Toronto is celebrating the 150th birthday of its local professional football team on Wednesday morning by raising its flag at city hall.
Mayor Olivia Chow and Argonauts’ general manager Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons will make remarks at the ceremony, which will also include appearances from current players Andrew Harris, DaShaun Amos, and Henoc Muamba, as well as retired players Damon Allen, Adriano Belli, Matt Black, and Mike Eben.
The Argonauts were founded on Oct. 4, 1873 and have won more Grey Cups than any other team in Canada with 18. The club won its most recent title in 2022 in upset fashion over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and are currently the favourite to win it all again in 2023 as they’ve already clinched first place in the East Division with a record of 12-2.
The club has been celebrating the milestone anniversary all season and will soon host a flag football tournament featuring teams from 20 schools across the Greater Toronto Area in cooperation with Football Toronto. The Argos have also set up special pregame and halftime events for their upcoming game against the Edmonton Elks on Friday, Oct. 6.
The Argos are the oldest professional sports team in North America still using their same name. The club predates the Arizona Cardinals, the oldest franchise in the NFL, by 25 years and the Montreal Canadiens, the oldest franchise in the NHL, by 36 years.
The ceremony will take place at 9:00 a.m. EDT at the podium roof of 100 Queen St. West. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
