A League of Her Own

Exhibition Place and the CNE were key sites during the “Golden Age” of women’s sports: the postwar period spanning the 1920s and 1930s. 

During the First World War, labour shortages required women to take up roles that before then were exclusively reserved for men. Emboldened by these new responsibilities, more women began to join local clubs, with softball, ice hockey, basketball, and track and field being the staple sports offered to women.

Whilst some organizational support came from existing men’s sports clubs, the majority of the work came from leaders in women’s sports who were determined to write their own narrative. One of these leaders was Alexandrine Gibb. 

Born in Toronto in 1891, Gibb was a sports journalist for the Toronto Star, writing a column entitled “In The No Man’s Land of Sport.” She was also a pioneer of the philosophy “girls’ sport run by girls.” In 1921, Gibb and Mabel Ray, another organizer of women’s sports, became the founding members of the Toronto Ladies Athletic Club. Considered to be the first all-women’s multi-sport club in Canada, Gibb and Ray helped provide the necessary facilities for organized women’s sports, and perhaps most importantly, they advocated for record-keeping of women’s athletic events. 

The Ladies Athletic Club trained on the third of four grandstands that once stood where the BMO Field stands today. Yet, although women could use the grounds for training and school girls were permitted to use the grounds for sports days, it wasn’t until 1923 that the CNE allowed women to compete at its annual Athletic Day. 

On this day, the Chicago Flyers, the US women’s track and field champions, were invited by the CNE to compete in the 100-yard dash and relay. On the Canadian team were athletes Bobbie Rosenfeld, Rosa Grosse, Grace Conacher and Myrtle Cook.   

Much to the astonishment of the 15,000 spectators, the Canadian foursome won the relay race, despite having never competed together before. This was a breakthrough for Canadian women’s sprinting and the springboard from which Rosenfeld became a star.

Five years later, under the management of Alexandrine Gibb, Rosenfeld and her five teammates: Ethel Smith, Myrtle Cook, Florence Bell, Ethel Catherwood and Jean Thompson, were chosen to represent Canada in the women’s track and field events at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Securing a total of two golds, a silver, a bronze, and 26 points, these six Toronto-based women claimed the top women’s score at the Games, making them one of the most successful Canadian Olympic teams in history and earning their name: “The Matchless Six.”

Despite the team’s success, Canadian medical officials led by Dr. A.S. Lamb, the Canadian representative of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF), were arguing against any further participation by women in track and field on the grounds that such “violent” activity could impair a woman’s reproductive capacity. Although recognised as widely reductive and sexist today, at the time these ideas were supported by figures in position of power, such as Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics movement. 

Despite this criticism, the Matchless Six came home from Amsterdam to more than 200,000 adoring fans greeting them at Union Station and each of them receiving diamond-studded wristwatches as gifts from the CNE. Then, in 1955, the six teammates became the first women to be inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. Rosenfeld was also crowned “Canadian Woman Athlete of the Half Century” by the Canadian Press in 1950.

Although this was a revolutionary time for women’s sports history, it is important to note that the ‘Golden Age’ was inclusive only of white women. Racism was at an all-time high during the 20s and 30s, with athletes of colour excluded from professional participation in sports. Whilst huge strides were being taken towards advancement in women’s sports, there was still much progress to be made.

On the evening of September 9th, 1954, around 100,000 people congregated along the waterfront at the Exhibition grounds. They were staring out to the horizon of Lake Ontario, waiting. 

Then, just after eight o’clock, a tiny figure became visible, and the crowds roared in encouragement. Marilyn Bell, a Toronto schoolgirl at only sixteen years old, had just become the first ever swimmer — male or female — to conquer Lake Ontario. Starting in Youngstown, New York, the night before, she had swam for 21 hours and 58 minutes. 

Bell had always been a natural in long-distance swimming. Encouraged by her parents, she joined the Lakeshore Swimming Club in Port Credit and soon became a serious challenger at the annual CNE races, moving from 9th to 2nd place in just three years. 

At the time of her Lake Ontario crossing, the CNE had offered Florence Chadwick, a 34-year-old American swim champion, $10,000 to cross the lake. Determined to beat the famous Chadwick, Bell and Winnie Roach, the first Canadian to swim the English Channel three years before, joined the race despite the CNE refusing to guarantee the prize money to either of them. Bell instead sought sponsorship from Alexandrine Gibb and endeavoured to ‘do it for Canada’ and beat Chadwick. 

And, this is exactly what she did. Whilst Chadwick had been pulled out of the water at 26 kilometres after falling ill from the swelling water, Winnie was pulled out at 32 kilometres as she lost her way in the dark night. Bell had become the sole competitor. 

Keeping a pace of 2 miles an hour, 60 strokes per minute, hour after hour, Bell managed the cold overnight temperature and choppy conditions. The only thing she complained about was the boredom — allegedly falling asleep more than once, resulting in her coach, Gus Ryder, calling from the guideboat to wake her up. 

Strong currents pushed her off course several times, forcing her to swim much further than the 51.5km route straight across the lake. By the time she reached the Exhibition grounds, Bell had covered close to 64 kilometres. 

The swim made Bell an overnight household name, with some newspapers claiming that their coverage of her progress sold more papers than any event since the war. She suddenly received offers from Hollywood, an invitation to open the 1954/55 NHL season at the Maple Leaf Gardens, and the CNE offered her the prize money after all — on top of another $50,000 in gifts from admiring Canadians. 

In 1984, on the thirtieth anniversary of Bell’s swim, the city of Toronto announced that the park between Ontario Place and Sunnyside Beach was to be named Marilyn Bell Park in her honour. There is also a plaque commemorating her achievement, near the Liberty Grand entertainment complex in Exhibition Place. 

Another 16-year-old, Cynthia Nicholas of Toronto, broke Bell’s record in 1974, becoming the fastest female swimmer to cross Lake Ontario with a time of 15 hours and 10 minutes. Then, in 2023, an American, 31-year-old Maggie Regan broke Nicholas’ record with a time of 14 hours and 8 minutes. Any Canadian swimmers care to reclaim the title? 

Since the beginning of organized sports in Canada, sexism has always been persistent, with women — especially racialized women — facing intersectional barriers, both then and now. 

A prime example of an arguably sexist representation of women’s sports played out in the Coca-Cola Coliseum at Exhibition Place. In 2012, the Coliseum hosted the Lingerie Football League’s (LFL) Toronto Triumphin their lone season in operation. For context, the Lingerie Football League — branded with the slogan, “the real fantasy football” — saw female players wearing a kit of an athletic bra and underwear, more revealing than protective, as well as added ribbons, lace, and garters for decoration. 

Interestingly, the Toronto Triumph was captained by Krista Ford, the daughter of the current premier of Ontario, Doug Ford. It was also a historically very poor team, with their inaugural game resulting in a 48–14 loss and a crowd attendance of only 20% of the coliseum’s capacity. After the first game, sixteen of the twenty players quit, including Ford. The players criticized management, claiming that their equipment was unsafe and that the coaching was inadequate. 

There are contradictory opinions on the LFL. Whilst some players claimed that they loved the game and likened the skimpy attire to the kits worn in other sports, like volleyball or track and field, it was seen by many to be degrading and to undermine the legitimacy of female sports.

Upon its launch, however, the Lingerie Football League was one of the sole professional sports leagues for women in Canada at the time. The women also played for free. The sad reality is that many athletes said that they were “uncomfortable” in the uniforms but that they still played, just to be able to play professionally and in the hope of being paid in future opportunities. 

The league’s founder, Mitch Mortaza, even admitted that the games were marketed for “beer-drinking college students.” Considering this, it seems difficult to overlook the hypersexualization of women’s sports and how, rather than providing women with a genuine opportunity to showcase and improve their skills, the LFL served as a money-grab for the male gaze. 

At long last, the past two years have seen the most monumental changes for Canadian women’s sports. 

In 2024, the Coca-Cola Coliseum became home to the Toronto Sceptres of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). Winning their first game 4–0, the Sceptres beat the Minnesota Frost in front of a sold-out crowd. 

The fact that the PWHL only began two years ago is a testament to the underrepresentation of women’s sports. There is much to be said about the misogyny and racism behind Canadian hockey culture. Hockey is often referred to in Canada as “our game,” the national sport. However, there is much reason to doubt whose game it actually is when women and racialized players have always been positioned as outsiders.  

However, in more positive news, the arrival of the PWHL marks a huge step in the right direction. With sold-out games, Canadian women’s sports leagues are finally being granted the legitimacy that they deserve.

The BMO Field also hosted Toronto’s first-ever pro women’s soccer match, in April 2025, AFC Toronto played Montreal Roses FC in the Northern Super League (NSL). NSL was founded thanks to retired professional soccer player Diana Matheson from Mississauga. Upon retirement, Matheson began advocating for both a national domestic women’s league and a National Women’s Soccer League team in Canada.

Despite playing their NSL games at the Coca-Cola Coliseum, the AFC’s home stadium is the York Lions Stadium on the York University campus.

The future holds a new women’s sports league making home in Exhibition Place. The Toronto Tempoof the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) are scheduled to begin playing their home games at the Coca-Cola Coliseum in 2026. The WNBA already has a huge, dedicated fanbase and is a particular achievement in Black women’s sporting history — with 80% of players in the WNBA being Black women. Featuring some of Canada’s top female basketball players, the Toronto Tempo is bound to be a success. 

With three professional women’s sports leagues arriving in Toronto and communities of athletes who were previously marginalized playing front and centre, maybe the real “Golden Age” of women’s sports is happening right now.