Canadian Football - History

History

The first documented gridiron football match was a game played on November 9, 1861, at University College, University of Toronto (approximately 400 yards 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. A football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear.

In 1864, at Trinity College, Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on rugby football. However, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game of rugby played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club in Canada.

This rugby-football soon became popular at Montreal's McGill University. McGill challenged Harvard University to a game, in 1874.

Predecessors of the Canadian Football League include the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU), and the Canadian Rugby Union. The CRFU, original forerunner to the current Canadian Football League, was established in 1882.

The Burnside rules were implemented in the early part of the 20th century in an effort to transition from a more rugby-oriented game to a game more closely resembling American football. In general, the evolution of Canadian football has generally lagged behind that of the American game by several years or even decades in some cases. Forward passes were not allowed in the Canadian game until 1929, and touchdowns, which had been five points, were only increased to six points in 1956, in part to placate the new base of American fans brought on by a new television contract. Several relics of the older game remain in Canadian football: the use of only three downs, the longer 110 yard field (the field is still measured in yards, even though the rest of Canada switched to the metric system in the 1970s), the larger number of players on the field, and unrestricted forward motion on the offensive side of the ball.

The Grey Cup was established in 1909 as the championship of all of Canadian football. Initially an amateur competition, it eventually became dominated by professional teams in the 1940s and early 1950s. The Ontario Rugby Football Union, the last amateur organization to compete for the trophy, withdrew from competition in 1954. The move, coupled with the establishment of a well-paying American television contract (Canadian television had carried games since the debut of the medium in 1952), ushered in the modern era of Canadian professional football. The Canadian Football League established itself as an organization in 1958.

Canadian football has mostly been contained to Canada, with the United States being the only other country to have hosted a high-level Canadian football game. 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 between 1992 and 1995. The move was mostly a failure, although the Baltimore Stallions became the only U.S.-based team to win the Grey Cup during this era.

As of 2011, Newfoundland and Labrador does not have organized Canadian football at the college, professional or amateur level, nor has the province ever hosted a CFL or college game. Prince Edward Island, the smallest of the provinces, has an amateur team in the Maritime Football League, but no college or professional football presence.

• A game between the Hamilton Tigers and an unknown Ottawa team, 1910

• A game between the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Atoms and 1st Canadian Army Red and Blue Bombers, in Utrecht, Netherlands, October 1945

• Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario