Gee-Gees are World Champions
 

I always hope that all the uOttawa teams win conference and/or national championships. A world title --now that is rare. They did Canada and uOttawa proud!!

This morning the undefeated Gee-Gees won the first ever Women's World Cup of University Soccer. They defeated Paulista University of Brazil 1-0 in the Gold Medal game.

Mikayla Morton scored the only goal on a header less than 2 minutes into the game. She was the OUA leading goal scorer this season. It was the only goal scored on Paulista during the whole tournament.

Note: Kudos to the game play-by -play guy on the FISU web cast. He had a British accent and like most Brits he really knew what the @#$% a Gee-Gee is.

Gee-Gee Trinity Espirit was named MVP of the tournament. Amazing when you consider that she is a teenager rookie with the Gee-Gees.

The tournament was played in JinJiang, China.

Wow, good for them! :O

FISU World Cup of Soccer was suspended for Pandemic times, but now the Gee-Gees will get to defend their World Title.

The team will be busy in the latter half of October, as they'll travel to Mexico for the 2022 FISU Americas Qualifying Tournament for the 2023 FISU University World Cup, and still play an OUA schedule. As the defending champions, Ottawa has already clinched a spot in the World Cup, which will take place in Jinjiang, China. The games in Mexico will decide another spot for a team from the Americas along with the Gee-Gees and Ottawa will use it as a tune up for the big tournament in January 2023.

Wow, that’s pretty f’n awesome. Did they trade in their kit for Canada Soccer colours given the world stage? Doesn’t look like they’re wearing Garnet and Grey in that photo.

No team got to wear their university or national team colours.

My understanding is that FISU provided each team with FISU uniforms that had the name of the university written on the back of the jersey in large letters. The teams were required to wear the FISU kit.

WTF's a Gee Gee?


;)

In case anyone really does not know:

Founded in 1848, the University of Ottawa adopted its official colours Garnet and Grey, and like many nineteenth-century institutions, the athletics teams were known only by the school's colours. Eventually, a connection was made between the shorthand "GGs" and "Gee-Gee", the common British nickname for a racehorse. The unique Gee-Gees name and iconic logo known today is a result of 170 years of history in Ottawa

I could add that that Irish immigrant farmers like my ancestors who settled in the Ottawa Valley used to call their farm horses GeeGees. It was a joke as the farm horses were slow work horses and not racehorses like back in the British Isles. When I was a child in the 1950s my great Aunt and Uncle had property in what is now Kanata and owned an old nag who they named GeeGee.

:cheers:

P.S--Henry Gee was a 16th Century Mayor of Chester England. He owned racehorses and established an annual Derby. The townspeople called his horses "geegees" after Henry Gee. In time, racehorses all over the British Isles were known as geegees.

TIL. Thank you for that. I grew up in Ottawa and I had no idea that's what it stood for. I had always assumed it had something to do with the Governor General (GG).

HaHa--it is not much of a stretch to figure that GG was short for Garnet and Grey.

Here is some more trivia. The story I heard was that a uOttawa alumus became a graphic designer. He designed the logo of a racehorse head, with fiery mane, and the letters GG emblazoned on it. He then added the word " Gee-Gee" beneath it.
The word "geegee" is long in the public domain and can not be copyrighted. The hyphen was added to make the spelling unique and the alumnus was able to copyright the whole design. He then donated the copyright to the university as a gift. uOttawa adopted the design as the official logo and name of its sports teams sometime in the early 1970's.

Before that there was not an official logo. However, one often saw a horseshoe with the letters GG in the center of it on GG(GeeGee) uniforms.

A while ago the "1881 Gee-Gee Football Alumni Association" was formed.1881 for short, as that was the year the first uOttawa football team took to the field.
They have a logo that combines the old and the new.
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images...4x_400x400.jpg

I was aware of the colours/name, but none of the rest of that history. Thanks for sharing!!

LeadingEdgeBoomer ruined my Panda day memories.

After a Covid delay the FISU World Cup will be held in China in January 2023.

As defending champs uOttawa is invited to return, but only if they agreed to particpate in the FISU Americas games first. They can finish last at FISU America and still go to the World Cup. Weird?

The games start today in Merida, Mexico.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfD0TN3X...g&name=900x900

To add to the conversation, in horse racing, the gee gee is the first horse out of the gate.

--and if you look at an earlier post in this very thread---you will find a more complete explanation of where the name comes from

The Wsoccer team has won their first two games in Mexico. However, the big test comes later today when they face the powerful Paulista University (Brazil).

Update: Ottawa and Paulista played to a 1-1 tie.

uOttawa won the FISU America womens soccer championship today, OCT 23,2022.

I don't get it, aren't there very strong soccer programs in NCAA? Or they don't take part in international competitions?

I don't understand how it works either. Americans took part in FISU America Games in some other sports, but not soccer. canada took part in very few sports.

FISU World University Games (winter version) will be held in Lake Placid this January.

https://www.lakeplacid2023.com/

FISU World Soccer Championship will be held in China in January. Gee-Gees will be there on the womens side.

Yes, you mentioned its a racehorse. I was providing more detail to the specific type of horse. What's your point?

I pointed out that at first the team was know as GGs , for Garnet and Grey. GG is still emblazoned on the horse head that is the official logo.

I also pointed out some local history, While in The British Isles a geegee is a racehorse, the Irish farmers -such as my ancestors-that settled in the Ottawa Valley in the 19th century used to call their working farm horses geegees. They were not racehorses.

Over time people started to equate GG with Gee-Gee and use them interchangably It was not until early 1970's that uOttawa decided to officially use the spelling Gee-Gees and introduce the horse head logo,

My point was recounting the history of how uOttawa came to choose the name and logo.