| Union: | Football Canada International Federation of American Football |
| Nickname: | Football, gridiron football |
| First: | at University College, University of Toronto |
| Contact: | Full |
| Team: | 12 a side |
| Category: | Outdoor |
| Ball: | Football |
| Glossary: | Glossary of Canadian football |
| Olympic: | No |
Canadian football, or simply football (in Canada), is a sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field 110yd long and 65yd wide, attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's end zone.
American and Canadian football have shared origins and are closely related, but have some major differences.
Rugby football, from which Canadian football developed, was first recorded in Canada in the early 1860s, taken there by British immigrants, possibly in 1824.[1] Both the Canadian Football League (CFL), the sport's top professional league, and Football Canada, the governing body for amateur play, trace their roots to 1880 and the founding of the Canadian Rugby Football Union.
The CFL is the most popular and only major professional Canadian football league. Its championship game, the Grey Cup, is one of Canada's biggest sporting events, attracting a large television audience.[2] [3]
Canadian football is also played at high school, junior, collegiate, and semi-professional levels: the Canadian Junior Football League and Quebec Junior Football League are for players aged 18–22,post-secondary institutions compete in U Sports football for the Vanier Cup, and seniors in the Alberta Football League. The Canadian Football Hall of Fame is in Hamilton, Ontario.
The first documented football match was a practice game played on November 9, 1861, at University College, University of Toronto (approximately 400yd west of Queen's Park). One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was Sir William Mulock, later chancellor of the school.[4] A football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear.[5]
The first written account of a game played was on October 15, 1862, on the Montreal Cricket Grounds. It was between the First Battalion Grenadier Guards and the Second Battalion Scots Fusilier Guards resulting in a win by the Grenadier Guards 3 goals, 2 rouges to nothing.[6] In 1864, at Trinity College, Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland, Frederick A. Bethune, and Christopher Gwynn, one of the founders of Milton, Massachusetts, devised rules based on rugby football. The game gradually gained a following, with the Hamilton Football Club (later the Hamilton Tiger-Cats) formed on November 3, 1869. Montreal Football Club was formed on April 8, 1872. Toronto Argonaut Football Club was formed on October 4, 1873, and the Ottawa Football Club (later the Ottawa Rough Riders) on September 20, 1876. Of those clubs, only the Toronto club is still in continuous operation today.
This rugby-football soon became popular at Montreal's McGill University. McGill challenged Harvard University to a two-game series in 1874, using a hybrid game of English rugby devised by the University of McGill.[7] [8]
The first attempt to establish a proper governing body and to adopt the current set of Rugby rules was the Foot Ball Association of Canada, organized on March 24, 1873, followed by the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU) founded June 12, 1880,[9] which included teams from Ontario and Quebec. Later both the Ontario Rugby Football Union and Quebec Rugby Football Union (ORFU and QRFU respectively) were formed (January 1883), and then the Interprovincial (1907) and Western Interprovincial Football Union (1936) (IRFU and WIFU).[10] The CRFU reorganized into an umbrella organization forming the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) in 1891.[11] The immediate forerunner to the current Canadian Football League was established in 1956 when the IRFU and WIFU formed an umbrella organization, the Canadian Football Council (CFC).[12] In 1958, the CFC left the CRU to become the "Canadian Football League" (CFL).
The Burnside rules closely resembling American football (which are similar rules developed by Walter Camp for that sport) that were incorporated in 1903 by the ORFU, were an effort to distinguish it from a more rugby-oriented game. The Burnside Rules had teams reduced to 12 men per side, introduced the snap-back system, required the offensive team to gain 10 yards on three downs, eliminated the throw-in from the sidelines, allowed only six men on the line, stated that all goals by kicking were to be worth two points and the opposition was to line up 10 yards from the defenders on all kicks. The rules were an attempt to standardize the rules throughout the country. The CIRFU, QRFU, and CRU refused to adopt the new rules at first.[13] Forward passes were not allowed in the Canadian game until 1929, and touchdowns, which had been five points, were increased to six points in 1956, in both cases several decades after the Americans had adopted the same changes. The primary differences between the Canadian and American games stem from rule changes that the American side of the border adopted but the Canadian side did not (originally, both sides had three downs, goal posts on the goal lines, and unlimited forward motion, but the American side modified these rules and the Canadians did not). The Canadian field width was one rule that was not based on American rules, as the Canadian game was played in wider fields and stadiums that were not as narrow as the American stadiums.
The Grey Cup was established in 1909, after being donated by Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, Governor General of Canada, as the championship of teams under the CRU for the Rugby Football Championship of Canada. Initially an amateur competition, it eventually became dominated by professional teams in the 1940s and early 1950s. The ORFU, the last amateur organization to compete for the trophy, withdrew from competition after the 1954 season.[14] The move ushered in the modern era of Canadian professional football, culminating in the formation of the present-day Canadian Football League in 1958.
Canadian football has mostly been confined to Canada, with the United States being the only other country to have hosted high-level Canadian football games. The CFL's controversial "South Division" as it would come to be officially known attempted to put CFL teams in the United States playing under Canadian rules in 1995. The Expansion was aborted after three years; the Baltimore Stallions were the most successful of the numerous Americans teams to play in the CFL, winning the 83rd Grey Cup. Continuing financial losses, a lack of proper Canadian football venues, a pervasive belief that the American teams were simply pawns to provide the struggling Canadian teams with expansion fee revenue, and the return of the NFL to Baltimore prompted the end of Canadian football on the American side of the border.
The CFL hosted the Touchdown Atlantic regular season game in Nova Scotia in 2005 and New Brunswick in 2010, 2011, and 2013. In 2013, Newfoundland and Labrador became the last province to establish football at the minor league level, with teams playing on the Avalon Peninsula and in Labrador City. The province however has yet to host a college or CFL game. Prince Edward Island, the smallest of the provinces, has also never hosted a CFL game.
On 13 February 2023, IFAF and Football Canada announced in a joint statement that the Canadian Amateur Football Rulebook would be an accepted rules code for international play, but would not be a substitute for world championships or world championship qualification.
"As Football Canada continues to work with IFAF, I believe this opens the door for international friendlies and tournaments to be staged in Canada employing the infrastructure communities have invested in for our sport from coast to coast," Football Canada president and IFAF General Secretary Jim Mullin said in the joint statement.[15]
Canadian football is played at several levels in Canada; the top league is the professional nine-team Canadian Football League (CFL). The CFL regular season begins in June, and playoffs for the Grey Cup are completed by late November.[16] In cities with outdoor stadiums such as Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Regina, low temperatures and icy field conditions can seriously affect the outcome of a game.
Amateur football is governed by Football Canada. At the university level, 27 teams play in four conferences under the auspices of U Sports; the U Sports champion is awarded the Vanier Cup.[17] Junior football is played by many after high school before joining the university ranks. There are 19 junior teams in three conferences in the Canadian Junior Football League competing for the Canadian Bowl.[18] The Quebec Junior Football League includes teams from Ontario and Quebec who battle for the Manson Cup.
Semi-professional leagues have grown in popularity in recent years, with the Alberta Football League becoming especially popular. The Northern Football Conference formed in Ontario in 1954 has also surged in popularity for former college players who do not continue to professional football. The Ontario champion plays against the Alberta champion for the "National Championship". The Canadian Major Football League is the governing body for the semi-professional game.
Women's football has gained attention in recent years in Canada. The first Canadian women's league to begin operations was the Maritime Women's Football League in 2004. The largest women's league is the Western Women's Canadian Football League.
The Canadian football field is 150yd long and 65yd wide, within which the goal areas are 20yd deep, and the goal lines are 110yd apart. Weighted pylons are placed on the inside corner of the intersections of the goal lines and end lines. Including the end zones, the total area of the field is .
At each goal line is a set of 40feet goalposts, which consist of two uprights joined by an NaNadj=midNaNadj=mid crossbar which is 10feet above the goal line. The goalposts may be H-shaped (both posts fixed in the ground) although in the higher-calibre competitions the tuning-fork design (supported by a single curved post behind the goal line, so that each post starts 10feet above the ground) is preferred.
The sides of the field are marked by white sidelines, the goal line is marked in white or yellow, and white lines are drawn laterally across the field every 5yd from the goal line. These lateral lines are called "yard lines" and often marked with the distance in yards from and an arrow pointed toward the nearest goal line. Prior to the early 1980s, arrows were not used and all yard lines (in both multiples of 5 and 10) were usually marked with the distance to the goal line, including the goal line itself which was marked with either a "0" or "00"; in most stadiums today, only the yard markers in multiples of 10 are marked with numbers, with the goal line sometimes being marked with a "G". The centre (55-yard) line usually is marked with a "C" (or, more rarely, with a "55"). "Hash marks" are painted in white, parallel to the yardage lines, at 1yd intervals, 24yd from the sidelines under amateur rules, but 28yd in the CFL.
On fields that have a surrounding running track, such as Molson Stadium and many universities, the end zones are often cut off in the corners to accommodate the track. Until 1986,[19] the end zones were 25yd deep, giving the field an overall length of 160yd, and a correspondingly larger cutoff could be required at the corners. The first field to feature the shorter 20-yard end zone was Vancouver's BC Place (home of the BC Lions), which opened in 1983. This was particularly common among U.S.-based teams during the CFL's American expansion, where few American stadiums were able to accommodate the much longer and noticeably wider CFL field. The end zones in Toronto's BMO Field are only 18 yards instead of 20 yards.
Teams advance across the field through the execution of quick, distinct plays, which involve the possession of a brown, prolate spheroid ball with ends tapered to a point. The ball has two one-inch-wide white stripes.
At the beginning of a match, an official tosses a coin and allows the captain of the visiting team to call heads or tails. The captain of the team winning the coin toss is given the option of having first choice, or of deferring first choice to the other captain. The captain making first choice may either choose a) to kick off or receive the kick at the beginning of the half, or b) which direction of the field to play in. The remaining choice is given to the opposing captain. Before the resumption of play in the second half, the captain that did not have first choice in the first half is given first choice. Teams usually choose to defer, so it is typical for the team that wins the coin toss to kick to begin the first half and receive to begin the second.
Play begins at the start of each half with one team place-kicking the ball from its own end of the field: the 35-yard line in the CFL, the 45-yard line in amateur play. Both teams then attempt to catch the ball. The player who recovers the ball may run while holding the ball, or lateral throw the ball to a teammate.
Play stops when the ball carrier's knee, elbow, or any other body part aside from the feet and hands, is forced to the ground (a tackle); when a forward pass is not caught on the fly (during a scrimmage); when a touchdown (see below) or a field goal is scored; when the ball leaves the playing area by any means (being carried, thrown, or fumbled out of bounds); or when the ball carrier is in a standing position but can no longer move forwards (called forward progress). If no score has been made, the next play starts from scrimmage.
Before scrimmage, an official places the ball at the spot it was at the stop of clock, but no nearer than 24 yards from the sideline or 1 yard from the goal line. The line parallel to the goal line passing through the ball (line from sideline to sideline for the length of the ball) is referred to as the line of scrimmage. This line is similar to "no-man's land"; players must stay on their respective sides of this line until the play has begun again. For a scrimmage to be valid the team in possession of the football must have seven players, excluding the quarterback, within one yard of the line of scrimmage. The defending team must stay a yard or more back from the line of scrimmage.
On the field at the beginning of a play are two teams of 12 (and not 11 as in American football). The team in possession of the ball is the offence and the team defending is referred to as the defence. Play begins with a backwards pass through the legs (the snap) by a member of the offensive team, to another member of the offensive team. This is usually the quarterback or punter, but a "direct snap" to a running back is also not uncommon. If the quarterback or punter receives the ball, he may then do any of the following:
Each play constitutes a down. The offence must advance the ball at least ten yards towards the opponents' goal line within three downs or forfeit the ball to their opponents. Once ten yards have been gained the offence gains a new set of three downs (rather than the four downs given in American football). Downs do not accumulate. If the offensive team completes 10 yards on their first play, they lose the other two downs and are granted another set of three. If a team fails to gain ten yards in two downs they usually punt the ball on third down or try to kick a field goal (see below), depending on their position on the field. The team may, however use its third down in an attempt to advance the ball and gain a cumulative 10 yards.
The ball changes possession in the following instances:
There are many rules to contact in this type of football. The only player on the field who may be legally tackled is the player currently in possession of the football (the ball carrier). On a passing play a receiver, that is to say, an offensive player sent down the field to receive a pass, may not be interfered with (have his motion impeded, be blocked, etc.) unless he is within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Prior to a pass that goes beyond the line of scrimmage, a defender may not be impeded more than one yard past that line. Otherwise, any player may block another player's passage, so long as he does not hold or trip the player he intends to block. The kicker may not be contacted after the kick but before his kicking leg returns to the ground (this rule is not enforced upon a player who has blocked a kick). The quarterback may not be hit or tackled after throwing the ball, nor may he be hit while in the pocket (i.e. behind the offensive line) prior to that point below the knees or above the shoulders.
Infractions of the rules are punished with penalties, typically a loss of yardage of 5, 10 or 15 yards against the penalized team. Minor violations such as offside (a player from either side encroaching into scrimmage zone before the play starts) are penalized five yards, more serious penalties (such as holding) are penalized 10 yards, and severe violations of the rules (such as face-masking [grabbing the face mask attached to a player's helmet]) are typically penalized 15 yards. Depending on the penalty, the penalty yardage may be assessed from the original line of scrimmage, from where the violation occurred (for example, for a pass interference infraction), or from where the ball ended after the play. Penalties on the offence may, or may not, result in a loss of down; penalties on the defence may result in a first down being automatically awarded to the offence. For particularly severe conduct, the game official(s) may eject players (ejected players may be substituted for), or in exceptional cases, declare the game over and award victory to one side or the other. Penalties do not affect the yard line which the offence must reach to gain a first down (unless the penalty results in a first down being awarded); if a penalty against the defence results in the first down yardage being attained, then the offence is awarded a first down.
If the defence is penalized on a two-point convert attempt and the offence chooses to attempt the play again, the offence must attempt another two-point convert; it cannot change to a one-point attempt. Conversely, the offence can attempt a two-point convert following a defensive penalty on a one-point attempt.
Penalties may occur before a play starts (such as offside), during the play (such as holding), or in a dead-ball situation (such as unsportsmanlike conduct).
Penalties never result in a score for the offence. For example, a point-of-foul infraction committed by the defence in their end zone is not ruled a touchdown, but instead advances the ball to the one-yard line with an automatic first down. For a distance penalty, if the yardage is greater than half the distance to the goal line, then the ball is advanced half the distance to the goal line, though only up to the one-yard line (unlike American football, in Canadian football no scrimmage may start inside either one-yard line). If the original penalty yardage would have resulted in a first down or moving the ball past the goal line, a first down is awarded.
In most cases, the non-penalized team will have the option of declining the penalty; in which case the results of the previous play stand as if the penalty had not been called. One notable exception to this rule is if the kicking team on a 3rd down punt play is penalized before the kick occurs: the receiving team may not decline the penalty and take over on downs. After the kick is made, change of possession occurs and subsequent penalties are assessed against either the spot where the ball is caught, or the runback.
Canadian football distinguishes four ways of kicking the ball:
On any kicking play, all onside players (the kicker, and teammates behind the kicker at the time of the kick) may recover and advance the ball. Players on the kicking team who are not onside may not approach within five yards of the ball until it has been touched by the receiving team, or by an onside teammate.
The methods of scoring are:
Resumption of play following a score is conducted under procedures which vary with the type of score.
The game consists of two 30-minute halves, each of which is divided into two 15-minute quarters. The clock counts down from 15:00 in each quarter. Timing rules change when there are three minutes remaining in a half.A short break interval of 2 minutes occurs after the end of each quarter (a longer break of 15 minutes at halftime), and the two teams then change goals.
In the first 27 minutes of a half, the clock stops when:
The clock starts again when the referee determines the ball is ready for scrimmage, except for team time-outs (where the clock starts at the snap), after a time count foul (at the snap) and kickoffs (where the clock starts not at the kick but when the ball is first touched after the kick).
In the last three minutes of a half, the clock stops whenever the ball becomes dead. On kickoffs, the clock starts when the ball is first touched after the kick. On scrimmages, when it starts depends on what ended the previous play. The clock starts when the ball is ready for scrimmage except that it starts on the snap when on the previous play:
During the last three minutes of a half, the penalty for failure to place the ball in play within the 20-second play clock, known as a "time count violation" (this foul is known as "delay of game" in American football), is dramatically different from during the first 27 minutes. Instead of the penalty being 5 yards with the down repeated, the base penalty (except during convert attempts) becomes loss of down on first or second down, and 10 yards on third down with the down repeated. In addition, as noted previously, the referee can give possession to the defence for repeated deliberate time count violations on third down.
The clock does not run during convert attempts in the last three minutes of a half. If the 15 minutes of a quarter expire while the ball is live, the quarter is extended until the ball becomes dead. If a quarter's time expires while the ball is dead, the quarter is extended for one more scrimmage. A quarter cannot end while a penalty is pending: after the penalty yardage is applied, the quarter is extended one scrimmage. Note that the non-penalized team has the option to decline any penalty it considers disadvantageous, so a losing team cannot indefinitely prolong a game by repeatedly committing infractions.
In the CFL, if the game is tied at the end of regulation play, then each team is given an equal number of offensive possessions to break the tie. A coin toss is held to determine which team will take possession first; the first team scrimmages the ball at the opponent's 35-yard line and conducts a series of downs until it scores or loses possession. If the team scores a touchdown, starting with the 2010 season, it is required to attempt a two-point conversion.[23] The other team then scrimmages the ball at the opponent's 35-yard line and has the same opportunity to score. After the teams have completed their possessions, if one team is ahead, then it is declared the winner; otherwise, the two teams each get another chance to score, scrimmaging from the other 35-yard line. After this second round, if there is still no winner, during the regular season the game ends as a tie. In a playoff game, the teams continue to attempt to score from alternating 35-yard lines, until one team is leading after both have had an equal number of possessions.
In U Sports football, for the Uteck Bowl, Mitchell Bowl, and Vanier Cup, the same overtime procedure is followed until there is a winner.
See also: Official (Canadian football), Chain crew and Penalty (gridiron football).
Officials are responsible for enforcing game rules and monitoring the clock. All officials carry a whistle and wear black-and-white striped shirts and black caps except for the referee, whose cap is white. Each carries a weighted orange flag that is thrown to the ground to signal that a foul has been called. An official who spots multiple fouls will throw their cap as a secondary signal.[24] The seven officials (of a standard seven-man crew; lower levels of play up to the university level use fewer officials) on the field are each tasked with a different set of responsibilities:
Another set of officials, the chain crew, is responsible for moving the chains. The chains, consisting of two large sticks with a 10-yard-long chain between them, are used to measure for a first down. The chain crew stays on the sidelines during the game, but if requested by the officials they will briefly bring the chains on to the field to measure. A typical chain crew will have at least three people—two members of the chain crew will hold either of the two sticks, while a third will hold the down marker. The down marker, a large stick with a dial on it, is flipped after each play to indicate the current down and is typically moved to the approximate spot of the ball. The chain crew system has been used for over 100 years and is considered to be an accurate measure of distance, rarely subject to criticism from either side.[25]
In the CFL, a game must be delayed if lightning strikes within 10sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 of the stadium or for other severe weather conditions, or if dangerous weather is anticipated. In the regular season, if play has not resumed after 1 hour and at least half of the third quarter has been completed, the score stands as final;[26] this happened for the first time on August 9, 2019, when a Saskatchewan–Montreal game was stopped late in the third quarter.[27]
If the stoppage is earlier in the game, or if it is a playoff or Grey Cup game, play may be stopped for up to 3 hours and then resume. After 3 hours of stoppage, play is terminated at least for the day. A playoff or Grey Cup game must then be resumed the following day at the point where it left off.[26]
In the regular season, if a game is stopped for 3 hours and one team is leading by at least a certain amount, then that team is awarded a win. The size of lead required is 21, 17, or 13 depending on whether the stoppage is in the first, second, or third quarter respectively. If neither team is leading by that much and they are not scheduled to play again in the season, the game is declared a tie.[26]
If a regular-season game is stopped for 3 hours and neither team is leading by the required amount to be awarded a win, but the two teams are scheduled to play again later in the season, then the stopped game is decided by a "two-possession shootout" procedure held before the later game is started. The procedure is generally similar to overtime in the CFL, with two major exceptions: each team must play exactly two possessions regardless of what happens; and while the score from the stopped game is not added to the shootout score, it is used instead to determine the yard line where each team starts its possessions, so the team that was leading still has an advantage.[26]
The positions in Canadian football have evolved throughout the years, and are not officially defined in the rules. However, there are still several standard positions, as outlined below.
The offence must have at least seven players lined up along the line of scrimmage on every play. The players on either end (usually the wide receivers) are eligible to receive forward passes, and may be in motion along the line of scrimmage prior to the snap. The other players on the line of scrimmage (usually the offensive linemen) are ineligible to receive forward passes, and once they are in position, they may not move until the play begins.
Offensive positions fit into three general categories:
The primary roles of the offensive linemen (or down linemen) are to protect the quarterback so that he can pass, and to help block on running plays. Offensive linemen generally do not run with the ball (unless they recover it on a fumble) or receive a handoff or lateral pass, but there is no rule against it.
Offensive linemen include the following positions:
Centre: Snaps the ball to the quarterback to initiate play. The most important pass blocker on pass plays. Calls offensive line plays.
Left/right guards: Stand to the left and right of the centre. Helps protect the quarterback. Usually very good run blockers, opening holes up the middle for runners.
Left/right tackles: Stand on the ends of the offensive line. These are the biggest players on the line, usually well over . Usually very good pass blockers.
Backs are behind the linemen at the start of play. They may run with the ball, and receive handoffs, laterals, and forward passes. They may also be in motion before the play starts.
Backs include the following positions:
Quarterback: Generally, the leader of the offence. Calls all plays to teammates, receives the ball from the snap, and initiates the offensive play, usually by passing the ball to a receiver, handing the ball off to another back, or running the ball himself.
Fullback: Has multiple roles including pass protection, receiving, and blocking for the running back. Sometimes carries the ball, usually on short yardage situations.
Running back (or tailback): As the name implies, the main runner on the team. Also receives passes sometimes, and blocks on pass plays.
Receivers may start the play either on or behind the line of scrimmage. They may run with the ball, and receive handoffs, laterals, and forward passes.
Receivers include the following positions:
Wide receiver: Lines up on the line of scrimmage, usually at a distance from the centre. Runs a given route to catch a pass and gain yardage.
Slotback: Lines up behind the line of scrimmage, between the wide receiver and the tackle. May begin running towards the line of scrimmage before the snap. Runs a given route to catch a pass and gain yardage.
The rules do not constrain how the defence may arrange itself, other than the requirement that they must remain one yard behind the line of scrimmage until the play starts.
Defensive positions fit into three general categories:
Left/right defensive tackles: Try to get past the offensive line, or to open holes in the offensive line for linebackers to rush the quarterback.
Nose tackle: A defensive tackle that lines up directly across from the centre.
Left/right defensive ends: The main rushing linemen. Rush the quarterback and try to stop runners behind the line of scrimmage.
Middle linebacker: Starts the play across from the centre, about 3-4 yards away. Generally, the leader of the defence. Calls plays for linemen and linebackers.
Weak-side linebacker: Lines up on the short side of the field, and can drop back into pass coverage, or contain a run.
Strong-side linebacker: Lines up on the long side of the field, and usually focuses on stopping the runner.
Cornerback: Covers one of the wide receivers on most plays.
Defensive halfback: Covers one of the slotbacks and helps contain the run from going to the side of the field.
Safety: Covers the back of the field, usually in the centre, and as the last line of defence. Occasionally rushes the quarterback or stops the runner.
Special teams are generally used on kicking plays, which include kickoffs, punts, field goal attempts, and extra point attempts. Special teams include the following positions:
Long snapper: Snaps the ball for a punt, field goal attempt, or extra point attempt.
Holder: Receives the snap on field goal attempts and extra point attempts. Places the ball in position and holds it for the kicker. This position is generally filled by a reserve quarterback, but occasionally the starting quarterback or punter will fill in as holder.
Kicker: Performs kickoffs. Kicks field goal attempts and extra point attempts.
Punter: Punts the ball, usually on third down.
Returner: On kickoffs, punts, and missed field goals, returns the ball as far down the field as possible. Typically, a fast, agile runner.