The rules of Canadian football are very similar to those of American football. Canadian and American football do not much resemble soccer, the sport which most of the world calls "football." However, both of these games have their origins in rugby football, usually known simply as "rugby". For those unfamiliar with both styles (or, for Americans, even the Canadian style), they may appear to be similar.
Football was introduced to North America in Canada, by the British Army garrison in Montreal, which played a series of games with McGill University. In 1874, McGill arranged to play a few games in the United States, at Harvard, which liked the new game so much that it became a feature of the Ivy League. Both the Canadian and American games still have some things in common with the two varieties of rugby, especially rugby league, and, because of the similarities, the National Football League has established a formal relationship with the Canadian Football League.
In some regions along the Canada-USA border, especially western areas, some high schools from opposite sides of the border will regularly play games against one another (typically one or two per team per season). By agreement between the governing bodies involved, the field of the home team is considered a legal field, although it is a different size from one school's normal field. Rules agreements appear to vary; some have asserted that the rules switch depending on which team possesses the football, but most Internet-accessible newspaper reports on cross-border games seem to indicate that the rules of the home team are followed throughout the game.
Because of the similarities between the two games, many outside of Canada today consider Canadian football a minor variation of the American game and the CFL to be a minor league and not a major professional league. However, the game is relatively popular in Canada, and the CFL is considered a major league in the country, arguably being the second most popular professional sports league, the NHL being first. Indeed, many Canadian football players are also American football players.
For these players who played both Canadian and American styles, a player's professional football statistics is considered to be their combined totals from the player's CFL and NFL careers. However, it is very unusual for a primarily Canadian football player to have their American football statistics affect their career totals, or vice-versa. Because of the greater popularity of American football, so-called legendary football accomplishments are frequently on the basis of American football totals alone, as few players have achieved such a level by playing both styles of football, and even fewer by playing Canadian football alone.
Important differences
There are several important specific differences between the Canadian and American versions of the game of football:
Playing area
The playing field in Canadian football field is generally larger, similar to those of American fields prior to 1912. The Canadian field of play is 110 yards (101 m) long and 65 yards (59 m) wide, rather than 100 yards by 53 1/3 yards (91 by 49 m) as in American football. The end zones in Canadian football are anywhere between ten to fifteen yards deeper, although the Canadian Football League uses 20 yard (18 m) end zones. The goalposts for kicking are placed at the goal line in Canadian football and the end line in the American game. Frequently, however, the Canadian field will have its end zone truncated at the corners so that the field fits in the infield of a track. The distance between a sideline and a hash mark are the same in both fields, which leaves a greater distance between the hash marks in the Canadian game.
Because of the larger field, many American football venues are generally unfit for the Canadian game. In many American venues, the sidelines and endlines would be several rows into the stands. During the CFL's failed expansion to American cities, Canadian football was either played on converted baseball grounds, or in some cases, on a field designed for American football (most famously, the Memphis Mad Dogs of the CFL, playing out of the Liberty Bowl, played the Canadian game on an American field due to the inability of the stadium to adapt to the larger field). The Alamodome is the only American venue built with Canadian football (the CFL's San Antonio Texans) in mind, although it is now no longer used for this purpose.
Team size
Canadian teams have twelve players per side, while American teams use eleven players. Both games have the same number of players required at the line of scrimmage, hence the twelfth player in the Canadian game plays a backfield position.
Because of this, position designations of the various offensive and defensive lines vary. For example, there is no tight end in Canadian football.
The ball
The specifications of Canadian and American footballs are slightly different, and imply that on the average the Canadian football will be slightly shorter although not, as popularly believed, slightly fatter. Canadian Football League rules specify that the long circumference of the ball should be not less than 27 3/4 inches (705 mm) nor greater than 28 1/4 inches (718 mm), while the short axis should be no less than 20 7/8 inches (530 mm) nor greater than 21 1/8 inches (537 mm). The dimensions of the official National Football League and National Collegiate Athetic Association football are specified by its manufacturer as: short circumference: 20 3/4 to 21 1/4 inches (527 to 540 mm), long circumference 27 3/4 to 28 1/2 inches (705 to 724 mm).
However, since official Canadian and American footballs are all made by the same company, it is likely that their dimensions are identical. The chief difference between a CFL, NFL, and NCAA balls is the type of stripe applied (or not). Canadian balls have a complete white stripe around the football 1 inch (25 mm) from each end, NCAA balls have broken stripes, and NFL balls have no stripes.
Sources:
Number of downs
In both games, a team will have a limited number of downs to advanced the ball ten yards. In American football, there are four downs, while in Canadian football, there are only three.
Scrimmage
In both games, the ball is placed at a line of scrimmage, in which a player known as the center (centre in Canada) performs a snap to start a football play. The defensive team must stay a distance away on their side of the line of scrimmage. If an offensive play results in the goal line being inside such a distance, the ball is moved back so that the defense is positioned at the goal line.
In Canadian football, this distance is a full yard (914 mm). That is, a play can never start inside the defending team's one-yard line. Because of this one-yard (914 mm) distance, teams will tend to gamble on third and one. In American football, the distance is eleven inches (279 mm) - the length of the ball, creating the illusion of the teams being "nose-to-nose" against each other.
Fair catch
In American football, if a punt returner sees that, in his judgement, he will be unable to advance the ball after catching it, he may signal for a fair catch by waving his right hand in the air, and forgo the attempt to advance. If he makes this signal, the opposing team must allow him to attempt to catch the ball cleanly; if he is interfered with, the team covering the kick will be penalized fifteen yards (14 m). In contrast, there is no fair catch rule in Canadian football: instead no players from the kicking team except the kicker and any player who was behind him when he kicked the ball may ever approach within five yards of the ball until it is or has been in the opponents' possession.
Furthermore, in American football the receiving team may elect not to play the ball if the prospects for a return are not good and the returner is not certain he can successfully catch the ball on the fly; American players are generally taught not to attempt to touch a bouncing football. Oftentimes, the ball hits the ground and is surrounded by players from the kicking team, who allow it to roll dead, at which point play is stopped. In Canadian football the ball must be played by the receiving team.
Backfield in motion
In Canadian football all offensive backfield players, except the quarterback, may be in motion at the snap -- players in motion may move in any direction as long as they are behind the line of scrimmage at the snap.
In American football, only one backfield player is allowed to be in motion, and he cannot move toward the line of scrimmage until after the ball is snapped.
Time rules
American football rules allow each team to have three timeouts in each half, as well as the two-minute warning. In the Canadian Football League, each team has only one time-out, while at lower levels of Canadian football each team has two. However, at all levels of Canadian football, the clock is stopped after every play during the last three minutes of each half.
Timing rules change drastically after the N-minute warning in both leagues. In American football, the clock continues to run after any tackle in bounds, but stops after an incomplete pass, or a tackle out of bounds. If the clock stops, it is restarted at the snap of the ball. In Canadian football, the clock stops after every play, but the starting time differs depending on the result of the previous play: after a tackle in bounds, the clock restarts when the referee whistles the ball in; after an incomplete pass or a tackle out of bounds, the clock restarts when the ball is snapped.
These timing differences make for spectacularly different end-games if the team leading the game has the ball. In American football, if the other team is out of time-outs, it is possible to run slightly more than 160 seconds off the clock (almost three minutes) without gaining a first down. In Canadian football, just over 60 seconds can be run off.
In American football, the clock need not run out for the half or the game to be called. Canadian football requires that the clock be run out for the half or the game to be called. A final play is also permitted if time expires between plays in Canadian football.
In Canadian football, the offensive team must run a play within 20 seconds of the referee whistling the play in; in American football, teams have 40 seconds from the end of the previous play.
Kicker advancing the ball
The Canadian kicker, or a player behind the kicker when he kicks the ball, may recover his own kick and advance with the ball. American kickers are not allowed to do so, except on a kick-off, when the kicker and anyone behind him (e.g. the entire team, lest they be off-side), are eligible to recover the ball, so long as it has progressed at least ten yards down the field; hence the "onside kick" play. Canadian football extends this principle to all kicks, including those downfield.
Defensive line
The defensive line can only hold up a receiver within 1 yard (0.9 m) of the scrimmage lines in the CFL, as opposed to 5 yards (4.6 m) in the NFL, allowing for more open plays.
Fumbles
In Canadian play, if the ball is fumbled, the last team to touch the ball before it goes out of bounds gets possession -- rather than the last team to possess the ball as in American Football.
Field goals
Missed field goals which do not hit the uprights are live in Canadian football – if the ball is not returned out of the end zone, the kicking team receives a single point (a "rouge"), but the returner has the possibility of returning the missed kick for a touchdown; failing this, his team will receive possession at the point to which he returns the ball.
Following a successful field goal, in Canadian rules, the team scored upon has the option of receiving a kickoff or scrimmaging at its own 35 yard (32 m) line. In American football there is a kickoff after every score.
Extra points
In both games, after a touchdown is scored, the scoring team must then convert the touchdown, which may be done through a kick or a scrimmage. If done through a kick, the scoring team scores one point, and if done from a scrimmage, the scoring team scores two. However, the position of the ball for conversions is different in the two games.
Conversions are taken between the 2 or 3 yard line in American football, and at the 5 yard line in Canadian football. However, the Canadian kicker is actually closer to the goalposts, which are on the goal line in Canada and on the end line in the United States.
During conversions, the ball is considered live in Canadian football and American football at the college and NFL Europe level. As such, this allows the defensive team to score two points on an interception or fumble return. However, in the National Football League and other levels of American football, the ball is considered dead on a turnover.
Other differences
Other than converts, there is no single-point score in American football; the same events that result in a single in Canadian football result only in the award of a touchback in American play.
Canadian receivers need only have one foot in bounds for a catch to count as a reception, as in American high school and college football. NFL play requires two feet in bounds.
CFL roster sizes are 40 players (rather than 53 as in the NFL), comprising 19 non-imports (essentially, Canadians), 18 imports, and 3 quarterbacks.
While the traditional American football season runs from September or late August until December with the NFL playoffs occurring in January, the CFL regular season begins in July so that the playoffs can be completed by mid-November, an important consideration for a sport played in outdoor venues in locations such as Edmonton, Alberta and Regina, Saskatchewan.
See also
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