Football as Big in Canada as the U.S.
The Oldest North American Football Championship in the World.
Yep. Get Out Your History Books.
[su_dropcap]Y[/su_dropcap]ou think Canadians only love hockey ? Well you are dead wrong.
For most people in Europe, and throughout a good deal of the rest of the world, football, or American football, means four down football played with 11 men on a 100 yard field.
Canadians have a slightly different brand of football. Twelve men playing three down football on a 110 yard field.
Most folks are aware that football is played in Canada, in a professional league, the Canadian Football League. But did you know that it is just as old as the American game, and in fact the championship game – The Grey Cup – is the oldest team championship in the world?
The Grey Cup is the single most-watched sports event in Canada every year with a sold-out stadium, national television audience and all the pomp and excitement of the Super Bowl.
We are going to be covering the second half of the CFL season and producing some facts and figures for those who are unfamiliar with 12 man football.
The game evolved in parallel to the American game with slightly different twists. As you watch the highlights, the field will seem enormous to you. Because it is. It’s 110 yards long by 65 yards wide. The end zones are 20 yards deep. Watch a quarterback’s eyes light up looking at all that space.
In Canada, the game is played with 12 men as mentioned, but with full motion in the offensive backfield prior to the snap. As a defensive back, try covering receivers who are bearing down on you at full speed. With only 20 seconds allowed between plays and a one yard wide line of scrimmage defensive linemen better be in shape.
Also with only three downs instead of four, special teams becomes of equal importance to the offense and defense.
We will continue to give you information as the weeks go by. There are nine teams in the league right now: the B.C. Lions, in Vancouver, the Edmonton Eskimos, the Calgary Stampeders, the Saskatchewan Roughriders (in Regina) and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are in the Western Conference. In the East are the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Toronto Argonauts, the Ottawa Red Blacks and the Montreal Alouettes.
The Calgary Stampeders lead the West and the entire league with a 9-1 record so far this year.
Anyway, here are the CFL Plays of the Week from last week. Sit back and enjoy.
#KegSize Plays of the Week – wk.11
