1981 CFL season

Canadian Football League season August 2024 August 2024 1981 CFL season East Ottawa Rough Riders West Edmonton Eskimos 69th Grey Cup November 22, 1981 Edmonton Eskimos 1980 CFL season 1980 1982 CFL season 1982 List of Canadian Football League seasons CFL The 1981 CFL season is considered to be the 28th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 24th Canadian Football League season. CFL news in 1981 The Eastern and Western Football Conferences, which had carried on as separate and autonomous entities since the founding of the CFL in 1958, agreed to a full merger prior to the start of the 1981 season. With the merger, the Eastern and Western Football Conferences were dissolved and renamed as the East and West Divisions. The merger authorized the CFL to have full authority over league matters, including the adoption of a full interlocking schedule for both divisions. All nine teams played each other twice, once home and once away, regardless of their affiliated division. With the exception of six seasons; the three seasons of the CFL's U.S. expansion era from 1993 to 1995 and three seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2021 to 2023, the League's teams played at least one game home and one away versus every other team in the League since the 1981 season. In addition, the merger set up the CFL Board of Governors and the CFL Management Council to replace the Executive Committee and the General Managers Committee. After the 1980 season, after owning the team for over ten years, Montreal Alouettes owner Sam Berger retired and sold the team to Nelson Skalbania, who brought in high priced NFL talent who did not adapt to the Canadian game, bringing a terrible losing season to Montreal (they did, however, make the playoffs due to the weak division that year), and with it, a loss of fan support, and he lost money and because of the high priced talent he bankrupted the team. So the team folded after the season, but a year later, a new team, the Montreal Concordes, owned by Expos owner Charles Bronfman, took over the team's players and history. The East was so weak this season that the Calgary Stampeders, despite being the West's fifth place team, finished with a better record than the second place Ottawa Rough Riders. Ottawa nevertheless upset the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and qualified for the Grey Cup despite winning only five games in the regular season finishing seventh overall. The ensuing controversy over having a 5–11 team playing in the Grey Cup played a large part in eventually persuading the league to implement a cross-over rule permitting a fourth place team in one division to qualify for the playoffs in place of a third place team in the other division with a weaker record. Nevertheless, the current rule makes no provision to allow a fifth place team to make the playoffs even if its record is better than that of the second place team in the other division, which occurred in 2018. Regular season standings Final regular season standings Edmonton and Hamilton have first round byes. Grey Cup playoffs 69th Grey Cup The Edmonton Eskimos are the 1981 Grey Cup champions, defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders, 26–23, at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Edmonton won their fourth-straight championship on a last second Dave Cutler field-goal. The Rough Riders' J.C. Watts (QB) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player on Offence and John Glassford (LB) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player on Defence. The Eskimos' Neil Lumsden (RB) was named Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian. Playoff bracket November 8: Division Semifinals November 15: Division Finals November 22: 69th Grey Cup @ Olympic Stadium – Montreal, Quebec 1 East West E3 Montreal Alouettes 16 E2 Ottawa Rough Riders 20 W3 BC Lions 15 W2 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 11 E2 Ottawa Rough Riders 17 E1 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 13 W3 BC Lions 16 W1 Edmonton Eskimos 22 E2 Ottawa Rough Riders 23 W1 Edmonton Eskimos 26 CFL leaders CFL passing leaders CFL rushing leaders CFL receiving leadersCFLapedia https://www.cflapedia.com/ 1981 CFL All-Stars 25em start Offence QB – Dieter Brock, Winnipeg Blue Bombers RB – Larry Key, BC Lions RB – Jim Germany, Edmonton Eskimos SB – Joe Poplawski, Winnipeg Blue Bombers SB – Joey Walters, Saskatchewan Roughriders WR – Brian Kelly, Edmonton Eskimos WR – James Scott, Montreal Alouettes C – Al Wilson, BC Lions OG – Val Belcher, Ottawa Rough Riders OG – Larry Butler, Winnipeg Blue Bombers OT – Bill Stevenson, Edmonton Eskimos OT – Hector Pothier, Edmonton Eskimos 25em break Defence DT – Dave Fennell, Edmonton Eskimos DT – Mike Raines, Ottawa Rough Riders DE – David Boone, Edmonton Eskimos DE – Greg Marshall, Ottawa Rough Riders LB – Danny Kepley, Edmonton Eskimos LB – Ben Zambiasi, Hamilton Tiger-Cats LB – James "Quick" Parker, Edmonton Eskimos DB – Ray Odums, Calgary Stampeders DB – David Shaw, Hamilton Tiger-Cats DB – Harold Woods, Hamilton Tiger-Cats DB – Ed Jones, Edmonton Eskimos DB – Randy Rhino, Ottawa Rough Riders end Special teams P – Hank Ilesic, Edmonton Eskimos K – Trevor Kennerd, Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1981 Western All-Stars 25em start Offence QB – Dieter Brock, Winnipeg Blue Bombers RB – Larry Key, BC Lions RB – Jim Germany, Edmonton Eskimos SB – Joe Poplawski, Winnipeg Blue Bombers TE – Joey Walters, Saskatchewan Roughriders WR – Brian Kelly, Edmonton Eskimos WR – Tyrone Gray, BC Lions WR – Eugene Goodlow, Winnipeg Blue Bombers C – Al Wilson, BC Lions OG – Nick Bastaja, Winnipeg Blue Bombers OG – Larry Butler, Winnipeg Blue Bombers OT – Bill Stevenson, Edmonton Eskimos OT – Hector Pothier, Edmonton Eskimos 25em break Defence DT – Dave Fennell, Edmonton Eskimos DT – John Helton, Winnipeg Blue Bombers DT – Mike Samples, Saskatchewan Roughriders DE – David Boone, Edmonton Eskimos DE – Lyall Woznesensky, Saskatchewan Roughriders LB – Danny Kepley, Edmonton Eskimos LB – Vince Goldsmith, Saskatchewan Roughriders LB – James "Quick" Parker, Edmonton Eskimos DB – Ray Odums, Calgary Stampeders DB – Charles Williams, Winnipeg Blue Bombers DB – Merv Walker, Calgary Stampeders DB – Ed Jones, Edmonton Eskimos DB – Ken McEachern, Saskatchewan Roughriders end Special teams P – Hank Ilesic, Edmonton Eskimos K – Trevor Kennerd, Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1981 Eastern All-Stars 25em start Offence QB – Tom Clements, Hamilton Tiger-Cats RB – Rufus Crawford, Hamilton Tiger-Cats RB – Cedric Minter, Toronto Argonauts SB – Rocky DiPietro, Hamilton Tiger-Cats TE – Tony Gabriel, Ottawa Rough Riders WR – Keith Baker, Hamilton Tiger-Cats WR – James Scott, Montreal Alouettes C – Henry Waszczuk, Hamilton Tiger-Cats OG – Val Belcher, Ottawa Rough Riders OG – Bill Norton, Montreal Alouettes OT – Doug Payton, Montreal Alouettes OT – Ed Fulton, Hamilton Tiger-Cats 25em break Defence DT – Ecomet Burley, Hamilton Tiger-Cats DT – Mike Raines, Ottawa Rough Riders DE – Grover Covington, Hamilton Tiger-Cats DE – Greg Marshall, Ottawa Rough Riders LB – John Priestner, Hamilton Tiger-Cats LB – Ben Zambiasi, Hamilton Tiger-Cats LB – Carmelo Carteri, Hamilton Tiger-Cats DB – Leroy Paul, Hamilton Tiger-Cats DB – David Shaw, Hamilton Tiger-Cats DB – Harold Woods, Hamilton Tiger-Cats DB – Larry Brune, Ottawa Rough Riders DB – Randy Rhino, Ottawa Rough Riders end Special teams P – Zenon Andrusyshyn, Toronto Argonauts K – Bernie Ruoff, Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1981 CFL awards CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award – Dieter Brock (QB), Winnipeg Blue Bombers CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Joe Poplawski (SB), Winnipeg Blue Bombers CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award – Danny Kepley (LB), Edmonton Eskimos CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award – Larry Butler (OG), Winnipeg Blue Bombers CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award – Vince Goldsmith (LB), Saskatchewan Roughriders CFLPA's Outstanding Community Service Award – Ken McEachern (DB), Saskatchewan Roughriders CFL's Coach of the Year – Joe Faragalli, Saskatchewan Roughriders References CFL Category:Canadian Football League seasons