[bmacsys]

Is it popular? Less or more so than the CFL? If it is, what teams are popular in what areas of Canada? Like in my area of the states, southern New England near NYC and Boston we are mostly Jets, Giants and Patriot fans. Would a someone from BC more than likely be a Raider or Seahawk fan? Thanks in advance.

[Streaker]

bmacsys! Man, you are all over the place tonight! Cool, because your posts are obnoxiously interesting!

Yeah, the NFL has a lot of fans in Canada, but far fewer than the CFL. The ratio of CFL to NFL fans varies in different parts of the country, but as a general rule, the NFL definitely takes a back seat here.

I lived in Vancouver for two years, so I'm not as knowledgeable as a lifelong Vancouverite would be, but my impression was that people in Vancouver didn't have any particular favourite NFL team. Logically, it should be Seattle,
but logic isn't always part of the equation when it comes to these things...

PS Is this for your wife?

[Furious]

My god, who would want to cheer for the Seahawks??!!
But yeah I know a few guys here at work on Vancouver Island that see Seahawk games semi regularly. And they gave up on the 49ers.
But the CFL is far more popular IMO. I just watch the No Fun League when the CFL is over for my football fix.

[Johnnybgoodaaaaa]

Furious Furious:

My god, who would want to cheer for the Seahawks??!!
But yeah I know a few guys here at work on Vancouver Island that see Seahawk games semi regularly. And they gave up on the 49ers.
But the CFL is far more popular IMO. I just watch the No Fun League when the CFL is over for my football fix.

No Fun League? Funny, cause I could say the same thing about the CFL. I guess it's just cause I grew up watching the NFL though. I can't remember for sure, but wasn't the NFL around before the CFL? I remember looking some stuff up on when they were created. I know they are just creations of probably earlier sports, but I seem to remember that the NFL was created before the CFL. Of course what country you are in will probably influence what sport you watch. You go to the US and people watch the superbowl like it's a holiday


The complaint I seem to see from people who aren't fans is the rushing in the NFL, because it happens so often. I like the rushing part, because you have to think of the strategy put together to obtain a good rush, and when they everything goes as planned the play is a great thing to watch. They have to set up blockers and such in a way to create a hole for the runner. I mean, to be able to have a couple guys push off other guys who can all probably bench press 300 or more lbs is quite a thing, especially when you have a lineman who has to do to blocks, meaning he blocks one guy to creat the hole, then moves up with the runner to block another, all very fast paced.

[Furious]

Hmmm, that's a call for a answer. I was pretty sure that the CFL was older than the NFL (ie in it's present form).
One moment
CFL Grey cup game in 1936. And isn't this Superbowl 39? Now I am not 100% sure on the history of the NFL's merge but you do the math.
Anyway, yes you're right. Being brought up in the states makes you more likely to be a fan of the NFL. Then again we in Canada should be more likely to watch the NHL over the CFL!
And the reason I jokingly say the No Fun League is that when the joke of the XFL came into existance they took all the rules that we already had in the CFL, like fair catch, etc. Plus I think the scores are regularly higher in CFL, making it more fun for me.
No worries eh?

[Johnnybgoodaaaaa]

The orgins of American football started around 1869 and built up the following years up to the 20's when they started to have teams and compete. The superbowl, to my knowledge, was just more of a modern idea put on an old game to pit the american league against the national league. There were NFL championships before the superbowl. You also have to keep in mind that football seems to be an ever changing game in some ways. Like certain ways that refs will call penalties change sometimes, like they won't tolerate some things that they would before this year. Also they decided they would add challenges to the refs so that they could use a video replay if they thought the refs got the play wrong, and if the couch gets his challege wrong they are charged a time out, which as some games have shown, those 3 timeouts can mean alot. Sure, there isn't much scoring in football, but it makes when they score points all the more special in my opinion. I mean look how many people around the world watch soccer with how little they score in soccer. There's something about a good defensive/offensive match that I like. When points are hard to come by, and games get down to the last few seconds, and they have a hard time scoring, it makes a touchdown all the more better -- like last years superbowl which was one by a fieldgoal -- as you can see, I'm a big football fan haha

http://www.nfl.com/history

What would hockey be if they were scoring every round and there was no suspense or drama?

I don't really know the origins of Canadian football though. I'm sure both sports originate from the same thing.

[Richard]

A Brief History of the CFL: 1861-1900

1861 - Saturday, November 9th, first documented football game was played at the University of Toronto on the present site of University College (400 yards west of Queen's Park). One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was (Sir) William Mulock, later it's Chancellor.


1869 - The Hamilton Foot Ball Club was formed on Wednesday, November 3rd in a room over George Lee's Fruit Store and adopted the colours of black and orange. Games were played on the Maple Leaf Baseball Club Grounds on Upper James Street. The first game for the HFBC was on Saturday, December 18th against the 13th Battalion (now Royal Hamilton Light Infantry) at the Baseball Grounds. No score was reported. According to the Hamilton Spectator of Tuesday, November 30th the HFBC had more than 100 members.

[Johnnybgoodaaaaa]

Richard Richard:

A Brief History of the CFL: 1861-1900

1861 - Saturday, November 9th, first documented football game was played at the University of Toronto on the present site of University College (400 yards west of Queen's Park). One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was (Sir) William Mulock, later it's Chancellor.


1869 - The Hamilton Foot Ball Club was formed on Wednesday, November 3rd in a room over George Lee's Fruit Store and adopted the colours of black and orange. Games were played on the Maple Leaf Baseball Club Grounds on Upper James Street. The first game for the HFBC was on Saturday, December 18th against the 13th Battalion (now Royal Hamilton Light Infantry) at the Baseball Grounds. No score was reported. According to the Hamilton Spectator of Tuesday, November 30th the HFBC had more than 100 members.

Back in the 1800's football was more like rugby. Now, this is not to take away from the innovations that the CFL have made, but in the 1800's before the CFL, they took from the NFL. I think we can both admit that the NFL and the CFL have gone through changes from what was played in 1861. I mean are you implying that without the CFL, there would be no NFL? That the Americans ripped off the Canadians invention of football? Or that both sports took different paths from Rugby which was around in the 1800's? I mean the forward pass wasn't even around til sometime in the 1900's to my knowledge.

In all honesty though, football can be traced back to england in the 12th century and some proof has even suggested that Football dates back to the greeks. I guess we were both wrong haha. Football mainly comes from soccer and rugby, and it's been rumoured that the english brought it over to Canada in the 1600's. I mean, if you want Canadians to take credit for this, then that's cool. I find it quite eye-opening that football can actually be traced back so far, after doing some research on it.

[__i3eef]

Well, the NFL is probably bigger than ever in Canada this year definately because of the NHL Lockout. Myself im a huge nfl fan and really enjoy watching it. Im guessing that most Canadian nfl fans usually support a team that it close across the border from them, in my case im a HUGE Buffalo Bills fan.



anyways....Bring the NFL to Canadian Cities!!!! wooooooooooo




i wish lol

[QBC]

Well I know I wouldn't support the NFL in Canada. We have a football league here already and we don't need two. I'd always support the BC Lions over the Detroit Lions.

[Johnnybgoodaaaaa]

QBCguy QBCguy:

Well I know I wouldn't support the NFL in Canada. We have a football league here already and we don't need two. I'd always support the BC Lions over the Detroit Lions.

Who would support the Detroit lions anyways? I'd say the Packers or Patriots would be a good team to support if you live in Canada.

[QBC]

Better would be the Stampeders, or the Tiger Cats if you live in Canada

[Bigboy]

last year (i think) there was a poll on tsn or something, i rember in BC the Patriots had the most fans. maby we could do a poll here *l*.

yeah it worked by selecting your province then the nfl team

[__i3eef]

well you guys can face the facts, the cfl is just garbage and always will be garbage. i dont even know why they call it the CFL cause there is as much canadians in the cfl as in the nfl.. Me, id rather watch the 7 nfl games on cable then the 1 lousy cfl game on cbc.

[Prairieboy]

I'm pretty sure the first documented forward pass in football happened in Canada (by a Saskatchewan team I believe), but I can't remember where I saw that to check it. As for NFL, I would always support the CFL first. I love the CFL for various reasons. I know that there are a lot of American players in the CFL, but keep in mind that football is much more popular in America because there are more warm-weather places to play. Saying this, I would rather play football on a cool day (snow is fun too). There really weren't a lot of places in Canada where football was being developed at a kids level outside of cities, but this is changing a lot in Canada. I can't speak for other provinces, but Saskatchewan has a great junior program with good support for the small town programs too. Now everyone else just has to realize how great 6-man is...