alves Boys by the Osgoode Hall winning the game, 6–5, to capture the Toronto District team during the 1892/93 season. Boys had played for championship of the oha. Murray scored once and set Osgoode Hall during the previous season, when the “Le- up two goals for the Granites. galites” finished as runners-up to Queen’s University for Opinions regarding the inclusion of outside players the oha championship. Prior to the start of the 1892/93 on both teams were mixed. TheDaily Mail reporter felt season, Boys finished his education at Osgoode Hall and that both teams were equally at fault, writing, “Though moved back to his hometown of Barrie, Ontario, where the acquisition of Murray was no more blameworthy he opened up a legal practice and was named captain of than the addition of Boys to the Osgoode ranks, such Barrie’s non-oha-affiliated hockey club. tactics are not in the best and truest interest of the sport, On February 9, 1893, Osgoode Hall, which stood in and must eventually tend to depreciate the game that is second place in the Toronto District of the oha with fast assuming an important position in public favour.” 4 seven wins and two losses, was set to play an important TheToronto Globe seemed to be on the same page as match against the Granites, who were in first place with the Mail, stating that it seemed like a case of “fighting eight wins and no losses. It was a must-win game for the devil with fire.” The Globe report went on to state SLATER : Guilty until Proven Innocent • 3 that, while neither team had actually broken any rules, the affair indicated that a new rule might be needed to mitigate against such situations in future. One fan who wrote a letter to the sporting editor of the Toronto World was of a different opinion, suggesting that it was terribly unsporting of the Granites to bring in an outside player, while not finding any fault with the actions of Osgoode Hall: Objections have been raised against the Osgoode team playing Boys, who resides in Barrie, but even the Granites must admit there is a vast difference between playing a bona fide member who, though a non-resident, is as deeply interested in the success of the Osgoode team as any resident of Toronto and The OHA’s first player eligibility dispute involved an al- legation not of professionalism, but the use of a ringer. in scouring the country for a star player whose only On February , , Osgoode Hall brought in William interest in the game could have been a purely per- Alves Boys from Barrie to play a key game against 5 sonal one. Toronto’s Granite Club. The Granites ultimately won the Toronto Group title, while Boys would find victory in the political arena, serving two years as mayor of Barrie and As the oha did not yet have a rule to deal with the as a member of Parliament. use of ringers, the Osgoodes did not have grounds to Courtesy of the University of Toronto Archives protest the game. The Granites went on to defeat Galt in the oha semifinal before defaulting in the final to players. On February 3, 1894, in a game between Ham il- Queen’s University. ton and St. Catharines, the Hamilton Times accused the St. Kitts club of recruiting no fewer than three ringers to Residency Wrangles fill vacant spots.

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