The Canadian Football League is the highest division of Canadian football with nine teams competing for the title. They are split up into two divisions with teams from each division fighting for the Grey Cup. The Grey Cup has been regarded as the ultimate sign of success for any professional football team in Canada for more than a century. Here are some of the factors that have made Canadian football unique and popular.
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Different Rules Compared to American Football
The American version of football differs from the Canadian Football League in a couple of ways. For starters, players have to play with an additional 10 yards to the goal line. Furthermore, the goal line happens to be wider by 12 yards as compared to the American version.
The team that attacks only receives three downs in order to gain the 10 yards. In comparison, the American version gives four downs for the same. However, it should be remembered that the defence begins a yard behind the scrimmage line. A huge difference, though, is the presence of 12 players instead of 11 while six receivers are given the allowance to do anything they wish before the ball snap.
Reduced Play Clock
The National Football League has a play clock of 40 seconds. While some may feel that it is the ideal time, the Canadian Football League goes one better by reducing the play clock to 20 seconds. This results in the games possessing a lot of passing movement while the general consensus is also that the games take place at a very high pace. This is immediately followed by a stop just before the last three minutes in the half. This incredible breakneck speed is a reason behind the 2012 season witnessing more than 60% of the games being decided in the last three minutes of the match, as seen at http://oddsdigger.com/.
Advantage of the Rogue
The end zones in Canadian football are 10 yards longer as compared to those in American football. The offence will get one point if the ball ends up in the end zone after an unsuccessful goal try by a team. The defence can prevent this point by going out of the end zone without an opposition tackle. In such a case, a rogue – a single point – is taken away from the board. The point can also be scored if the ball lands in the end zone and then goes out. This point often creates nail-biting finishes.
Domination of American Players
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The Canadian Football League may be set on Canadian soil, but the close proximity coupled with the population advantage of the United States mean that the league has had major struggles when it comes to homegrown heroes. This has been especially true in the case of quarterbacks. Several rule changes have been brought in so as to increase the presence of Canadian players in the football league. At least 20 out of the 42 players allowed on the rosters of the CFL have to be Canadian.
Finding Two Teams with Similar Names
A unique aspect of the Canadian Football League is the presence of two teams with roughly the same name. It is hard to find a league that has teams with similar names, but CFL had such a time when name Rough Riders belonged to 2 teams – Ottawa Rough Riders and Saskatchewan Rough Riders.
This lasted for several decades – when the CFL only had eight or nine teams in the league. This, of course, changed in 2013 when Ottawa received a new franchise after Rough Riders collapse in 1996. Saskatchewan did not want the Rough Riders name to be shared anymore and the new Ottawa franchise went with Redblacks.
No matter what the names of the teams are, the CFL matches usually result in a superb atmosphere across the country, as fans queue up in front of televisions – and also search for football fixtures and odds – in order to catch a glimpse of the action.
CFL Lays Path for NFL Stardom
There have been several players who have managed to make the name for themselves in the CFL before going on to achieve stardom in the NFL. The likes of Jackie Parker and George Reed spent their entire careers in the league, but there has been a surprisingly high number of players who started their careers here before going on to achieve huge success at the NFL.
Cup Games
The Canadian Football League is all about the Grey Cup matches and some of them are quite extreme. For example, the 1962 Grey Cup game witnessed a huge amount of fog so it was almost impossible to play. The match between Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers was played at a later date after being halted midway. Canada is no stranger to inclement weather and this is especially true during the Grey Cup matches, which are held during late autumn.
CFL Players’ Profile Is Completely Unique
Despite being one of the top football leagues around the world, Canadian Football League pays comparatively less to the players. The NFL is one of the highest paying sports leagues in the world, but the Canadian league is pale in comparison. It is common to find most of the players only being involved on a part-time basis, as they are likely to have off-season jobs to complement the CFL income. CFL also enjoys smaller crowds and stadiums as compared to the NFL, but this unique aspect only binds fans together.
Doug Flutie Becomes Tall
Doug Flutie did not have the greatest career in the NFL during the 1985-89 campaigns. One of his major struggles was his physical stature, which was not the strongest at 5 feet 10 inches. Yet, Flutie became one of the stars of the Canadian League even with this disadvantage. He suddenly became tall during his time at the likes of British Columbia Lions, Toronto Argonauts, and Calgary Stampeders. Flutie even went on to win the MVP of Grey Cup three times in his career.
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