A comparison of

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, 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 sco ...

and rugby league football can be made because of their shared origins, resulting in similarities and shared concepts in terms of scoring and advancing the ball. Aside from

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 with ...

, rugby league is the sport most similar to Canadian football. Both sports involve the concept of a limited number of 'downs'/'tackles', and in both sports scoring 'touchdowns'/'tries' takes a clear precedence over goal-kicking.

Origins

British colonists and the British military in Canada brought

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

to North America. It, along with

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, became popular in Canadian and American universities. At the time association football, or "soccer", and rugby were not as differentiated as they are now and teams would negotiate the rules before playing a game. The sports of

and

evolved from these intercollegiate games. Meanwhile, in England a

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

developed in rugby football between those who favoured strict amateurism and those who felt that players should be compensated for time taken off work to play rugby. In 1895 this resulted in the formation of a break-away sport,

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

, the rules of the two codes of rugby (

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and league) would themselves diverge.

Overview

Modern rugby league has been judged by William K. Frampton as having "an amazing resemblance to the original Canadian game". Frampton characterised rugby league as "so similar to the game Neil Taylor played that is effectively an improved version of it". However the games diverged subsequently resulting in major differences such as the forward pass, where the ball is thrown to a receiver located farther down field.

The field

The Canadian football field is long and wide with

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. ...

s deep. At each goal line is a set of

goalposts In sport, a goal may refer to either an instance of scoring, or to the physical structure or area where an attacking team must send the ball or puck in order to score points. The structure of a goal varies from sport to sport, and one is place ...

, which consist of two ''uprights'' joined by a crossbar which is above the goal line. The goalposts may be H-shaped (both posts fixed in the ground) although in the higher-calibre competitions the tuning-fork design (supported by a single curved post behind the goal line, so that each post starts above the ground) is preferred. A rugby league field is similar, it may be 112-122 by 68 metres RLIF, 2004: 2 (122.5-133.4 × 74.3 yards). The longer boundary lines are ''touch lines'', while the shorter boundary lines are ''dead ball lines''. The touch lines and dead ball lines are out of play. RLIF, 2004: 6 Near each end of the field is a ''goal line'', or try-line; they are 100 metres (109.4 yards) apart. A scoring area equivalent to an end-zone called the ''in-goal area'' extends 6–11 metres (6.6-12 yards) from each try-line to each dead ball line, the ball may be grounded to score a

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

here. On the goal line are a set of goal posts in the shape of the letter 'H', used for other forms of point scoring:

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kicki ...

, penalty goal and

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" ...

Players

Canadian teams have twelve players on the field per side. Different players may be interchanged at will for offence and defence as well as special teams for specific activities. In rugby league the same players both defend and attack - a system known as the

one-platoon system The one-platoon system, also known as iron man football, is a platoon system in American football where players play on both offense and defense. It was the result of smaller roster sizes in the early days of the game and rules that limited player ...

in Canadian football. There are thirteen players and four replacements in a rugby league team, with twelve interchanges of players allowed to be made throughout the game. If the interchanges are used up and a player becomes injured and cannot continue, the team simply has to play a man short.

References

In-line

General

External links

CFL Rule Book, 2009

Rugby League's International Laws of the Game
{{Comparison of football codes Canadian football Rugby league Canadian football and rugby league Rugby league in Canada