The Burnside rules were a set of rules that transformed Canadian football from a rugby-style game to the

gridiron Gridiron may refer to: Sports and games * Gridiron, a term for the field marked with yard-lines on which American and Canadian codes of football are played ** Gridiron football, umbrella term used to refer to the several codes of football which ...

-style game it has remained ever since. The rules were first adopted by the Ontario Rugby Football Union in

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having been ...

, and were named after John Thrift Meldrum Burnside, captain of the University of Toronto football team (although he did not originate them). The Burnside rules introduced sweeping changes to the way football was played. The rules included: *a reduction from 15 to 12 players per side *a reduction from 8 to 6 men allowed on the line of scrimmage when the ball was put into play *the " snap-back" system in which the ball was passed backward from a static line of scrimmage by the centre *a requirement for a team to make ten yards in three successive

down Down most often refers to: * Down, the relative direction opposed to up * Down (gridiron football), in American/Canadian football, a period when one play takes place * Down feather, a soft bird feather used in bedding and clothing * Downland, a ty ...

s or lose possession of the ball Although similar, Burnside rules had many differences and evolved separately from the American football rules already in place at the time. The American code had been developed by Walter Camp in the 1880s (later on, it made some modifications to its rules). Although these rules are standard today, at the time they were considered radical. Other teams outside the Ontario Rugby Football Union refused to adopt them until

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

. For the

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

season they did adopt the Inter-Collegiate rules of 10 yards to gain in 3 downs. The Alberta Union's playing rules were drawn up by the Reverend Robert 'Bob' Pearson, during World War I; the Alberta Union rules were heavily influenced by the Burnside rules, which Pearson had known as a player. In late

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

, these rules were agreed to by the other Western Canadian football unions. The Canadian Rugby Union Rules Committee had been seeking to standardize its rules under its former president

W. A. Hewitt William Abraham Hewitt (May 15, 1875September 8, 1966) was a Canadian sports executive and journalist, also widely known as Billy Hewitt. He was secretary of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) from 1903 to 1966, and sports editor of the ''T ...

, and proposed a very similar version of the new Alberta Union rules in April 1921. The CRU's proposed regulations were approved to be used in

1921 in Canadian football Canadian Football News in 1921 Western Canada Rugby Football Union joined the CRU and challenged for the Grey Cup. The Edmonton Eskimos became the first Western team to play in a Grey Cup game, but lost to the Toronto Argonauts 23–0. Rule chan ...

References

{{reflist History of Canadian football 1903 in Canadian sports 1903 in Canadian football Gridiron football rules

See also

References