 In 1908, the Tigers would win the last national championship to be awarded before the introduction of the Grey Cup trophy in 1909.The team would face local competition with the newly formed Ontario Rugby Football Union's Hamilton Alerts who, in 1912, won the city of Hamilton its first Grey Cup by beating the Toronto Argonauts 11–4.The Alerts having challenged the authority of the ORFU during that season, would not be reinstated into the union, so many of its players joined the Tigers in the off-season.