Queen ' s Golden Gaels The Queen ' s Gaels ( also : Queen ' s Golden Gaels ) are the athletic teams that represent Queen ' s University in Kingston , Ontario , Canada . Team colours are blue , red , and gold . Its main home is Richardson Memorial Stadium on West Campus . Their rallying cry is the " " Oil Thigh " " , a fight song sung in Gaelic by spectators when the home team scores a point , goal , touchdown , etc . Originally written in 1898 after a disappointing loss to the University of Toronto , the name comes from the phrase sung repeatedly in the main chorus : " Oilthigh na Banrighinn , a ' Banrighinn gu brath " , or " College of the Queen forever " in Gaelic . The song has the tune of the " Battle Hymn of the Republic " ; its English verses about the rivals of Queen ' s College alternate with the Gaelic chorus . Queen ' s teams have had a variety of successes on the national and international stages over the university ' s history . The Gaels football program is one of the oldest and most successful in Canada , boasting a total of three straight Grey Cup victories in the early twentieth century ( 1922 , 1923 , and 1924 ) and four Vanier Cup victories as the top team in Canadian Interuniversity Sport ( 1968 , 1978 , 1992 , and 2009 ) . In the last two seasons alone , the Gaels have captured 11 provincial and national championships , including the 2009 Vanier Cup championship , the 2010 - 11 CIS Men ' s Curling Championship and the two time 2011 and 2012 CIS Women ' s Soccer Championships . Men ' s and Women ' s Volleyball won OUA Championships in 2012 . Name . The " Golden Gaels " name was coined in 1947 by " Kingston Whig - Standard " sports reporter Cliff Bowering , after the football team traded its traditional uniform of red , gold , and blue bands for gold jerseys , gold helmets , and red pants . The name caught on and became the familiar term for Queen ' s teams by the 1950s . " Gaels " is a reference to Queen ' s Scottish heritage ( Queen ' s University was established in 1841 by the Presbyterian church ) . Before 1947 , Queen ' s teams were commonly known as " The Tricolour . " In September 2008 , Queen ' s Athletics & Recreation Department began referring to the school ' s teams as " Queen ' s Gaels . " Along with this change , the website was changed from goldengaels . com to gogaelsgo . com . The change was reportedly made to highlight the university ' s name in promoting the team , however some have criticised the move as " change for the sake of change . " Under media scrutiny , the department claimed it had not in fact officially changed the name of the team ; thus , major media sources like the " Kingston Whig - Standard " and CKWS - TV continue to refer to the team as the " Golden Gaels " . Baseball . Queen ' s University Varsity Baseball Team started competing in the Ontario University Athletics circuit as of 2010 . Painted on the walls of the Varsity locker room is the word " Success " followed by the phrase " the harder you work , the luckier you get . " Basketball . Queen ' s hosted McGill University at the Kingston YMCA on February 6 , 1904 , in the first - ever Canadian interuniversity basketball game . McGill won 9 - 7 , after a ten - minute overtime period to break a 7 - 7 tie . Curling . Men ' s . The men ' s curling team , in 2010 , earned the gold medal at the CIS national championship in Edmonton , Alberta . The team led by First Team All - Canadian Jonathan Beuk went 5 - 1 in Round Robin play before beating the Manitoba Bisons in the semi - final and the UPEI Panthers in the Championship . The Gaels qualified for the 2011 World University Games in Erzurum , Turkey where they represented Canada . The team finished fifth after losing a tie - breaker match to the Czech Republic . Football . The Queen ' s Gaels football program is one of the longest - lived and storied in the entire Canadian Interuniversity Sport . The team began organized play in 1883 when the Ontario Rugby Football Union was first founded and won ORFU champions in 1893 and 1894 . Queen ' s has competed continuously since 1882 , celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2007 . The first organized university football league in Canada , the Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union ( CIRFU ) , was founded in Kingston in November , 1897 , with charter members Queen ' s , McGill University , and the University of Toronto . , the football squad showed continued success , winning three straight Grey Cup s in 1922 , 1923 and 1924 . Once teams stopped competing for the Grey Cup , which was begun being solely awarded to Canadian Football League teams in 1955 , the Gaels turned their attention to the Vanier Cup , appearing in the CIS championship game five times and winning four of those games in 1968 , 1978 , 1992 and 2009 . The team is recently coming off of their Vanier Cup win in 2009 , but due to quarterback Danny Brannagan ' s graduation ( and subsequent signing by the Toronto Argonauts ) and other key players leaving , the team endured a difficult 3 - 5 season . The team just barely made the playoffs in 2010 , but had strong seasons in 2011 and 2012 when the team finished 6 - 2 and in third place in both years . Season - by - season record . The following is the record of the Queen ' s Golden Gaels football team in the last ten seasons of play : Queen ' s Gaels in the CFL . As of the start of the 2012 CFL season , four former Gaels players are on CFL teams ' rosters : Few know that Carl Voss ( BA 27 ) was both an excellent football and hockey player . While at university he played 4 seasons ( 1924 to 1927 ) with the Queen ' s Golden Gaels . This included a victory in the 1924 12th Grey Cup . Voss has his name engraved on the Grey Cup for this season . Voss also scored the Stanley Cup winning goal for the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1938 Stanley Cup Finals . He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame . This makes Voss , along with Hall - of - Famer Lionel Conacher , one of only two players to have their name engraved on both the Stanley Cup and the Grey Cup .