The Shrum Bowl will not be played for the 11th time in the 44-year history of the annual crosstown varsity football rivalry.
Apart from a couple of glitches in the 1970s and again in the '80s, the annual grid matchup between Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia has been a highlight night in the local football community.
"I tell ya, we'd love to play that game," said SFU head coach Dave Johnson. "I wish we could have lined up in the parking lot. It's an important date for the football community."
The two schools often played the Shrum game in the month of October.
This season, the Clan plays in its second season of NCAA Division II ball but has an open date at the end of the season.
UBC plays in the Canadian Interuniversity Sports association.
However, the Point Grey campus was reluctant to play in November due to the possibility of playoffs or following a long layoff after the CIS regular season ended, according to an article in the Ubyssey.
Johnson said that as early as next year, SFU might have more flexibility in making changes to its exhibition schedule to accomodate the Shrum Bowl date.
The first Shrum Bowl was played in 1967, with SFU taking the inaugural game by a 32-13 score.
In the first five years of competition, the Clan outscored UBC 168-32, with a 6-6 tie in 1969 the only close matchup, before the rivalry was temporarily shelved.
In the interim, debate continued over whether American or Canadian league rules should dictate the resumption of the series.
When the revitalized Shrum Bowl game resumed in 1978 under Canadian rules, UBC won four out of the five contests, before the game again fell off the schedule in 1982.
The Shrum Bowl was brought back to life again in 1987 and had been played without disruption until this season.
SFU currently holds the edge in the crosstown rivalry with an overall record of 17-15-1, including a 27-20 victory over the UBC Thunderbirds in last year's tilt.
