Irene Wall passed away in 1967. It was Canada’s Centennial year, and a year where women’s hockey was about to find permanent footing in the hockey world with new tournaments, teams, and organizations popping up across the nation. None of it may have been possible without Wall, who was a true builder for the game, and for women’s sport in general.
Wall’s hockey impact on the game spanned back to 1928, when she was elected president of the Quebec Ladies Amateur Hockey Association.
In 1929, she was also elected president of the Montreal City and District Ladies Hockey League (originally referred to as the Verdun City and District Ladies’ Hockey League), which played out of the Mount Royal Arena. At the time, Wall was a season into playing goal for the Viauville Greys. Following the 1929 season, Wall promised expansion with the league aiming for six teams the following year. Upon her re-election as president of Quebec’s provincial organization, Wall’s efforts were praised.
“Miss Wall has guided the Association through a very successful year and she has the confidence of every league playing under the Association,” The Montreal Star wrote on April 30, 1929.
As Myrtle Cook wrote in December of 1929, “Irene Wall, who tends the citadel for the Greys, is President of the League and it is largely through her efforts that it has become such a strong organization. Irene is well known to Montreal fans not only as a splendid player but as a very competent executive. She is extremely versatile in her sport pursuits.”
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The 1929-1930 season turned out to be one of Wall’s best on the ice. By the New Year, her Greys team had faced the rest of the league without Wall conceding a single goal against.
“Irene Wall, goal-tender for Greys, has not had a goal scored against her this season. With the opposing forwards sending them in from all angles, this is a remarkable record,” wrote Cook for The Montreal Star. After finishing first overall in league play, Greys faced Northern Electric in the league final. They played to back-to-back 0-0 draws in the opening games of the championship series with Wall living up to her name. In game three however, Northern Electric retained their title finally squeezing one through Wall to win 1-0.
By that spring, Wall continued to grow her resume of involvement not only as a builder in women’s hockey, but in women’s sports. As Cook wrote, “Irene Wall must be the busiest executive in Montreal. Being president of the Quebec Ladies’ Hockey Association, City and District Ladies’ Hockey League, Greys Hockey Club, secretary-treasurer of Canadian Ladies’ A.C., Montreal and District Ladies’ Softball League are only a few of the positions ably filled by the titan-haired athlete.”
Wall remained one of the best goaltenders in the game throughout the decade including a stellar 1935-36 campaign with the Montreal Maroons winning a provincial title to advance to face the Preston Rivulettes for an Eastern Canadian championship.
“The Quebec champions went through a ten-game schedule this year without a loss and their goaltender, Irene Wall, had shut outs in nine of the contests,” papers wrote.
In her leadership roles, Wall was known as a fierce negotiator, advocate, and voice in defense of those she represented. Some of those battles included keeping Quebec and all provincial voting power equal in national sporting issues. Always outspoken, Wall had ardent supporters, and detractors, but always voiced what she thought to be right, and best for athletes across Canada.
Alexandrine Gibb, a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, who was a pioneering sports journalist for The Toronto Star for more than 30 years, touted Wall in 1938 saying “she has had hockey experience and knows that game and is a capable and hard-working official in any sport.”
As The Toronto Star wrote that same year, “Irene Wall is a hard-working, hard-fighting girl, so loyal to her friends that it hurts…her. She is earnest over federation work. You can’t help admire her sincerity.”
As a player, after more than a decade as a guiding figure in women’s hockey in Quebec, Irene Wall “reappeared” briefly in the crease for the Montreal Royals in the 1939-140 season. She not only re-entered the game as a player, but backstopped the Royals to an 8-0 shutout over the Kickees. It would be her final recorded game.
The 1939 season also saw Wall yet again re-elected as president of the Montreal City and District Ladies’ Hockey League. By this point in the league’s history, acquiring ice time was a significant issue as men’s teams were taking precedent and World War II was looming. At the time of her re-election, Wall was described as “instrumental in keeping the game rolling through good times and bad times…”
Exiting World War II, a period of dormancy for many women’s sports organizations, Wall would be elected president of the Women’s Amateur Athletic Federation of Canada in 1946. Prior to 1946, Wall had been the secretary of the organization and president of the Quebec Branch. A governing body, WAAF set out to oversee women’s sports in Canada as the existing federations and organizations run by men would not assist in the operation of sport for women. For her role with the organization, Wall was honored in 1953 by the Queen, receiving the Queen’s Coronation medal for her “long service to women’s sport in Canada.” The WAAF was the first organization, then led by Alexandrine Gibb, to successfully advocate for Canadian women to participate in the Olympic Games, a feat achieved in 1928. Wall was a key figure in Canada’s track and field development spanning from the 1920s through to the 1950s.
Wall spent her life finding ways to get women and girls involved in sport. Her efforts also included founding the West End Figure Skating Club in 1955, one of many opportunities Wall created for women and girls.
For her efforts in softball, track and field, skating and hockey, Irene Wall deserves recognition in the same breath as other foundational builders in Canadian sport. Her efforts are worthy of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and laid the groundwork for the growth of women’s hockey in Quebec.
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