Playing a Dangerous Game

As tensions heightened during the Quebec FLQ conflict in 1969, CFL commissioner Jake Gaudaur not only planned to hold the Grey Cup in Montreal for the first time since 1931, but he invited the FLQ’s arch-enemy, Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Elliot Trudeau, to perform the ceremonial kick-off at the beginning of the game. Gaudaur, a passionate Canadian nationalist with a vision of football as a unifying force, may not have fully understood what he was getting himself into. Russ Jackson, the Canadian-born quarterback hero of the Ottawa Rough Riders, oblivious to the dangers plaguing Montreal, knew exactly what he had to do. This was the last game of his illustrious career and he was determined to beat Saskatchewan in what was destined to be one of the greatest games in CFL history against a complicated backdrop of political unrest.