American and Canadian football both descended from
rugby and began in Canada as a game played between British soldiers
garrisoned in Montreal. The soldiers played a series of games against
students at McGill University. McGill played several games against
Harvard in 1874 and a tradition was born. Despite their mutual origins,
the Canadian and the American game developed differently and now have
substantially different rules and regulations.
The biggest
difference between Canadian and American football is the size of the
playing field. In Canada, football fields are 110 yards long and 65
yards wide. In America football fields are 100 yards long and 53 and
1/3 yards wide. The goal posts in Canadian football are placed at the
front, rather than the back of the end zone which is also deeper in
Canadian football than American.
Canadian football teams have
twelve players as opposed to the eleven on American teams. Because the
same number of players is required at the line of scrimmage in both
games, this results in an extra backfield player on Canadian teams.
This means that the typical Canadian offensive setup has two slot backs
instead of a tight end and on defense, two defensive halfbacks and one
safety instead of two safeties as is typical in the American game.
Another
difference between the two games is the number of downs. Instead of
four as in the American game, Canadian football has three. This results
in a more pass and kick oriented game since there are fewer downs
available for short-yardage running plays. The kicking rules are also
slightly different with the kicker being able to recover and advance
his own kick. For this reason, kicking is a much more integral part of
Canadian football than American.
The biggest difference between
the kicking rules in the two games is that there is no fair catch rule
in Canadian football. In American football, if a kick returner thinks
he will not be able to advance the ball after recovery, he can signal
for a fair catch and be immune from contact. In Canadian football no
player on the kicking team except the kicker and any players behind him
on the field may ever be within 5 yards of the ball unless it has been
touched by an opponent. Also, in Canadian football any kick that goes
into the end zone is a live ball, except for successful field goals.
There
are other minor differences as well including scoring, motion and time
rules but they are not as significant as the major differences noted
here.
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