Fred Waghorne

Lore & Background

Waghorne was born in Tunbridge Wells, England and moved to Canada. While mainly interested in rugby as a youth, he became interested in lacrosse and ice hockey and eventually started the Toronto Lacrosse Hockey League. This league started out fielding lacrosse teams in the summer and hockey teams in the winter, but as the popularity of hockey grew the league became simply the Toronto Hockey League. When the Toronto Hockey League disbanded, Waghorne continued to work to provide opportunities for hockey players at all levels. In 1911, he formed the Beaches Hockey League which eventually became the Greater Toronto Hockey League, the largest minor league hockey organization in the world.

Reader's Guide

Waghorne is best known for his prolific career as a referee, having officiated 2,400 hockey games and 1,500 lacrosse matches. Many of the decisions he made on the ice rink became long-term rules in both amateur and professional ice hockey. He is credited with several changes and innovations to ice hockey rules, such as the use of a whistle instead of the customary cow bell to stop play when fans started bringing their own cowbells to disrupt game play; the acceptance of professional referees in amateur hockey games; the practice of dropping the puck from a few feet up at faceoff rather than placing it directly on the ice, which limited player contact with the referee's shins and ankles during faceoffs; and the ruling that if a half of a broken hockey puck entered the net, no goal was counted—a rule that led to the development of one-piece pucks. His officiating innovations and league-building efforts left a lasting impact on the sport.

Did You Know?

• He introduced the use of a whistle to replace the cow bell for stopping play.
• He started the Toronto Lacrosse Hockey League, which later became the Toronto Hockey League.
• He formed the Beaches Hockey League in 1911, which evolved into the Greater Toronto Hockey League.