Football is the Game For Our Climate.
Writing in 1889, the Athenaeum proclaimed that “football is the game for our climate.” For a few years, from 1876 to 1883, football in Wolfville meant association football, or soccer. From 1883 to 1950 and beyond, football meant rugby. Though Acadia University took the lead, both Horton Collegiate and Wolfville High School adopted rugby. While some sports were played by school, university and town, football tended to be played only in the university and the schools, and only by boys and men.
Acadia played its first intercollegiate rugby game in 1883–a draw with Dalhousie University of Halifax, and in 1890, suffered its first defeat playing two or three games each season. In 1895 the Acadia team, led by Captain George Cutten, took its first out-of-province trip– a week in New Brunswick playing four games. In 1903, Acadia, Mt Allison University and the University of New Brunswick formed a league. During the years that followed, Acadia was in and out of several leagues; during WWII, for instance, intercollegiate league play was suspended and the team played various service teams. The Horton boys participated in the Acadia interclass league as a team. They also played in interscholastic leagues, such as the Valley Interscholastic League, as did Wolfville High School. Both Horton and Wolfville School were training grounds for men who became football stars at Acadia and elsewhere.
Like other sports, football has had its share of controversy. In 1907, one sports writer was particularly incensed by the uniforms worn at a game between Acadia and the Halifax Wanderers. “It was a matter of regret also to see a number of the Halifax players with useless headgear and padding; it was of course permissible in an exhibition game, but it is contrary to the spirit of the [game].” Only a few years later, canvas pants with padding on the legs and torso were the norm. Like hockey, substitutions were allowed, but only if a player was badly injured.
(Acadia Athenaeum, December 1889, 13; Acadian Recorder, 21 October 1907)
