The Lionel Conacher Award is an annual award given to Canada's male athlete of the year . The sports writers of the Canadian Press (CP) first conducted a poll to determine the nation's top athlete, of either gender, in 1932. Separate polls for the best male and female athletes were conducted beginning the following year. The CP formalized the poll into an award in 1978, presenting their winner a plaque. It was named after Lionel Conacher , a multi-sport champion whom the news organization had named its top athlete of the half-century in 1950. The award is separate from the Northern Star Award , in which a select panel of sports writers vote for their top overall athlete.
88-566: The poll was suspended for four years during the Second World War after the CP decided it could not name a sporting "hero" at a time when Canadian soldiers were fighting in Europe. Football player Joe Krol became the first repeat winner following the war, earning top spot in both 1946 and 1947. Hockey star Maurice Richard was the first three-time winner in 1958, and baseball pitcher Ferguson Jenkins
176-495: A down . The offence must advance the ball at least ten yards towards the opponents' goal line within three downs or forfeit the ball to their opponents. Once ten yards have been gained the offence gains a new set of three downs (rather than the four downs given in American football). Downs do not accumulate. If the offensive team completes 10 yards on their first play, they lose the other two downs and are granted another set of three. If
264-652: A college or CFL game. Prince Edward Island , the smallest of the provinces, has also never hosted a CFL game. On 13 February 2023, the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) and Football Canada announced in a joint statement that the Canadian Amateur Football Rulebook would be an accepted rules code for international play, but would not be a substitute for world championships or world championship qualification. "As Football Canada continues to work with IFAF, I believe this opens
352-409: A defender may not be impeded more than one yard past that line. Otherwise, any player may block another player's passage, so long as he does not hold or trip the player he intends to block. The kicker may not be contacted after the kick but before his kicking leg returns to the ground (this rule is not enforced upon a player who has blocked a kick). The quarterback may not be hit or tackled after throwing
440-411: A first down or moving the ball past the goal line, a first down is awarded. In most cases, the non-penalized team will have the option of declining the penalty; in which case the results of the previous play stand as if the penalty had not been called. One notable exception to this rule is if the kicking team on a 3rd down punt play is penalized before the kick occurs: the receiving team may not decline
528-418: A goal post differ from league to league, but it is usually within the boundaries of the end zone. In earlier football games (both professional and collegiate), the goal post began at the goal line, and was usually an H-shaped bar. Nowadays, for player safety reasons, almost all goal posts in the professional and collegiate levels of American football are T-shaped (resembling a slingshot), and reside just outside
616-428: A half. A short break interval of 2 minutes occurs after the end of each quarter (a longer break of 15 minutes at halftime), and the two teams then change goals. In the first 27 minutes of a half, the clock stops when: The clock starts again when the referee determines the ball is ready for scrimmage, except for team time-outs (where the clock starts at the snap), after a time count foul (at the snap) and kickoffs (where
704-769: A hybrid game of English rugby devised by the University of McGill. The first attempt to establish a proper governing body and to adopt the current set of Rugby rules was the Foot Ball Association of Canada, organized on March 24, 1873, followed by the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU) founded June 12, 1880, which included teams from Ontario and Quebec. Later both the Ontario Rugby Football Union and Quebec Rugby Football Union (ORFU and QRFU respectively) were formed (January 1883), and then
792-503: A level of prominence comparable to U.S. college football, and professional football was still in its infancy in the 1920s. As a result, Canadian football was still being played in rudimentary facilities in the late 1920s. A further consideration was that the Canadian Rugby Union (the governing body of Canadian football at the time, now known as Football Canada) wanted to reduce the prominence of single points (then called rouges ) in
880-412: A loss of down; penalties on the defence may result in a first down being automatically awarded to the offence. For particularly severe conduct, the game official(s) may eject players (ejected players may be substituted for), or in exceptional cases, declare the game over and award victory to one side or the other. Penalties do not affect the yard line which the offence must reach to gain a first down (unless
968-408: A point. The ball has two one-inch-wide white stripes. At the beginning of a match, an official tosses a coin and allows the captain of the visiting team to call heads or tails. The captain of the team winning the coin toss is given the option of having first choice, or of deferring first choice to the other captain. The captain making first choice may either choose a) to kick off or receive the kick at
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#17328555664161056-561: A pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's end zone . American and Canadian football have shared origins and are closely related, but have some major differences . Rugby football , from which Canadian football developed, was first recorded in Canada in the early 1860s, taken there by British immigrants, possibly in 1824. Both the Canadian Football League (CFL), the sport's top professional league, and Football Canada ,
1144-403: A running track, it is usually necessary to truncate the back corners of the end zones, since a rectangular field 150 yards long and 65 yards wide will not fit completely inside an oval-shaped running track. Such truncations are marked as straight diagonal lines, resulting in an end zone with six corners and six pylons. As of 2019, Montreal's Percival Molson Stadium is the only CFL stadium that has
1232-413: A team fails to gain ten yards in two downs they usually punt the ball on third down or try to kick a field goal (see below), depending on their position on the field. The team may, however use its third down in an attempt to advance the ball and gain a cumulative 10 yards. The ball changes possession in the following instances: There are many rules to contact in this type of football. The only player on
1320-505: A touchdown by the same means. In Ultimate Frisbee, a goal is scored by completing a pass into the end zone. The end zone in American football is 10 yards long by 53 + 1 ⁄ 3 yards (160 feet) wide. A full-sized end zone in Canadian football is 20 yards long by 65 yards wide. Prior to the 1980s, the Canadian end zone was 25 yards long. The first stadium to use the 20-yard-long end zone
1408-399: A two-point conversion. The other team then scrimmages the ball at the opponent's 35-yard line and has the same opportunity to score. After the teams have completed their possessions, if one team is ahead, then it is declared the winner; otherwise, the two teams each get another chance to score, scrimmaging from the other 35-yard line. After this second round, if there is still no winner, during
1496-418: A two-point convert following a defensive penalty on a one-point attempt. Penalties may occur before a play starts (such as offside), during the play (such as holding), or in a dead-ball situation (such as unsportsmanlike conduct ). Penalties never result in a score for the offence. For example, a point-of-foul infraction committed by the defence in their end zone is not ruled a touchdown, but instead advances
1584-448: Is dead, the quarter is extended for one more scrimmage. A quarter cannot end while a penalty is pending: after the penalty yardage is applied, the quarter is extended one scrimmage. The non-penalized team has the option to decline any penalty it considers disadvantageous, so a losing team cannot indefinitely prolong a game by repeatedly committing infractions. In the CFL, if the game is tied at
1672-734: The Canadian Junior Football League and Quebec Junior Football League are for players aged 18–22, post-secondary institutions compete in U Sports football for the Vanier Cup , and seniors in the Alberta Football League . The Canadian Football Hall of Fame is in Hamilton, Ontario . The first documented football match was a practice game played on November 9, 1861, at University College, University of Toronto (approximately 400 yards or 370 metres west of Queen's Park). One of
1760-449: The Grey Cup are completed by late November. In cities with outdoor stadiums such as Edmonton , Winnipeg , Calgary , and Regina , low temperatures and icy field conditions can seriously affect the outcome of a game. Amateur football is governed by Football Canada. At the university level, 27 teams play in four conferences under the auspices of U Sports ; the U Sports champion is awarded
1848-611: The Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL have the south end zone at Acrisure Stadium (formerly Heinz Field) painted with diagonal-lines during most of the regular season, with the north end zone featuring only the city name of Pittsburgh in yellow. This is done because Acrisure Stadium, which has a natural grass playing surface, is also home to the Pittsburgh Panthers of college football and the markings simplify field conversion between
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#17328555664161936-679: The return of the NFL to Baltimore prompted the end of Canadian football on the American side of the border. The CFL hosted the Touchdown Atlantic regular season game in Nova Scotia in 2005 and New Brunswick in 2010, 2011, and 2013. In 2013, Newfoundland and Labrador became the last province to establish football at the minor league level, with teams playing on the Avalon Peninsula and in Labrador City. The province however has yet to host
2024-623: The 1940s and early 1950s. The ORFU, the last amateur organization to compete for the trophy, withdrew from competition after the 1954 season. The move ushered in the modern era of Canadian professional football, culminating in the formation of the present-day Canadian Football League in 1958. Canadian football has mostly been confined to Canada, with the United States being the only other country to have hosted high-level Canadian football games. The CFL's controversial " South Division " as it would come to be officially known attempted to put CFL teams in
2112-683: The Alberta Football League becoming especially popular. The Northern Football Conference formed in Ontario in 1954 has also surged in popularity for former college players who do not continue to professional football. The Ontario champion plays against the Alberta champion for the "National Championship". The Canadian Major Football League is the governing body for the semi-professional game. Women's football has gained attention in recent years in Canada. The first Canadian women's league to begin operations
2200-506: The Americans had adopted the same changes. The primary differences between the Canadian and American games stem from rule changes that the American side of the border adopted but the Canadian side did not (originally, both sides had three downs, goal posts on the goal lines, and unlimited forward motion, but the American side modified these rules and the Canadians did not). The Canadian field width
2288-418: The CFL reduced the depth of the end zone to 20 yards. A team scores a touchdown by entering its opponent's end zone while carrying the ball or catching the ball while being within the end zone. If the ball is carried by a player, it is considered a score when any part of the ball is directly above or beyond any part of the goal line between the pylons. In addition, a two-point conversion may be scored after
2376-550: The CRU to become the "Canadian Football League" (CFL). The Burnside rules closely resembling American football (which are similar rules developed by Walter Camp for that sport) that were incorporated in 1903 by the ORFU, were an effort to distinguish it from a more rugby-oriented game. The Burnside Rules had teams reduced to 12 men per side, introduced the snap-back system, required the offensive team to gain 10 yards on three downs, eliminated
2464-684: The Interprovincial (1907) and Western Interprovincial Football Union (1936) (IRFU and WIFU). The CRFU reorganized into an umbrella organization forming the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) in 1891. The immediate forerunner to the current Canadian Football League was established in 1956 when the IRFU and WIFU formed an umbrella organization, the Canadian Football Council (CFC). In 1958, the CFC left
2552-739: The Second Battalion Scots Fusilier Guards resulting in a win by the Grenadier Guards 3 goals, 2 rouges to nothing. In 1864, at Trinity College , Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland, Frederick A. Bethune, and Christopher Gwynn, one of the founders of Milton, Massachusetts, devised rules based on rugby football . The game gradually gained a following, with the Hamilton Football Club (later the Hamilton Tiger-Cats ) formed on November 3, 1869. Montreal Football Club
2640-499: The United States playing under Canadian rules in 1995. The Expansion was aborted after three years; the Baltimore Stallions were the most successful of the numerous Americans teams to play in the CFL, winning the 83rd Grey Cup . Continuing financial losses, a lack of proper Canadian football venues, a pervasive belief that the American teams were simply pawns to provide the struggling Canadian teams with expansion fee revenue, and
2728-643: The Vanier Cup. Junior football is played by many after high school before joining the university ranks. There are 19 junior teams in three conferences in the Canadian Junior Football League competing for the Canadian Bowl . The Quebec Junior Football League includes teams from Ontario and Quebec who battle for the Manson Cup. Semi-professional leagues have grown in popularity in recent years, with
Lionel Conacher Award - Misplaced Pages Continue
2816-412: The ball in or over the end zone is sufficient to count as a touchdown. Ultimate frisbee also uses an end zone scoring area. Scores in this sport are counted when a pass is received in the end zone. The end zones were invented as a result of the legalization of the forward pass in gridiron football. Prior to this, the goal line and end line were the same, and players scored a touchdown by leaving
2904-417: The ball to break the vertical plane of the outer edge of the goal line. A similar concept exists in both rugby football codes, where it is known as the in-goal area . The difference between rugby and gridiron-based codes is that in rugby, the ball must be touched to the ground in the in-goal area to count as a try (the rugby equivalent of a touchdown), whereas in the gridiron-based games, simply possessing
2992-404: The ball to the one-yard line with an automatic first down. For a distance penalty, if the yardage is greater than half the distance to the goal line, then the ball is advanced half the distance to the goal line, though only up to the one-yard line (unlike American football, in Canadian football no scrimmage may start inside either one-yard line). If the original penalty yardage would have resulted in
3080-509: The ball, nor may he be hit while in the pocket (i.e. behind the offensive line) prior to that point below the knees or above the shoulders. Infractions of the rules are punished with penalties , typically a loss of yardage of 5, 10 or 15 yards against the penalized team. Minor violations such as offside (a player from either side encroaching into scrimmage zone before the play starts) are penalized five yards, more serious penalties (such as holding) are penalized 10 yards, and severe violations of
3168-400: The beginning of the half, or b) which direction of the field to play in. The remaining choice is given to the opposing captain. Before the resumption of play in the second half, the captain that did not have first choice in the first half is given first choice. Teams usually choose to defer, so it is typical for the team that wins the coin toss to kick to begin the first half and receive to begin
3256-600: The city name is painted as usual in the end zone, except for the "MO" portion, which is painted in gold or white in tribute to the late Mo Gaba , a young fan of both the Ravens and Orioles . One of the major quirks of the American Football League was its use of unusual patterns such as argyle in its end zones, a tradition revived in 2009 by the Denver Broncos to celebrate the team's 50th anniversary, Denver itself
3344-415: The clock starts not at the kick but when the ball is first touched after the kick). In the last three minutes of a half, the clock stops whenever the ball becomes dead. On kickoffs, the clock starts when the ball is first touched after the kick. On scrimmages, when it starts depends on what ended the previous play. The clock starts when the ball is ready for scrimmage except that it starts on the snap when on
3432-422: The closest votes in the award's history. He did so despite earning 13 fewer first place votes than Sakic. Historically, the poll has not been limited to Canadians. Foreign-born athletes who were outstanding performers in Canadian sport have also gained consideration. Football player Fritz Hanson , a native of Minnesota, was named top athlete in 1939, while American Don Jones finished fourth in voting in 1971 on
3520-401: The distance in yards from and an arrow pointed toward the nearest goal line. Prior to the early 1980s, arrows were not used and all yard lines (in both multiples of 5 and 10) were usually marked with the distance to the goal line, including the goal line itself which was marked with either a "0" or "00"; in most stadiums today, only the yard markers in multiples of 10 are marked with numbers, with
3608-505: The door for international friendlies and tournaments to be staged in Canada employing the infrastructure communities have invested in for our sport from coast to coast," Football Canada president and IFAF General Secretary Jim Mullin said in the joint statement. Canadian football is played at several levels in Canada; the top league is the professional nine-team Canadian Football League (CFL). The CFL regular season begins in June, and playoffs for
Lionel Conacher Award - Misplaced Pages Continue
3696-404: The down repeated. In addition, as noted previously, the referee can give possession to the defence for repeated deliberate time count violations on third down. The clock does not run during convert attempts in the last three minutes of a half. If the 15 minutes of a quarter expire while the ball is live, the quarter is extended until the ball becomes dead. If a quarter's time expires while the ball
3784-457: The early 1970s, flags were used instead to denote the end zone). Canadian rule books use the terms goal area and dead line instead of end zone and end line respectively, but the latter terms are the more common in colloquial Canadian English. Unlike sports like association football and ice hockey which require the ball/puck to pass completely over the goal line to count as a score, both Canadian and American football merely need any part of
3872-450: The end lines in 1927, where they have remained in college football ever since. The National Football League moved the goal posts up to the goal line again in 1933, then back again to the end line in 1974. As with many other aspects of gridiron football, Canadian football adopted the forward pass and end zones much later than American football. The forward pass and end zones were adopted in 1929. In Canada, college football has never reached
3960-405: The end of regulation play, then each team is given an equal number of offensive possessions to break the tie. A coin toss is held to determine which team will take possession first; the first team scrimmages the ball at the opponent's 35-yard line and conducts a series of downs until it scores or loses possession. If the team scores a touchdown, starting with the 2010 season, it is required to attempt
4048-461: The end zone was introduced in American football . In an era when professional football was still in its early years and college football dominated the game, the resulting enlargement of the field was constrained by fact that many college teams were already playing in well-developed stadiums, complete with stands and other structures at the ends of the fields, thereby making any substantial enlargement of
4136-449: The end zones are often cut off in the corners to accommodate the track. Until 1986, the end zones were 25 yards (23 m) deep, giving the field an overall length of 160 yards (150 m), and a correspondingly larger cutoff could be required at the corners. The first field to feature the shorter 20-yard end zone was Vancouver's BC Place (home of the BC Lions ), which opened in 1983. This
4224-421: The feet and hands, is forced to the ground (a tackle ); when a forward pass is not caught on the fly (during a scrimmage); when a touchdown (see below) or a field goal is scored; when the ball leaves the playing area by any means (being carried, thrown, or fumbled out of bounds ); or when the ball carrier is in a standing position but can no longer move forwards (called forward progress). If no score has been made,
4312-504: The field of play itself. In many places, particularly in smaller high schools and colleges, end zones are undecorated, or have plain white diagonal stripes spaced several yards apart, in lieu of colors and decorations. One notable use of this design in major college football is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish , who have both end zones at Notre Dame Stadium painted with diagonal white lines. In professional football, since 2004,
4400-461: The field of play through that line. Goal posts were placed on the goal line, and any kicks that did not result in field goals but left the field through the end lines were simply recorded as touchbacks (or, in the Canadian game, singles ; it was during the pre-end zone era that Hugh Gall set the record for most singles in a game, with eight). In the earliest days of the forward pass, the pass had to be caught in-bounds and could not be thrown across
4488-402: The field unfeasible at many schools. Eventually, a compromise was reached: 12 yards of end zone were added to each end of the field, but in return, the playing field was shortened from 110 yards to 100, resulting in the physical size of the field being only slightly longer than before. Goal posts were originally kept on the goal lines, but after they began to interfere with play, they moved back to
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#17328555664164576-399: The field who may be legally tackled is the player currently in possession of the football (the ball carrier). On a passing play a receiver, that is to say, an offensive player sent down the field to receive a pass, may not be interfered with (have his motion impeded, be blocked, etc.) unless he is within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Prior to a pass that goes beyond the line of scrimmage,
4664-402: The field, according to gridiron-based codes of football . It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines . There are two end zones, each being on the opposite side of the field. It is bordered on all sides by a white line indicating its beginning and end points, with orange, square pylons placed at each of the four corners as a visual aid (however, prior to around
4752-541: The first four-time winner in 1974. Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky has won the most Lionel Conacher Awards, finishing top of the poll six times in the 1980s, and in 1999 was named the Canadian Press Athlete of the Century. The most recent winner is basketball player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander . The winner was originally selected following a straight vote of each writer's top choice. Golfer Ross Somerville won
4840-400: The game. Therefore, the CRU simply appended 25-yard end zones to the ends of the existing 110-yard field, creating a much larger field of play. Since moving the goal posts back 25 yards would have made the scoring of field goals excessively difficult, and since the CRU did not want to reduce the prominence of field goals, the goal posts were left on the goal line where they remain today. However,
4928-461: The goal line (as the receiver would be out of bounds ). This also made it difficult to pass the ball when very close to one's own goal line, since merely dropping back to pass or kick would result in a safety (rules of the forward pass at the time required the passer to be five yards behind the line of scrimmage, which would make throwing the forward pass when the ball was snapped from behind one's own five-yard line illegal in itself). Thus, in 1912,
5016-440: The goal line sometimes being marked with a "G". The centre (55-yard) line usually is marked with a "C" (or, more rarely, with a "55"). "Hash marks" are painted in white, parallel to the yardage lines, at 1 yard (0.9 m) intervals, 24 yards (21.9 m) from the sidelines under amateur rules, but 28 yards (25.6 m) in the CFL. On fields that have a surrounding running track , such as Molson Stadium and many universities ,
5104-414: The goal lines and end lines. Including the end zones, the total area of the field is 87,750 square feet (8,152 m ). At each goal line is a set of 40-foot-high (12 m) goalposts , which consist of two uprights joined by an 18 + 1 ⁄ 2 -foot-long (5.6 m) crossbar which is 10 feet (3 m) above the goal line. The goalposts may be H-shaped (both posts fixed in the ground) although in
5192-435: The governing body for amateur play, trace their roots to 1880 and the founding of the Canadian Rugby Football Union . The CFL is the most popular and only major professional Canadian football league. Its championship game, the Grey Cup , is one of Canada's biggest sporting events, attracting a large television audience. Canadian football is also played at high school , junior, collegiate , and semi- professional levels:
5280-455: The higher-calibre competitions the tuning-fork design (supported by a single curved post behind the goal line, so that each post starts 10 feet (3 m) above the ground) is preferred. The sides of the field are marked by white sidelines , the goal line is marked in white or yellow, and white lines are drawn laterally across the field every 5 yards (4.6 m) from the goal line. These lateral lines are called "yard lines" and often marked with
5368-494: The inaugural poll after becoming the first Canadian to win the United States Amateur Championship . By 1936, the poll was conducted via a points system where each writer ranked their top three choices. Their first choice received three points, second choice two, and third choice one point. This points system has remained since. In 2001 golfer Mike Weir defeated hockey player Joe Sakic by two points in one of
SECTION 60
#17328555664165456-502: The kicking team who are not onside may not approach within five yards of the ball until it has been touched by the receiving team, or by an onside teammate. The methods of scoring are: Resumption of play following a score is conducted under procedures which vary with the type of score. The game consists of two 30-minute halves, each of which is divided into two 15-minute quarters. The clock counts down from 15:00 in each quarter. Timing rules change when there are three minutes remaining in
5544-452: The larger end zone and wider field makes the resulting interference in play by the goal post a less serious problem. At the high school level, it is not uncommon to see multi-purpose goal posts that include football goal posts at the top and a soccer net at the bottom; these are usually seen at smaller schools and in multi-purpose stadiums where facilities are used for multiple sports. When these or H-shaped goal posts are used in football,
5632-432: The lower portions of the posts are covered with several inches of heavy foam padding to protect the safety of the players. Most professional and collegiate teams have their logo , team name, or both painted on the surface of the end zone, with team colors filling the background. Many championship and bowl games at college and professional level are commemorated by the names of the opposing teams each being painted in one of
5720-472: The next play starts from scrimmage . Before scrimmage , an official places the ball at the spot it was at the stop of clock, but no nearer than 24 yards from the sideline or 1 yard from the goal line. The line parallel to the goal line passing through the ball (line from sideline to sideline for the length of the ball) is referred to as the line of scrimmage. This line is similar to " no-man's land "; players must stay on their respective sides of this line until
5808-415: The offence and the team defending is referred to as the defence. Play begins with a backwards pass through the legs (the snap) by a member of the offensive team, to another member of the offensive team. This is usually the quarterback or punter, but a "direct snap" to a running back is also not uncommon. If the quarterback or punter receives the ball, he may then do any of the following: Each play constitutes
5896-399: The opposite end zones. In some leagues, along with bowl games, local, national, or bowl game sponsors may also have their logos placed in the end zone. In the CFL, fully painted end zones are nonexistent, though some feature club logos or sponsors. Additionally, the Canadian end zone, being a live-ball part of the field, often features yardage dashes (usually marked every five yards), not unlike
5984-548: 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. The first written account of a game played was on October 15, 1862, on the Montreal Cricket Grounds. It was between the First Battalion Grenadier Guards and
6072-413: The penalty and take over on downs. After the kick is made, change of possession occurs and subsequent penalties are assessed against either the spot where the ball is caught, or the runback. Canadian football distinguishes four ways of kicking the ball: On any kicking play, all onside players (the kicker, and teammates behind the kicker at the time of the kick) may recover and advance the ball. Players on
6160-417: The penalty results in a first down being awarded); if a penalty against the defence results in the first down yardage being attained, then the offence is awarded a first down. If the defence is penalized on a two-point convert attempt and the offence chooses to attempt the play again, the offence must attempt another two-point convert; it cannot change to a one-point attempt. Conversely, the offence can attempt
6248-401: The play has begun again. For a scrimmage to be valid the team in possession of the football must have seven players, excluding the quarterback, within one yard of the line of scrimmage. The defending team must stay a yard or more back from the line of scrimmage. On the field at the beginning of a play are two teams of 12 (and not 11 as in American football). The team in possession of the ball is
6336-489: The previous play: During the last three minutes of a half, the penalty for failure to place the ball in play within the 20-second play clock, known as a "time count violation" (this foul is known as "delay of game" in American football), is dramatically different from during the first 27 minutes. Instead of the penalty being 5 yards with the down repeated, the base penalty (except during convert attempts) becomes loss of down on first or second down, and 10 yards on third down with
6424-452: The rear of both end zones; these goalposts were first seen in 1966 and were invented by Jim Trimble and Joel Rottman in Montreal, Quebec , Canada. The goal posts in Canadian football still reside on the goal line instead of the back of the end zones, partly because the number of field goal attempts would dramatically decrease if the posts were moved 20 yards back in that sport, and also because
6512-468: The regular season the game ends as a tie. In a playoff game, the teams continue to attempt to score from alternating 35-yard lines, until one team is leading after both have had an equal number of possessions. In U Sports football, for the Uteck Bowl , Mitchell Bowl , and Vanier Cup , the same overtime procedure is followed until there is a winner. End zone The end zone is the scoring area on
6600-406: The rounded-off end zones. During the CFL's failed American expansion in the mid-1990s, several stadiums, by necessity, used 15-yard end zones (some had end zones that were even shorter than 15 yards); only Baltimore and San Antonio had the endzones at the standard 20 yards. Ultimate Frisbee uses an end zone 40 yards wide and 20 yards deep (37 m × 18 m). The location and dimensions of
6688-402: The rules (such as face-masking [grabbing the face mask attached to a player's helmet]) are typically penalized 15 yards. Depending on the penalty, the penalty yardage may be assessed from the original line of scrimmage, from where the violation occurred (for example, for a pass interference infraction), or from where the ball ended after the play. Penalties on the offence may, or may not, result in
6776-400: The rules governing the scoring of singles were changed: teams were required to either kick the ball out of bounds through the end zone or force the opposition to down a kicked ball in their own end zone in order to be awarded a point. By 1986, at which point CFL stadiums were becoming bigger and comparable in development to their American counterparts in an effort to stay financially competitive,
6864-415: The second. Play begins at the start of each half with one team place-kicking the ball from its own end of the field: the 35-yard line in the CFL, the 45-yard line in amateur play. Both teams then attempt to catch the ball. The player who recovers the ball may run while holding the ball, or lateral throw the ball to a teammate. Play stops when the ball carrier's knee, elbow, or any other body part aside from
6952-477: The shadow of death". No winner was announced for the years 1950 or 1999 as the Canadian Press instead voted for athlete of the half-century and century, respectively. Canadian football Canadian football , or simply football , is a sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field 110 yards (101 m) long and 65 yards (59 m) wide, attempting to advance
7040-933: The strength of his performances with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League . The poll became increasingly dominated by professional athletes since the 1960s – only three amateurs won the award between 1965 and 1984. Winners have represented a broad spectrum of sports. Individual sport winners include weightlifter Doug Hepburn in 1953, figure skater Kurt Browning in 1990 and 1991, and most recently, gymnast Kyle Shewfelt in 2004. Participants in one of North America's " major league " team sports won each year between 2005 and 2010. National Hockey League player Sidney Crosby and National Basketball Association player Steve Nash have each won three times overall and Major League Baseball player Justin Morneau won in 2008. Overall, hockey players have finished at
7128-530: The throw-in from the sidelines, allowed only six men on the line, stated that all goals by kicking were to be worth two points and the opposition was to line up 10 yards from the defenders on all kicks. The rules were an attempt to standardize the rules throughout the country. The CIRFU, QRFU, and CRU refused to adopt the new rules at first. Forward passes were not allowed in the Canadian game until 1929, and touchdowns, which had been five points, were increased to six points in 1956, in both cases several decades after
7216-521: The top of the annual polls the most times at 26. Track and field is second with 13 winners and football third with 10. Denotes athlete also won the Northern Star Award as Canadian athlete of the year. According to the Canadian Press, the award was discontinued between 1942 and 1945 because "sports writers decided athletes cannot rate as heroes while young Canadian pilots, paratroopers and corvette gunners fought for freedom in
7304-527: The two teams' respective field markings and logos, with both teams sharing a secondary yellow color, but each having different primary colors. After the Panthers' season is over, the Steelers logo is painted in the south end zone. Likewise, some end zones are painted in tribute to a recently deceased team figure or fan, as is done with the Steelers' AFC North rival Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium , where
7392-565: Was B.C. Place in Vancouver , which was completed in 1983. The floor of B.C. Place was (and is) too short to accommodate a field 160 yards in length. The shorter end zone proved popular enough that the CFL adopted it league-wide in 1986. At BMO Field , home to the Toronto Argonauts , the end zones are only 18 yards. Like their American counterparts, Canadian endzones are marked with four pylons. In Canadian football stadiums that also feature
7480-584: Was formed on April 8, 1872. Toronto Argonaut Football Club was formed on October 4, 1873, and the Ottawa Football Club (later the Ottawa Rough Riders) on September 20, 1876. Of those clubs, only the Toronto club is still in continuous operation today. This rugby-football soon became popular at Montreal's McGill University . McGill challenged Harvard University to a two-game series in 1874 , using
7568-533: Was one rule that was not based on American rules, as the Canadian game was played in wider fields and stadiums that were not as narrow as the American stadiums. The Grey Cup was established in 1909, after being donated by Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey , Governor General of Canada, as the championship of teams under the CRU for the Rugby Football Championship of Canada. Initially an amateur competition, it eventually became dominated by professional teams in
7656-429: Was particularly common among U.S.-based teams during the CFL's American expansion, where few American stadiums were able to accommodate the much longer and noticeably wider CFL field. The end zones in Toronto's BMO Field are only 18 yards instead of 20 yards. Teams advance across the field through the execution of quick, distinct plays, which involve the possession of a brown, prolate spheroid ball with ends tapered to
7744-518: Was the Maritime Women's Football League in 2004. The largest women's league is the Western Women's Canadian Football League . The Canadian football field is 150 yards (137 m) long and 65 yards (59 m) wide, within which the goal areas are 20 yards (18 m) deep, and the goal lines are 110 yards (101 m) apart. Weighted pylons are placed on the inside corner of the intersections of
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