The first mention of football in Vancouver appeared in the newspapers in November, 1924, two months before the first season began in January, 1925. From then on both the sport, to which the Meralomas contributed significantly, and its newspaper coverage entertained Vancouverites almost daily.

The Club benefited from the presence in Vancouver of a man who was to become a pillar of the game in western Canada and the driving force behind the Club's outstanding early football successes. Cyril Saxon Crossley came to Vancouver from Calgary in 1924 where he had played for Calgary against the Regina Roughriders in the 1919 western Canadian final. 'Sax' played and coached and held executive positions both at the Club level and for league and regional football associations. He was the 'daddy' of the Club in the early years being the only married member (aside from being somewhat older than most) and was very popular with everyone.

The Meralomas entered one team in the city intermediate football league in August, 1925, but were moved to the senior division in October. Composed of recruits who had played football the previous winter for either St. Mark's Bruins or Kerrisdale, or rugby for Kitsilano High School, they won only one game with newcomer Sax Crossley as the coach. A Meraloma junior team won convincingly during an abbreviated season against the New Westminster Hyacks, St. Mark's and Varsity Juniors, but lost the championship game for the World Cup.

Before the season began in 1926, a Vancouver Sun article offered a forecast:

'Although comparatively new in Vancouver, Canadian rugby has a large following and keen interest is being developed in the game. Two years ago, the first league schedule was completed and last year a number of new teams added and successful playoffs staged. This fall, marked strides have been taken in arranging a Big Three League composed of Vancouver, Varsity and Victoria. The winner of this league will tackle the Alberta Champion for the Western title. The Canadian game is being played for the first time among students in some of the high schools and judging by the turnout is bound to be popular. Considerable speculation has been made as to the possibility of the Canadianized version replacing the English Code in the high schools. If this takes place, the calibre of the Canadian game will be greatly increased. It is a well-known fact that all the larger universities in Canada prefer the Canadian game so that this seems highly probable.'

Anxious to do well in this new 'Canadian game', the Club purchased balls, sweaters, pants and a few padded helmets for those who wanted them. In these fledgling days of football not all players wore helmets, the main purpose of which was to prevent 'cauliflower ears'. In fact, it was noted that some players, Art Hunt being one, were still without helmets in 1934.

At the conclusion of the 1926 season the Meralomas were awarded the Harry Duker Cup for being the senior city champions and were allowed to challenge the Vancouver Athletic Club (V.A.C.) of the Big Three League for the provincial championship. The latter proved to be far too strong and earned a very convincing 27-0 victory. The members of this first Harry Duker Cup winning football team were Harold Rich, George Wray, Bill Pitt, Bert Quinn, Mel Parsons, Percy Wight, Harvey Campbell, Alex MacArthur, Gord Brown, Norm Howard, Jack Barbarie, Roy Elliott, Bill Carnochan, Ted Black, W. Lee, Bruce Lamb, Harold Danaher, Don Reycraft, Bill Edwards and Sax Crossley (Coach).

Interest in football continued to grow in the Meraloma Club in 1927-28 but a bid to gain a franchise in the inter-city league, now known as the Senior Big Four with the admittance of New Westminster, was unsuccessful. The team again entered the Senior City League and again won the Harry Duker Cup. Varsity (U.B.C.) captured the newly-donated Sir Thomas Lipton Cup for winning the Big Four. Through Coach Sax Crossley's efforts the Meralomas were again given the right to challenge the Big Four champion for the provincial championship, but in so doing they lost 25-4. Regina Roughriders subsequently defeated Varsity twice in the western Canadian final in November and then announced that they would not travel to Ontario to play for the Grey Cup for which they were eligible.

The Grey Cup, of course, was to acquire considerable prestige as the years went by and turning down the opportunity to play for it never happened again. The Cup had been donated in 1909 by Earl Grey, then Governor-General of Canada, for the rugby championship of Canada. It was originally open to competition only for amateur teams which were registered with the Canadian Rugby Union. Remembering that football was then called Canadian rugby in order to differentiate it from English rugby, the Canadian Rugby Union was the governing body of amateur football in Canada.

In 1921, teams from the west were permitted to compete for the trophy for the first time. In 1936, university teams dropped out of contention and the Quebec Rugby Union and the Ontario Rugby Football Union followed suit in 1937 and 1954, respectively. Since 1954, only the nine professional teams from the Eastern and Western Conferences of the Canadian Football League have challenged for the Grey Cup. In 1966, at a ceremony in,Vancouver, the Canadian Amateur Football Association, the successor to the Canadian Rugby Union, formally turned over the Grey Cup to the Canadian Football League. (For a comprehensive account of the history of Canadian football, refer to Frank Cosentino, Canadian Football - The Grey Cup Years, Toronto, Musson, 1969.) Not realizing the future importance of the Grey Cup but certainly wanting to be champions at some level, the Meralomas obtained some tackling dummies and bucking machines in 1927 and began to take their football training very seriously. The Senior City Football League, which was also referred to as 'intermediate', operated in the spring of the 1928-29 season and four teams- Varsity, Richmond, Meralomas and Dodekas, competed for the Harry Duker Cup. The Dodekas were a Kitsilano based team which had won the junior football league for three straight seasons, usually by wide margins, and this was their first venture into better competition. After losing their first game to the Meralomas, the still junior-aged Dodekas won all others to capture the trophy. Several members of the Dodekas joined the Meralomas after they had passed the junior age limit.

Football in the late 1920's, in addition to being strictly amateur, still bore many similarities to football as played under the laws of the Rugby Football Union of England. Both Canadian and American football had evolved from Rugby Football and were undergoing rule changes yearly. The positioning of players in the twelve-man Canadian version closely resembled today's but the terminology differed. The seven-man line was composed of a snapback (centre), inner wings (guards), middle wings (tackles) and outside wings (ends). The five-man backfield contained a quarterback, right half-back, left half-back, centre half-back and a flying wing. Kicking was of paramount importance and the lateral pass was still much in evidence. Although the forward pass was used occasionally after 1929 in Vancouver, it was not officially adopted until 1931. Touchdowns had a value of five points. Canadian football was to undergo many changes in the next 55 years in its transformation from an amateur pursuit to a business enterprise. Higher transportation costs, growth in the national status of the Grey Cup and expanding professionalism were all influences yet to be felt by the Meraloma Club as it continued to pursue the game at the amateur level.