NFL vs CFL

The difference between NFL and CFL covers a number of areas from the size of the teams to playing rules. NFL and CFL are two football leagues, an American and a Canadian respectively. Football is football you would say whether it is played in the US or across the border in Canada. But there are glaring differences between the NFL and CFL, and one needs to see matches in action to feel the differences. For laymen, NFL stands for the National Football League, which is played in the US, and CFL refers to Canadian Football League, played in Canada. Of course, the game is football, or soccer as it is called by some, so there are bound to be similarities, but this article will highlight some of the major differences between NFL and CFL.

What is NFL?

NFL stands for the National Football League. This is played in the US. NFL was first established in 1920. Currently there are 32 teams who play in the NFL. NFL is the most popular of the sports league in America. The current NFL champions are New England Patriots. The number of players in a NFL team is 11.

So historically, there are three mergers that I know something about - the AAFC with the NFL in 1950, the AFL with the NFL in 1970, and the WHA with the NHL in 1980. I don't really know much about basketball or baseball, but there have been merger. Ottawa Vs Hamilton in Philadelphia 1958. For an account of the Pittsburgh - Toronto game in 1960. Steelers Defeat Argos: Rote and Carter Hurt. One of the few victories for the CFL clubs agains NFL opposition was the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beating Buffalo 38-21. Check out an account of the game below. Hamilton 38 Buffalo 21. The official source for NFL news, video highlights, fantasy football, game-day coverage, schedules, stats, scores and more. The Canadian Football League (CFL) is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. It was founded on January 19, 1958 and is composed of 9 teams. It is a 20 week regular session, where each team play 18 games with two bye run weeks. NFL vs CFL Field Let’s start with the field. The Canadian field is both longer and wider than its southern counterpart. An American football field is 100 yards by53 yards.

When it comes to the playing field, without counting the 10-yard end zones, the playing area in NFL is 100 yards and the width of the field is 53.5 yards. Coming to the timeouts, each team has three timeouts in each half. The scoring of NFL goes as follows. A touchdown gets 6 points; kicked convert gets 1 point; passed or rushed convert gets 2 points; field goal gets 3 points; safety touch gets 2 points, and rouge gets 1 point.

What is CFL?

CFL stands for Canadian Football League. This is played in Canada. CFL is the highest sports league in Canada in the professional sports category. CFL was found in 1958. Currently there are nine teams that are playing in the CFL. The most recent CFL champions are Calgary Stampeders. Twelve (12) players make up a team in CFL. This extra player in CFL usually stays in the backfield. This means seven players on the offense and five on the defense. Thus, there is an extra receiver in a team in CFL.

When it comes to the playing field, playing area in CFL is larger than that used in NFL. In CFL, the end zones are 20 yards and the width of the field is 65 yards. The length of the CFL field is 110 yards. If you consider the timeouts, each team has one timeout in each half. The scoring of CFL goes as follows. You can see that the scoring is same as the NFL. A touchdown is given 6 points; kicked convert is given 1 point; passed or rushed convert is given 2 points; field goal is given 3 points; safety touch is given 2 points; rouge is given 1 point.

What is the difference between NFL and CFL?

Definitions of NFL and CFL:

NFL: NFL stands for the National Football League. This is played in US.

CFL: CFL stands for Canadian Football League. This is played in Canada.

Characteristics of NFL and CFL:

Number of Players:

NFL: NFL has 11 players on the field during a game.

CFL: CFL has 12 players on the field during a game.

Size of Field:

Field Width:

NFL: The field width in NFL is 53.5 yards.

CFL: The field width in CFL is 65 yards.

Field Length:

NFL: The field length of NFL is 100 yards.

CFL: The field Length of CFL is 110 yards.

End Zones:

NFL: NFL has two 10 yard end zones.

CFL: CFL has two 20 yard end zones.

Balls:

Though white balls are used in both NFL and CFL, there are some differences in the balls used.

NFL: The white ball used in NFL has no stripes over it and is smaller in circumference compared to the balls used in CFL.

CFL: The ball used in CFL is bigger, having a larger circumference and has stripes over it.

Time Outs:

NFL: There are three timeouts in NFL for each team in each half.

CFL: There is only one timeout in each half for CFL teams.

Play Clock:

This is the rest time taken by an offensive team to prepare for the next game play.

Cfl Football Tv Schedule Usa

NFL: Play clock is 40 seconds in NFL.

CFL: A play clock of only 20 seconds is provided in CFL.

Sudden Death:

NFL: If the game is tied after the duration, NFL makes use of sudden death to decide the winner.

CFL: In CFL, each game is given two possessions if the game is tied after the duration. If the teams are still tied, the game is declared a tie. For a tie game, CFL teams get one point, whereas there is no such system in NFL. There is either victory or a loss. In CFL, teams with highest points make for playoffs.

Number of Downs:

NFL: The offensive team in NFL needs to make 4 downs to make first down, score a touchdown or kick a field goal.

CFL: For the same, a team in CFL needs only 3 downs.

Money:

Players play for money apart from fame, and it is NFL that is far ahead of CFL in terms of player salaries. This is the reason why many talented players from Canada are always anxious to play in NFL.

There are many other minor differences apart from these major differences in CFL and NFL.

Images Courtesy:

1. National Football League game by Lpdrew (CC BY-SA 2.0)
2. Canadian football game by D’Arcy Norman (CC BY 2.0)

CFL vs. NFL

Football, not to be confused with Soccer, which is called football in the rest of the world outside of North America, is played in both Canada and the United States. You are probably familiar with the differences between the two versions of football - the three downs vs. four downs, 110 yard field vs 100 yard field, the single point (rouge) etc. For the most part, the two versions of Football don't intersect. Canadian teams play in Canada using Canadian rules, and American teams play in the Unites States using American rules. But every now and then over the years, the two solitudes do meet. This article is a (probably incomplete!) attempt to chronicle some of those meetings.

The myth, or at least the Canadian version goes that it was Canada that introduced the United States to football at the university level. The story goes that a team of McGill football players went down to Harvard in 1874 to play a game on May 14 against the Ivy League school. Apon arrival, the two universities found out they were not using the same rules, and the story goes on to say that they played one game under Canadian rules and one half under American rules. It is all kind of vague as to what the differences in rules actually were. One account I have read about the game is that it was not so uch a difference in rules, but a difference in games. To Harvard, the word Football mean the game with the black and white round ball that you can't pick up with your hands. To McGill, the word Football meant Rugby, the game with the ovoid ball that you could pick up with your hands and run with it until someone gave you a good smashing. The story goes on to say that Harvard so liked the Canadian game of Football (Rugby), that they adopted it and it spread to the other Ivy League schools and eventually to universities across the United States. Over time, rugby in North America morphed into the modern game of Football. That morphing process happened just a bit differently in the United States and Canada and resulted in the tow similar but distinctly differnt flavours of Football.

The Canadian account doesn't seem to jive with what those at Harvard remember. Harvard claims to be the starting point for football in the United States, citing the 1874 game against McGill. Ivy League rivals Princeton and Rutgers claim they played the first game of football in 1869. They also cite the formation of the Intercollegiate Football Association in 1873 which included Yale, Princeton, Rutgers and Columbia but not Harvard who declined to join. Harvard contends that what the other Ivy League schools were playing was really soccer.

Leaving behind that first mythical game(s) between Canadian and American teams, the interaction between the two versions of football has taken three forms:

• Two American / NFL teams playing games in Canada. A recent example of this being the the Buffalo Bills playing games in Toronto. This isn't much of an interaction at all as the only thing Canadian about the game are the fans.
• Two Canadian / CFL teams playing games in the United States. Of course, this happened most recently with the CFL expansion into the United States, but there are other games that predate that experiment. This is a bit more fun than the first kind of interaction, as at least you get to see the confused looks on the American faces as they try to figure out why a team is punting on third down.
• Canadian / CFL teams playing American / NFL teams. This is is probably the most interesting of the possibilities since some accomodation has to be made for the difference in rules.

The following is a picture of a plaque in the Profession Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio that lists some (but not all) of these games.

The plaque, however, is not complete. The earlies (?) case of two Canadian teams playing a game using Canadian rules in the United States happened on December 11, 1909 when the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders played a game in New York.

Another account of the game is found in the New York Herald on December 12, 1909.

The game would have resembled rugby more than modern football as teams prior to 1921 played 14 men on a side and the forward pass didn't become part of the game until 1929. You might also be wondering about the name of the Hamilton team. Hamilton didn't adop the name Tiger-Cats until 1950 when the Tigers merged with another Hamilton team, the Wildcats.

Of course the 1909 game was between two Canadian teams, but what about the first game between an American team and a Canadian t eam? The Canton plaque lists the 1950 game between the New York Giants and the Ottawa Rough Riders, but there were games before then t hat didn't make the list.

Ihe first game between an American professional team and a Canadian team seems to have happened nine years earlier in 1941 (thanks to Chris Sinclair for sending me this). On August 26, 1941, the Columbus Bulls of the AFL lost to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers by a score of 19 to 12 in Winnipeg. The teams played two other games that year, with Columbus winning the tother two. On September 1, 1941, the Bulls beat the Blue Bombers 6-0 and on September 10, 1941 Columbus crushed Winnipeg 31-1. Both games were in Winnpeg. Here is an account of that first game.

The account of the game doesn't address the rules problem, but the line-up included have 12 players, so presumably Canadian rules were used.

Winnipeg played two more exhibiton games against American teams in 1941. The Blue Bombers played a home and home series with the Kenosha Cardinals. On October 4, 1941, Kenosha beat Winnipeg in a close 18-16 game at Winnipeg. On November 2, 1941, Kenosha won the game in Kenosha 35-6. You can read an account of the second game via the following link.

Cfl Vs Nfl Football

http://manitobia.ca/cocoon/launch/en/newspapers/WPT/1941/11/03/articles/157.pdf/iarchives

The Kenosha Cardinals were an independent football team, one of many in the United States prior to World War II. Some of these independent teams were on a par with the NFL teams and played them in exhibition games. Kenosha lost to the Green Bay Packers in a game a week after the Bomber game by a 65-2 score. If you are interested, here is an excellent article on that era and the independent teams.

Another game missing from the Canton list is from August 19, 1948 when the Montreal Alouettes played the Brooklyn Dodgers. No, they didn't play a baseball team. Back then, there was a football team in the AAFC (All Amercian Football Converence) named he Dogers. The AAFC teams eventually were incoroporated into the NFL with the Dodgers merging with the New York Giants in 1950. There is a baseball conneciton to the game, however, as the Dodgers kicker was Pepper Martin, now in the baseball HOF. For more information on this game, check out the following links. The preview features a John Collins cartoon.

The actual report on the game was downplayed in the paper as it was overshadowed by the funeral of Babe Ruth.

Still another game missing from the list on the plaque in Canton is a game between Ottawa and Hamilton played in Philadelphia in 1958 which you can read about via the following link:

Cfl Vs Nfl Exhibition Games

For an account of the Pittsburgh - Toronto game in 1960.

One of the few victories for the CFL clubs agains NFL opposition was the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beating Buffalo 38-21. Check out an account of the game below.

Here is the program cover from the Montreal Alouettes - Chicago Bears game in 1961. It was drawn by John Collins (1917-2007) who was the editorial cartoonist for the Montreal Gazette from 1937 to 1973.

Canadian Football Field

For an account of that 1961 game click on the following link: