Verdun Shamcats

{{Short description|Quebec Rugby Football Union team (1950–1966)}}

{{Infobox American football team

| name = Verdun Shamcats

| founded = 1950

| folded = 1966

| location = Verdun, Quebec, Canada

| field =

| league = Quebec Rugby Football Union
Quebec Junior Football League

| league_champs = 1958 & 1961

}}

The Verdun Shamcats were a team in the Quebec Rugby Football Union from 1950 until 1966.[http://qjfl.ca/league/history/ QMJFL History] The team was formed in July 1950 by the amalgamation of five local Verdun junior teams originally created in 1945, into a single, more competitive team in the junior Quebec Rugby Football League. The bulk of the new team was drawn from the Verdun Shamrocks, which became the basis of the "Sham-Cats" team name. The team's initial coach was Gus McFarlane [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0jArAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fpkFAAAAIBAJ&dq=sham%20verdun&pg=6752%2C564976 "Montreal Gazette, August 4 1950"]

CFL great Tony Pajaczkowski of the Calgary Stampeders and Bob Geary of the Montreal Alouettes played for the team. In 1958 they beat the Cornwall Emards to win the league championship. In 1961 they beat the St. Vital Bulldogs 32-31 for the national senior championship.Verdun Shamcats celebrate 1961 championship win, Ian MacDonald, October 15, 2011 Montreal Gazette The team, and the league (QSFL), folded after the 1964 season and was replaced by the Verdun Mustangs and later by the Verdun Invictus, in the Metropolitan Junior Football Conference in 1968, who moved up from the QRFU juvenile division.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KoIuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AqAFAAAAIBAJ&dq=verdun%20football&pg=5257%2C4688217 "Montreal Gazette, March 18 1968"]