![Terrain football canadien2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Terrain_football_canadien2.png)
In
Canadian football
Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...
, a single (also called a single point, or ''rouge'') is a one-point score that is awarded for certain plays that involve the ball being kicked into the
end zone
The end zone is the scoring area on 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 an opposite side of the field. ...
and not returned from it.
Rules
A single is awarded when the ball is kicked into the end zone by any legal means—other than a
convert
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
(successful or not) or a successful
field goal—and the receiving team does not return (or kick) the ball out of its end zone. A single is also scored if a kick—excluding
kickoff
Kickoff or kick-off may refer to
* Kick-off (association football)
* Kickoff (gridiron football)
* ''Kick Off'' (series), a series of computer association football games
* ''Kick Off'' (album), a 1985 album by Onyanko Club
* ''Kick Off'' (mag ...
s—goes out of bounds in the end zone without being touched.
A single is indicated by the referee raising his right arm and index finger. After conceding a single, the receiving team is awarded possession of the ball at its 35-yard line (Football Canada rules) or 40-yard line (CFL rules).
Singles are ''not'' awarded in the following situations:
* if a ball is downed in the end zone after being
intercepted in the end zone
* if a ball is
fumbled outside the end zone
* if the kicked ball hits the goalposts (since the 1970s; before then it was a live ball)
* when a kickoff goes into the end zone and then out of bounds without being touched
In each of the above cases, the defending team is awarded possession of the ball at its 25-yard line.
In the official rules, the single point is also called a ''rouge'',
French for "red". The origin is unclear.
There is one other way to score one point on a
gridiron football play, other than a routine
extra point
The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...
. If either team scores a
safety
Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk.
Meanings
There are two slightly dif ...
on a
conversion
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
attempt after a
touchdown
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...
, one point is awarded.
Canadian Football League
The
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
(CFL) has discussed abolishing the single, but proposals to do so have been rejected. A 2005 proposal to reduce scenarios resulting in a single on missed field goal attempts was also rejected. A less-sweeping proposal would see the single eliminated on punts and field goal attempts that travel through the sidelines of the end zone – such a change would eliminate the "consolation" point for a failed
coffin corner attempt. Other proposals would have the rouge scored only on kicks scrimmaged from beyond a certain point and/or are otherwise deemed 'returnable', having touched the end zone or a return team player without being advanced back into the field of play.
The lowest scoring game in CFL history, a 1–0 victory by the
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...
over the
Ottawa Rough Riders in 1966, had no scoring except for a single in the fourth quarter on a missed field goal attempt.
In the CFL and its predecessor leagues, the most rouges ever scored by one kicker in a game is 11, by Ben Simpson of the Hamilton Tigers against the Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers on October 29, 1910. The final score was 14–7 in favour of Hamilton. However, this was before the modern CFL was founded, and so it cannot count as a CFL record.
Other football codes
In
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
, Canadian football-type singles are not used. Receiving teams are allowed to down the ball in the end zone for a
touchback
In American football, a touchback is a ruling which is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead on or behind a team's own goal line (i.e., in their end zone) and the opposing team gave the ball the momentum, or impetus, to tra ...
, and kicking the ball out of bounds through the end zone also results in a touchback; in either case, the receiving team receives possession of the ball at either its own 20- or 25-yard line, depending on the specific level of play.
Some
indoor American football
Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...
leagues have used the single, namely the
National Indoor Football League
The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, ...
, the
American Indoor Football Association
American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America.
The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...
and the
Professional Indoor Football League
The Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) was a professional indoor football league that played four seasons from 2012 to 2015. Like the Lone Star Football League, the PIFL was mainly composed of teams formerly part of Southern Indoor Foo ...
, all now defunct. The single was applied only on kickoffs, and was scored if the receiving team failed to advance the ball out of the end zone when kicked. The NIFL and AIFA also allowed a single to be scored by kicking a kickoff through the uprights (as in a field goal); this type of single was nicknamed (and was later codified in the AIFA rules as) an ''uno'', from the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
word for the number one.
The concept of the rouge dates back to several public school sports played in England from the early 19th century. In
Rossall Hockey played at
Rossall School
Rossall School is a public school (English independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania ...
, and the
Eton field game
The Field Game is one of two codes of football devised and played at Eton College. The other is the Eton Wall Game. The game is like association football in some ways – the ball is round, but one size smaller than a standard football, and may n ...
, both of which are still played, a rouge can be scored after the ball has gone into the local equivalent of the 'end zone' after striking another player. The
Sheffield Rules
The Sheffield Rules was a code of football devised and played in the English city of Sheffield between 1858 and 1877. The rules were initially created and revised by Sheffield Football Club, with responsibility for the laws passing to the Sh ...
, a 19th-century code of football, also used the rouge as a secondary scoring method, as did the first rules formulated by the
Football Association in 1863.
The
behind used in
Australian rules football is similar in concept to the Canadian single (worth one point whereas goals are worth six), as is the
point in
Gaelic football,
hurling, and
camogie (where a ball into the net scores three points, while a ball passing over the crossbar scores one).
See also
*
Glossary of Canadian football
This is a glossary of terms used in Canadian football. The Glossary of American football article also covers many terms that are also used in the Canadian version of the game.
; Canadian Football League : The largest professional Canadian football ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
CFL Rules 101via
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
{{American football concepts
Canadian football terminology