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 a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's end zone.

Canadian and American football have shared origins and are closely related, but have some major differences.

Its championship game, the Grey Cup, is one of Canada's biggest sporting events, attracting a large television audience.

One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was Sir William Mulock, later chancellor of the school.

[1] A football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear.

[6] 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.

[7][8] 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,[9] which included teams from Ontario and Quebec.

[10] The CRFU reorganized into an umbrella organization forming the Canadian Rugby Union (CRU) in 1891.

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 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 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.

The CFL hosted the Touchdown Atlantic regular season game in Nova Scotia in 2005 and New Brunswick in 2010, 2011, and 2013.

The CFL regular season begins in June, and playoffs for the Grey Cup are completed by late November.

[16] 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.

The Canadian Major Football League is the governing body for the semi-professional game.

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 a point.

At the beginning of a match, an official tosses a coin and allows the captain of the visiting team to call heads or tails.

Play stops when the ball carrier's knee, elbow, or any other body part aside from 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 the offensive team completes 10 yards on their first play, they lose the other two downs and are granted another set of three.

The team may, however use its third down in an attempt to advance the ball and gain a cumulative 10 yards.

Infractions of the rules are punished with penalties, typically a loss of yardage of 5, 10 or 15 yards against the penalized team.

For example, a point-of-foul infraction committed by the defence in their end zone is not ruled a touchdown, but instead advances the ball to the one-yard line with an automatic first down.

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.

In addition, as noted previously, the referee can give possession to the defence for repeated deliberate time count violations on third down.

If the team scores a touchdown, starting with the 2010 season, it is required to attempt a two-point conversion.

[clarification needed] Each carries a weighted orange flag that is thrown to the ground to signal that a foul has been called.

The chain crew system has been used for over 100 years and is considered to be an accurate measure of distance, rarely subject to criticism from either side.

[26] The positions in Canadian football have evolved throughout the years, and are not officially defined in the rules.

The other players on the line of scrimmage (usually the offensive linemen) are ineligible to receive forward passes, and once they are in position, they may not move until the play begins.

Offensive linemen generally do not run with the ball (unless they recover it on a fumble) or receive a handoff or lateral pass, but there is no rule against it.

Receivers include the following positions: The rules do not constrain how the defence may arrange itself, other than the requirement that they must remain one yard behind the line of scrimmage until the play starts.