Queen's Golden Gaels
The Queen's Gaels is the athletics program representing Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The main athletics facilities include Richardson Memorial Stadium, the Queen's Athletics and Recreation Centre, Nixon Field and Tindall Field. The team colours are gold, blue, and red.
Queen's teams have had a variety of successes both provincially and nationally. Their most recent U Sports National Championship was awarded to the Women's rugby program, who hoisted the Monilex Trophy on home soil at Nixon Field in 2021.
The Gaels football team is one of the oldest and most successful in Canada, including three straight Grey Cup victories in 1922, 1923, and 1924 and four Vanier Cup victories in 1968, 1978, 1992, and 2009. Queen's University hockey teams have competed on three occasions as Stanley Cup finalists in 1895, 1899, and 1906.
The Gaels have also won the 2010–11 U Sports Men's Curling Championship and the women's soccer team has won the national championship in 1988, 2010, and 2011.
The fight song is known as Oil Thigh which was written in 1891 and features Gaelic lyrics which can be heard at many sporting events. The mascot is Boo Hoo the Bear.
Name
Prior to 1947, Queen's teams were commonly referred to as "The Tricolour."The "Golden Gaels" name was coined in 1947 by Kingston Whig-Standard sports reporter Cliff Bowering, after the football team traded its traditional uniform of red, gold, and blue bands for gold jerseys, gold helmets, and red pants. The name caught on and became the familiar term for Queen's teams by the 1950s. "Gaels" is a reference to Queen's Scottish heritage.
In September 2008, Queen's Athletics & Recreation Department began referring to the school's teams as "Queen's Gaels." Along with this change, the website was changed from goldengaels.com to gogaelsgo.com. The change was reportedly made to highlight the university's name in promoting the team; however, some have criticized the move as "change for the sake of change." Under media scrutiny, the department claimed it had not in fact officially changed the name of the team; thus, local media sources like the Kingston Whig-Standard and CKWS-TV continue to refer to the team as the "Golden Gaels".
Varsity teams
Basketball
Men'sQueen's hosted McGill University at the Kingston YMCA on February 6, 1904, in the first-ever Canadian interuniversity basketball game. McGill won 9–7, after a ten-minute overtime period to break a 7–7 tie. The Queen's men's basketball team attended their first ever U SPORTS National Championship in 2022 after upsetting the undefeated Carleton Ravens in the OUA semi-final.
Women's
The Queen's Gaels women's basketball team had their strongest finish ever in 2021–22, placing third at the U SPORTS Final 8 tournament which took place at the Athletics & Recreation Centre on Queen's Campus.
Cross Country
The Queen's Gaels have a men's and women's cross country and distance track program which continually ranks highly on the national rankings. In 2021–22, the Gaels ranked 6th in the country for the men's program and 8th in the country for the women's program.Football
The Queen's Gaels football program is one of the longest-lived and storied in Canada. The team began organized play in 1883 when the Ontario Rugby Football Union was first founded and won ORFU champions in 1893 and 1894. Queen's has competed continuously since 1882, celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2007. The first organized university football league in Canada, the Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union, was founded in Kingston in November, 1897, with charter members Queen's, McGill University, and the University of Toronto., the football squad showed continued success, winning three straight Grey Cups in 1922, 1923 and 1924. When the Grey Cup transitioned from amateur competition to the professional Canadian Football League in 1955, the Gaels turned their attention to the Vanier Cup, appearing in the U Sports championship game five times and winning four of those games in 1968, 1978, 1992 and 2009.Ice hockey
Men's
Queen's donated the Queen's Cup for annual Ontario University Athletics competition in 1898. In 1902, the Intercollegiate Hockey Union was formed and the Gaels won the title in 1904 and 1906. In 1909, Queen's won the Intercollegiate league and then won the Allan Cup national championship by defeating the Ottawa Cliffsides in a challenge. The 1910 team won the Allan Cup for a second time by winning the Intercollegiate title and a challenge before losing the Cup in a second challenge to Toronto St. Michael's.The varsity teams play at the Kingston Memorial Centre following the demolition of the Jock Harty Arena.
Women's
The Queen's women's hockey program captured their first OUA Championship in 2011. They went on to win it again in 2013. The program hosted the U Sports Championship in 2017.Rowing
The Queen's Gaels rowing program is one of the leading programs in the province of Ontario. Their last team OUA Championship was won by the Women's program in 2012. The Women's rowing program also won the Championship in 2010.Gavin Stone was named OUA Rower of the Year in 2021, also winning the award in 2018. Stone participated in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the coxless four event.
Other OUA Rowers of the Year from Queen's include: Alex Bernst, Louise Munro, Matthew Christie.
Rugby
Men's
The men's rugby team is regarded as one of the most successful rugby programs in Ontario, and has won the OUA a record 23 times. Their home games are played on Nixon Field, at the heart of Queen's University campus, and crowds often top 2,000 spectators.Men's rugby is not a U SPORTS designated sport, therefore they compete in a similar non-sanctioned format called the Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship.
The team won the OUA Championship in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Other dynasties include the late 80s.
The team is currently coached by Dave Butcher, who took over from Gary Gilks and Peter Huigenbos in 2017.
Nationally capped players that have come through the program are current national captain, Lucas Rumball, Alistair Clark, Sean Duke, Dan Moor, Kainoa Lloyd and Matt Beukeboom.
Women's
The women's rugby program holds a very similar regard in the U SPORTS women's rugby scene, most notably winning the 2021 U SPORTS National Championship on home soil at Nixon Field.
The program has developed numerous national team athletes including Sophie de Goede, Chloe Daniels, McKinley Hunt and many more.
In OUA competition, the program has won the OUA Championship twice; in 2013 and 2019.
Soccer
Men'sThe Queen's Gaels men's soccer program had their most successful season in 2012–13, making their way into the OUA final four, placing fourth overall.
Women's
The women's soccer team captured gold at the CIS national championship in 2010. They beat rival Wilfrid Laurier 1–0 in the CIS final. Striker Jacqueline Tessier led the CIS in scoring during the regular season, tallying 18 goals in 16 games.In 2006, earned silver medals in the CIS national championships, thanks largely to striker Eilish McConville. McConville led all CIS players with 22 goals during the regular season, and was named the CIS Player of the year as a result.
Volleyball
Men'sThe Queen's men's volleyball program has won nine OUA Championships, most recently in back-to-back years.
Women's
The Queen's women's volleyball team won their only OUA Championship in 2011–12. Most recently, Arielle Palermo and Caroline Livingston of the Gaels have represented Canada on the Women's National team in the Volleyball Nations League.
Varsity clubs
Queen's Athletics & Recreation has almost 30 varsity clubs within their sport model. These include:| Men's sports | Women's sports |
| Baseball | Artistic swimming |
| Curling | Curling |
| Cycling | Cycling |
| Fencing | Fastpitch softball |
| Golf | Fencing |
| Lacrosse | Field hockey |
| Nordic skiing | Figure skating |
| Rugby | Golf |
| Squash | Lacrosse |
| Sailing | Nordic skiing |
| Swimming | Squash |
| Tennis | Sailing |
| Track and field | Swimming |
| Triathlon | Tennis |
| Ultimate frisbee | Track and field |
| Water polo | Triathlon |
| Wrestling | Ultimate frisbee |
| Water polo | |
| Wrestling |