Acadia’s Opponents
Acadia played in a number of leagues, both intercollegiate and town-based during the 1870-1950 period. Some of intercollegiate opponents they regularly met include the following.
Mount Allison University. Founded in 1839, Mount Allison is located in Sackville, New Brunswick, a small town near the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border. Acadia and Mount Allison, along with the University of New Brunswick, formed an intercollegiate sports league in 1903. Their sports rivalry dates from the 1880s.
University of New Brunswick. Located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, UNB formed an intercollegiate league with Acadia and Mount Allison in 1903. Like Mount Allison, UNB hosted Acadia’s rugby-football team in 1894 when Acadia made its first out-of-province trip. The three team league contested rugby, track, basketball and hockey.
Dalhousie University. Dalhousie is Nova Scotia’s largest university, located in Halifax. A number of Acadia athletes featured on this website continued their education at Dalhousie’s graduate or medical schools. Dalhousie and Acadia played each other in rugby-football from the mid-1880s. The rivalry was intense, sometimes friendly, sometimes bitter. During much of the 1870-1950 period, Acadia and Dal were in different intercollegiate leagues and met only in playoffs or for friendly games.
St Francis Xavier University. Located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, St Francis Xavier was a rival met mainly in playoffs for various sports during this period. Hockey and rugby competitions were particularly fierce and Acadia felt they had accomplished something when they defeated St Francis Xavier.
Kings College, now known as the University of Kings College. Founded in 1789 in Windsor, Nova Scotia (now located in Halifax), King’s College is Nova Scotia’s oldest university. In the early years of sport at Acadia, both men’s and women’s teams from King’s played Acadia, the men in rugby, hockey and basketball, the women in hockey and basketball. Kings was part of the intercollegiate basketball league formed in 1921 for women’s basketball.
Town-based teams. Acadia University sports teams also played town-based rivals. At various times during this period, they played only in town-based leagues, especially in hockey. In the early 1900s, Acadia played town-based teams from Wolfville, Canning, Port Williams, Kentville, Windsor and Middleton – all towns in or near Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Many of these teams late played in the Valley Hockey League. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Acadia played basketball in the Halifax City League against opponents such as the Wanderers and the Crescents. The rivalry with the Wolfville teams was particularly intense and during the 1930, the teams vied for the Callander Trophy. The women of Acadia played town-based teams in hockey during the 1890s-1920s. Town-based basketball started during the 1890s, but continued well into the 1940s. Although Acadia women were never in a league with town-based teams, they had many informal or “friendly” games with teams from towns like Port Williams, Canning and Windsor.
