WOMEN'S SPORT HISTORY

The Women's Amateur Athletic Federation
For 37 years - the Canadian Parliament of Women's Sport

by Bruce Kidd
Published in CAAWS Action Bulletin, Winter 1994

If CAAWS ever had an earlier incarnation as an advocate of the sporting interests of women it was WAAF, or the WAAFers, as they were affectionately known. WAAF created the first national forum where Canadians sportswomen could collectively address and resolve the issues of the day. During its 37 years of existence, the Federation was widely known as the Canadian Parliament of Women's Sport.

WAAF was created in 1926 by Alexandrine Gibb, Marie Parkes, Mable Ray, Ethel Cartwright and others to bring women's sports under the control of women and to win new opportunities for the athletes they encouraged and coached, especially in international competition. These were the early days of a remarkable upsurge in women's participation in the wake of the suffrage victories and other feminist breakthroughs of World War I.

But women's sporting activity was frequently termed an "invasion", suggesting both the boundary they had crossed and the resistance they would encounter. Female athletes faced what must have been a bewildering mix of expectations and constraints. For every Percy Page, who developed the ambitious Edmonton Grads' basketball program, there were men (and women) who sought to prohibit or discourage them from sports, and others who tried to exploit their novelty and celebrity. On this difficult and uncertain terrain, with few resources to call their own — except for their wits, their sisterhood and their ability to work very hard — the WAAFers extended opportunity, built a coast-to-coast network, and tried to infuse a women-friendliness in the seven sports they governed.

From today's perspective, the WAAFers may seem staid and conservative; they favoured elegant hats and rarely raised their voice in public. But theirs was a remarkable accomplishment. Without them, there probably would not have been a Canadian women's track team at the 1928 Olympics, and the legendary Ethel Catherwood, Bobbie Rosenfeld, Myrtle Cook and the sprint relay team would not have had a chance to win their medals. They fought relentlessly behind the scenes to add events and programs for Canadian girls and women. They sought to enrich the lives of the athletes they led, many of whom were working-class or depression poor, and to broaden their horizons by giving them as much travel and experience as they could.

A generation before public health insurance, they developed a system of medical checkups to ensure their athletes' health. Several became sportswriters to ensure a public following for their athletes. They created the first national award for a female athlete in Canada — the Velma Springstead Trophy, first presented to Phyllis Dewar in 1934. In 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, they enjoyed a larger membership than their male counterparts, the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada (AAU). And they were all volunteers, who combined their responsibilities with coaching, fund raising, jobs, and families.

It is unfortunate that their important efforts have been forgotten for so long.

Irene Moore McInnis, winner of the 1994 CAAWS Herstorical Award, is a worthy representative of the fine women of WAAF. The Ontario president for many years and the national secretary at the time of World War II, she worked tirelessly for many years to improve opportunities for women. For example, during the 1930s, the Ontario Athletic Commission created a provincial sports training centre at Lake Couchiching, and started an all-expenses paid, two-week camp for outstanding male high schoolers. The Ontario WAAF lobbied for equal opportunity, but to no avail. But they didn't give up. In 1937, a new commissioner, Lionel Conacher, was appointed. Irene and her executive knew him and immediately went to see him. The result was a women's camp, run by Irene and her sisters, during the last two weeks of August, with instruction and competition in a number of sports from some of the best coaches available, with all expenses paid by the Commission.

Today, at 83, Irene remains as sharp as a tack. When I interviewed her in 1989 during the Dubin hearings, I asked about the decision in 1953, when, after a number of setbacks, the majority of WAAF voted to amalgamate with the AAU. Irene still calls it a bad decision. "The men got too lax about safeguarding track and field," she said. "If we were still running it, there would never have been a steroid problem."

There is not more fitting organization for CAAWS to honour than its predecessor — the Women's Amateur Athletic Federation.

Bruce Kidd’s writing reveals his astonishing range of interests and knowledge of sport. Among his published works are articles dealing with physical activity, athletes' rights, the place of sport in the modern state, physical education for adults, sport and masculinity, and the philosophy of excellence. Almost single-handedly, he has brought attention to illustrious but largely forgotten contributors to Canada's rich sporting history such as the ground-breaking Women's Amateur Athletic Federation. His most recent work, The Struggle for Canadian Sport, won the North American Society for Sport History Book Award in 1997. During the 1960's, Bruce was Canada's best known middle-distance runner, winning the Lou Marsh Trophy for his successes on the track. He was twice chosen Canada's Male Athlete of the Year.