A history of ups and downs

When the time comes to create the Montreal Alouettes Hall of Fame, the band U2 deserves to be named as a charter inductee after their November 1997 concert changed the course of Alouette history.

The band had already long been booked to play the big stadium when the Als clinched second place in the Eastern Division. As hosts of the Eastern semi-finals, the team was forced to play the game downtown at Percival Molson Stadium and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Alouettes have called Molson Stadium home since 1998 and the city’s love affair with the team and the CFL has been rekindled.The move back to Molson came 51 years after the club's creation, a decade after the franchise's demise in the late-80s, and 18 months after its rebirth. Along those lines, the franchise has seen many twists and turns over the years.

Montreal is synonymous with football. The first recorded game ever played in North America was on the downtown cricket grounds on Oct. 10, 1868. Four years later, the Montreal Foot Ball Club was created and the Alouettes were born in 1946.

The club's founding was the brainchild of Montreal businessman Leo Dandurand, who persuaded Lew Heyman to become the team's first head coach.

In the early years, the Als were victorious in their first Grey Cup appearance in 1949, and played in three straight Cup game from 1954-56. The team took a downturn on the field after a great 1956 season and didn’t post another winning record until 1970, the first of Sam Etcheverry's three years as head coach.

That season was the start of a glorious decade for the Alouettes.Under “The Rifle,” the '70 Als were crowned Grey Cup champions and Etcheverry eventually ceded his spot to the legendary Marv Levy in ’74. Levy led the team to three Cup finals, winning the title in 1974 and 1977, the latter in the infamous “staple game” at the Big O.

Under new coach Joe Scanella, the team also reached the league final in 1979 before trouble began in the 80s. The Alouettes became the Concordes in 1983 and finally, burdened by mounting financial problems, the franchise ceased operations on the eve of the 1987 regular season.

Montreal was without pro football for nine years, but in its absence amateur football continued to thrive in Quebec. The CEGEP and university programs consistently churned out players to both the CFL and NFL and at its roots, football was healthy in the city and province.

The Alouettes came back to Montreal in 1996 when the defending Grey Cup champion Stallions moved north from Baltimore, the only US expansion team to make the move.

The team returned to Olympic Stadium, but the old problems continued. The crowds were small, media coverage was spotty and the city's sentiment was cool.

Despite the lack of interest, the Alouettes were good. A team that had endured 23 losing seasons in its previous 30 CFL years in Montreal was a consistent winner. Under three different head coaches - Bob Price, Dave Ritchie and Charlie Taaffe - the Alouettes won 25 games during the 1996-97 Big O era, and continued on that pace, winning 36 from 1998-2000. The team reached the Eastern Division final in every season, and advanced to the Grey Cup game in 2000.

The only blip came in 2001 when the Als finished with a 9-9 record and lost the Eastern Division semi-final, leading to one of the most important moves in team history.

Don Matthews came in as head coach in 2002 and immediately restored the franchise to glory. The Alouettes finished the ’02 regular season with a 13-5 record and then rolled over the Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Eskimos in the playoffs to win the franchise's fifth Grey Cup title. The team's rebirth was complete as the Alouettes were again the best in the CFL, both on and off the field.

The team was again crowned Eastern Division champions in 2003, advancing to a second consecutive Grey Cup date with the Eskimos. This time, however, the result did not go in the Alouettes' favour.