McMaster University Athletics

Upon moving to Hamilton in 1930, McMaster suddenly had a campus of significant size, permitting the laying out of two separate practice fields, one for men, the other for women, as well as separate event fields for football and soccer. While the nearby location of these fields was infinitely more convenient for practices than the nomadic existence McMaster was forced to endure in Toronto, it was not until 1956 that McMaster’s campus would become a regular site for intercollegiate football games.

HAAA Grounds

The home of the Hamilton Tigers since the 1870s and formerly known as the Hamilton Cricket grounds, the HAAA grounds had long been established as the home of football in Hamilton by the time McMaster arrived in 1930. It had hosted seven Grey Cup games between 1910 and 1935, including the first one won by a western team (1935). McMaster played its first home game in 1930 on campus, but other than a few isolated occasions played nearly all of its games before 1948 at the HAAA grounds. The HAAA grounds served as the Marauders football home through the 1948 season, after which the team moved its home games to Hamilton Civic Stadium. The HAAA grounds were used one last time while Civic Stadium was undergoing alterations to its floodlighting, for a 1954 game against Ryerson. The grandstands have long been removed now, but the historic HAAA grounds can still be seen on Charlton Ave. at Reginald St.

Hamilton Civic Stadium / Ivor Wynne Stadium

Civic Stadium had been built to host the inaugural British Empire Games in 1930, though nothing remains of the original facilities. The current south grandstand dates from 1959 and the present north grandstand from 1971. Its location in Scott Park offered long-term opportunities for expansion, something the HAAA grounds, landlocked in a residential environment, could not. By the late-’40s, Civic Stadium had surpassed HAAA as Hamilton’s prime football facility and became the home of the Ti-Cats on their creation in 1950. McMaster had played a few wartime games at Civic Stadium (at the time also known as Scott Park Stadium), and moved there permanently in 1949. The new stadium offered McMaster the larger, more modern facility that was in keeping with Ivor Wynne’s aspirations for McMaster to attain senior football status. But its location clear across town from the university campus had a clear deterrent effect upon student enthusiasm to attend football games. By 1955, when it had become clear that McMaster would stay shut out of the SIFL for the foreseeable future, a large, distant stadium no longer seemed so attractive. A survey of the student body showed a strong desire to move football back on campus.

McMaster returned to Ivor Wynne on occasion. In 1972 Hamilton had placed a proposal before the Canadian College Bowl committee for the 1973 Vanier Cup game to be played in Hamilton. McMaster staged an exhibition game against Western on Sept. 11, 1972 to try to gauge support for university football in Hamilton. Slightly more than 3,000 fans showed up—hardly the impression Hamilton hoped to make. (Ironically, this figure was likely about double that actually showed up at the 1973 Vanier in Toronto, which was played in monsoon-like conditions and drew about 1,500 bodies through the turnstiles.) Thursday night games on Thanksgiving week were also scheduled at Ivor Wynne, as the McMaster Field (named Les Prince Field in 1983) did not have floodlighting for night games. In 2003, field conditions at Les Prince Field forced McMaster to move the OUA football semi-final to Ivor Wynne, a move which was repeated for all remaining playoff games in 2003, and the 2004 OUA semi-final. McMaster returned to Ivor Wynne as its home field for the 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons while the on-campus facility was being constructed for the 2008 season.

Les Prince Field

In 1956, what had formerly been designated the soccer event field was prepared as a campus football venue. Arrangements were far from ideal in the first season, with no on-site dressing rooms, a temporary press box and bleacher seating hauled over from the campus drill hall. But it was some place to start and could hold almost 2,000 spectators in a pinch. The Marauders opened the facility on Sept. 22, 1956 with a 17–8 defeat at the hands of the Varsity Blues. After a successful on-campus season, McMaster built the field house for the 1957 campaign, placing a more permanent press box on its roof, but leaving the matter of permanent seating for the future. It was not until 1967 that permanent bleachers were built on the site, as part of Mac’s preparations to enter the SIFL for the 1968 season. With the first phase seating about 2,100, capacity was soon after expanded to 3,500 by 1970, giving McMaster its first permanent stadium.

In 1973, the field house was named in honour of Norman “Pinky” Lewis, the long-time trainer of the Marauders. The field as a whole was named Les Prince Field in 1983, recognising nearly forty years of contribution to McMaster student life by Leslie Anderson Prince. Arriving at McMaster in 1946, Prince had served as Assistant Director of Athletics, Director of Athletics, Dean of Men, and Dean of Students in his time at McMaster. His book on McMaster, Over the Ivy Wall, recounts many warm anecdotes about athletics and student life at McMaster from the 1940s through the 1970s.

Aside from 49 seasons of Marauder football, three Yates cup games (2000, 2001, 2002) and two Vanier Cup semi-finals (2000, 2002), Les Prince Field also hosted the 1993 World University Games women’s soccer championship and the inaugural CIAU women’s rugby championship in 1998. A new press box was added to that facility in 1991, and on Oct. 23, 1999 McMaster unveiled a new, $1-million video scoreboard donated by McMaster alumnus Paul Leskew. Field drainage and dressing room facilities were upgraded in 1999, with the sound system upgraded to complement the new scoreboard in time for the 2000 season. As the Marauder football team improved from 1997 onward, crowds increased to the point where standing room and temporary bleachers would pack 7,000-odd fans into the ageing 3,500-seat facility. After decades of faithful service, Les Prince Field was now in need of either an upgrade or replacement. As part of an overall plan of athletic facility upgrades, the replacement option was selected, and the field slated to close after the 2004 football season.

Les Prince Field closed for football on Oct. 16, 2004, when a crowd of 4,000 witnessed the Marauders defeat the Queen’s Golden Gaels 32–16. Sending the old field off in style, Jesse Lumsden set a new single-season CIS rushing record, eclipsing the former mark of 1,619 yards set by Eric Lapointe in 1996, and also became the OUA’s leading career rusher before a national television audience on The Score network.

Ron Joyce Stadium (Les Prince Field playing surface)

The Marauders returned home to campus in 2008 with the highly anticipated opening of Les Prince Field at Ronald V. Joyce Stadium. Ron Joyce, the former police officer who turned Tim Horton’s into an iconic international franchise, donated $10-million toward the construction of the new stadium that sits prominently in the centre of campus beside the David Braley Athletic Centre that was opened in 2006.

The state-of-the-art playing surface increases training time by allowing teams to practice in a range of weather conditions. While The CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats use the facility for training camp, the stadium also hosts elementary and secondary school championships, as well as for regional, provincial and national competitions. The stadium features 5,500 permanent seats and an underground parking garage to serve visitors to the stadium and alleviate daily campus parking needs.

Ron Joyce was present for the opening ceremonies which included a performance by the McMaster University choir, Burlington Teen Tour Band, and a spectacular pyrotechnics display on September 13, 2008 when McMaster hosted the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the stadium’s grand opening celebrations. Despite the heavy rainfall 4,000 fans enjoyed a closely fought game and special video tributes on the stadium’s video scoreboard.