History

Albert Henry George Grey, the fourth Earl Grey, who served as Governor General of Canada from 1904 to 1911, decided in 1908 to present a cup for the best senior amateur hockey team in Canada.

However, he learned that Sir Montague Allan had already donated the Allan Cup for that purpose, so he decided that his trophy should be awarded to the country's Rugby football champion, with competition conducted by the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU).

Rugby was gradually transformed into Canadian football, leading to a variety of disputes over rules among various organizations. Because of differences in the rules, the CRU held a two-game total-point series for the Grey Cup in 1940, under two different sets of rules. Ottawa won both games outright.

The differences were more or less resolved when the Canadian Football Council (CFC) was established in 1956 as an organization of professional teams. Two years later, the CFC pulled out of the CRU and was re-named the Canadian Football League (CFL). In 1966, the CRU turned over trusteeship of the Grey Cup to the CFL, and since then the trophy has gone to the league's champion.

A Most Valuable Player award was established for the championship game in 1959. It wasn't awarded from 1963 through 1966, but was reinstated in 1967. Because of the great influx of players from the United States, a separate Most Valuable Canadian Player award was added in 1971.

From 1974 through 1991, awards were given to the most valuable players on offense and defense, along with the Most Valuable Canadian award. The separate offensive and defensive awards were done away with in 1991.

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