Playoffs

History of the Championship Cup

In the late 1890’s, Regina was still in its infancy, and the history books will tell you that two competing factions were vying to develop the new town. Sir Edgar Dewdney was convinced that downtown should be developed near the Territorial Building, west along what is now Dewdney Avenue. A group of trustees of the Canadian National Railway company, led by the likes of Smith, McIntyre, and Scarth, sought to see downtown developed in an area south of the tracks, and a little further east.

A little known fact is that a third proposal for a vision of Regina existed way back then, one that made no sense whatsoever. Lt. Gov. Sir Bigsby Championship was well-known for his wacky inventions and crazy, unworkable ideas. Inventions like his steam-powered gun proved to be unreliable and dangerous. His proposal that all of Western Canada form one province called China was confusing and unpopular. Before becoming Lt. Governor, he ran for political office under the slogan, “Let Us Work Together To Make A Better Pie.”

So the citizens of Regina were not surprised at all when Sir Championship submitted his proposal for the location of downtown to the city fathers. He explained that even though the vast majority of Reginans (or Registocrats, as he called them) live near the train station, it would be prudent to establish the main commercial trading area as far to the east as anyone could imagine, oh, say, 8 or so miles. That way, people desiring to purchase goods would have to travel a long distance along the bumpy horsepath known as Victoria Avenue, and spend countless hours sitting in their buggies and wagons just so they could obtain a sack of yams from SuperFarmer or get a new horseshoe from Horse Depot.

This proposal, like Sir Championship, was laughed out of town, and a motion was soon passed to have all mention of him stricken from the history books of the future. Before that could be done, however, Sir Championship obtained a trophy cup from a local brass-smith. He declared that this cup would be awarded to the best player in Regina of one of his last inventions, the table lacrosse game. Lacrosse, as we all know, proved to be incredibly unpopular, and the cup has since become emblematic of annual supremacy in the Regina Table Hockey Association. The cup, originally named by its donator as the Rancid Cow Entrails Trophy, was renamed the Championship Cup in 1928.