One of the intriguing items in the Saskatchewan War Experience is a program describing the unveiling of a Memorial dedicated to the football players who fell in World War I. The unveiling and dedication of the Memorial took place on 8th June, 1921, and included various songs and hymns, an address by the Mayor, and a Roll of the Fallen. The memorial consists of a 6 foot marble statue carved in Naples, Italy, set upon a 12 foot polished granite base, with the names of the 75 soccer players who lost their lives the Great War engraved around the bottom.
The Memorial was later named for Saskatoon footballer Hugh Cairns, a member of the 46th Battalion, Saskatchewan Regiment, who won the Victoria Cross and died just a few days before the end of the War.
Today, the Hugh Cairns Memorial is believed to be the only war memorial in the world dedicated to the players of football. It is located in Kiwanis Park in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The Memorial to the Footballers Who Fell in the Great World War, 1914-1918, was submitted to the project by the University of Saskatchewan Special Collections.
