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Junior Hockey Champions, Interior BC (1922 23)1923
Fernie
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For as long as people have lived in Fernie, the excitement of athletic competition has drawn players and supporters together. People from various backgrounds have helped to organize and operate teams and sport events in the city. They have converged on Fernie's various rinks, fields, and gymnasiums - from roughly marked clearings to imposing arenas. Whether playing informal pick-up games or competing in regional playoffs, Fernie's athletes and their fans have shown much enthusiasm for their favourite sports.3
North End Tigers, c. late 1940's1948
Fernie
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North End Tigers, c. late 1940'sThe Tigers played in Fernie's city soccer league, a six team league that included teams from Michel and Coal Creek.
Courtesy of Fernie & District Historical Society
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LifestylesDuring the first years of Fernie's existence, people were divided in many spheres of life, including sports. The business owners and coal company administrators of Fernie favoured "gentlemanly" pastimes such as golf and curling. The coal miners and loggers of Fernie were not so welcome within their exclusive amateur sport clubs. These workers tended to favour more physical games such as hockey and association football (soccer). Playing these games served to release the tensions of repetitive, labourious work. Sports thus became a central part of workers' lives in Fernie.
By the 1940's, amateur sport became a uniting force in the community. Most adult hockey and soccer players here still worked in the mining and forest industries, but they welcomed professionals such as physicians and accountants as equal players on their teams. These professionals, in turn, welcomed workingmen and women as full members of their golf and curling clubs.
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Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company baseball team, 19221922
Fernie
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Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company baseball team, 1922With some players in its lineup who came from professional leagues in the United States, Fernie's baseball team was well matched against its East Kootenay competitors.
Courtesy of Patsy Caravetta
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Fernie Rangers 19541954
Fernie
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Fernie Rangers, 1954The Rangers played in the Alberta - British Columbia - Montana League, a Senior "B" hockey league which at different times included teams from Coleman, Lethbridge, Taber, Michel-Natal, Cranbrook and Great Falls.
As amateurs, the Rangers and most other athletes in Fernie were, at most, paid for their travel expenses. But the need to support themselves and their families came first. Work schedules and unemployment sometimes drew players away from their team commitments.
Courtesy of Pete Caufield
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Annual EventsFrom about 1900 until the 1940's, Fernie organized numerous annual events. Fernie's patriotic, mostly unionized working-class population celebrated May Day, Victoria Day, Dominion (Canada) Day and Labour Day in many ways. As well as organizing parades, picnic excursions and informal track and field events, Fernie hosted tournaments and challenge matches for various team sports on these holidays. On Labour Day, visiting teams came in from as far away as Edmonton to compete against Fernie's Crow's Nest Pass League soccer, baseball and softball teams. The first and second place teams in these tournaments won $400 and $200, respectively.
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Fans at North End field, May 1, 1912 Mt Hosmer in background1 May 1912
Fernie
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Fans at North End field, May 1, 1912May Day, a day of working-class demonstrations, was also an occasion to play or watch competitive sports.
Courtesy of Fernie & District Historical Society
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Fernie Swaztikas Women's Hockey Team1923
Fernie
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Fernie Swastikas, c. early 1920'sIn 1923, 1924 and 1926, the Swastikas advanced to compete in Banff for the Alpine Cup, then the highest award given to any such team in Alberta and British Columbia. In 1923, they defeated the Calgary Regents to win the coveted award.
Courtesy of Verne Hornquist
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