Sports in Canadian culture

[elly63]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Wait what?????

AFAIK, it's true.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Wait what?????

Originally Posted by British Columbia Football Officials Association

Canadian rules football was played in High Schools in Vancouver until 1947. In that year, a major change took place in that the ruling body of B.C. high school sports adopted the rules of the National Federation of State High Schools for 11-man football. To this day, the change is still not well understood by provincial associations east of B.C. The “American” versus “Canadian” rules debate has been a passionate discussion for decades. However, at the time, the decision was a logical one for British Columbia. The change coincided with the development of football at the University of British Columbia.

When U.B.C. Football was born there was no Western Intercollegiate Athletic Union in existence. U.B.C. played north-south against American colleges in the Pacific Northwest, all of whom played under American college rules. Since high school players went on to play at U.B.C. or American colleges, it made sense to use the American rules. To this day, high school coaches prefer these rules, not because they are “American”, but because of the 11-man and 4-down elements. Also, high schools in B.C. play many exhibition games annually against American high schools.

[Source]

[elly63]

Burns58 4 years ago

You are incorrect about Midget football in BC. I played and have been coaching midget football in BC and the BCCFA (community football) play by CFL rules. I'm not involved in high school football so I don't know the reasoning behind playing NFL rules, but in my biased opinion I think its ridiculous. the majority of talented players who move on to the next level after high school will play at a Canadian university or junior football, both use CFL rules.

It is a point of contention with me and I believe BC high schools should be playing CFL rules.

[Acajack]

I was aware of that. A friend of mine in university in the 90s played HS football in BC and told me it was American rules. Though I thought it might have changed by now.

There was also something weird in Quebec at one point with certain levels playing US rules or even playing with 4 downs, but CFL rules for the rest.

[isaidso]

Despite the history of why BC high schools play US football you'd think they would have changed back by now. If midget football, university football, and professional football in BC are all Canadian football (like the rest of Canada) it seems bizarre that BC high schools continue playing US football.

I know that SFU stopped playing Canadian football but my point stands.

[mistercorporate]

I went to one of the largest high schools in BC at the time and we didn't even have a gridiron team, not sure about the situation in other high schools in Vancouver. We did have soccer, field hockey, basketball and track teams, etc.

[Prometheus]

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[isaidso]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

I went to one of the largest high schools in BC at the time and we didn't even have a gridiron team, not sure about the situation in other high schools in Vancouver. We did have soccer, field hockey, basketball and track teams, etc.

In the Maritimes I believe there are a few high schools without football. My high school cut football the year I started and re-instated football about 10 years later.

[GlassCity]

Yeah I can't speak for other areas, but I went to high school in Richmond and 1 out of our 11 high schools had football. It was a big deal though, they'd have Friday night lights games and stuff and everyone would come down to watch. That's when I first confusingly learned they played American rules.

From what I understand, football's just too expensive to run as a high school program. A few other high schools used to have teams, but all got cut.

[isaidso]

Just 1 out of 11? I know football grew out of central Canada but I suppose the sport never took hold everywhere like it has in the East. You see it in U Sport football. It's far more of a tradition in the OUA, Q, and AUS, than it is in Canada West.

The sport does seem to be bigger on the Prairies than BC though. Btw, football is practically non-existent in Newfoundland.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Just 1 out of 11? I know football grew out of central Canada but I suppose the sport never took hold everywhere like it has in the East. You see it in U Sport football. It's far more of a tradition in the OUA, Q, and AUS, than it is in Canada West.

The sport does seem to be bigger on the Prairies than BC though. Btw, football is practically non-existent in Newfoundland.

Well I can't speak to the rest of the region, but in Richmond changing demographics have played a large role as well. Football and rugby programs have suffered as interest drops.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Well I can't speak to the rest of the region, but in Richmond changing demographics have played a large role as well. Football and rugby programs have suffered as interest drops.

Have they been replaced by other sports or has it been a general drop in interest for sports?

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Have they been replaced by other sports or has it been a general drop in interest for sports?

A bit of both. Basketball and volleyball have lots of interest, but they always have as sports #1 and 2 respectively at most schools, so it's not like they needed the additional support. But what I would consider less traditional high school sports, namely badminton, ultimate and ping pong, have exploded.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

But what I would consider less traditional high school sports, namely badminton, ultimate and ping pong, have exploded.

Ping Pong is the only sport to me that would make sense being more popular in Richmond. I know Ultimate has blown up a lot everywhere the past few years.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Ping Pong is the only sport to me that would make sense being more popular in Richmond. I know Ultimate has blown up a lot everywhere the past few years.

Ultimate and badminton have the same image though, of played mostly by (if I may) nerdy Asian immigrants. I was shocked when I first heard of ultimate as a stereotypical white college recreational sport in the US.

[HomerSPC]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Ultimate and badminton have the same image though, of played mostly by (if I may) nerdy Asian immigrants. I was shocked when I first heard of ultimate as a stereotypical white college recreational sport in the US.

Isn't it safe to say that almost anything in Vancouver will have a largely Asian demographic? Ultimate is very popular in Regina, for instance. You might be right with the nerdy stereotype, but not about the Asian one.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I know lots of people playing Ultimate here.

I'm too old to be running around that much these days though.

I went to the Memorial Cup game between Swift Current and Hamilton last night and I'm asking myself how Regina beat Hamilton because Hamilton was big, strong, fast and totally dominated Swift Current last night except on the scoreboard which was 2-1 for Hamilton in the end. Could have easily been 3 or 4 nothing after the first period.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by isaidso

In the Maritimes I believe there are a few high schools without football. My high school cut football the year I started and re-instated football about 10 years later.

In NB, it's very much a north/south and city/rural thing.

All the high schools in the big three cities in the south (and Sackville) have well developed football programs. There are six HS football teams in Moncton for example. Sackville, although a small town, has a robust football program because of Mount Allison University. Sackville in fact won the provincial HS football championship last year (despite Tantramar High School being the smallest in the league).

The smaller rural high schools in the south also generally have football teams too, but because of the size of their schools, they play in an 11 man (four down) league rather than 12 man (three down) like the urban schools do.

Football hasn't caught on in northern NB. This may in part be because northern NB is francophone majority and there is greater passion for high school hockey (which tends to soak up all the athletic young males). The two high schools in Miramichi recently began playing football a couple of years ago.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by HomerSPC

Isn't it safe to say that almost anything in Vancouver will have a largely Asian demographic? Ultimate is very popular in Regina, for instance. You might be right with the nerdy stereotype, but not about the Asian one.

Fair point. But it still depends on the region. (East) Asian populations are obviously relatively high everywhere, but they're not really as dominant anywhere as they are in Richmond.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by esquire

It's been a few years since I've actually visited Minneapolis other than brief stops at the airport, but in the past it was abundantly clear that the sports scene in MSP was basically

Vikings................Twins........Wild...Gophers...Timberwolves with the last three more or less interchangeable depending on who was doing well at a given time.

You can throw social media numbers around all day along but at the end of the day I'm going to believe what I see on the ground in terms of what's in the papers, on the news, what team gear people are wearing, etc. over instagram follows.

I suspect that the NHL would rank higher had it not gone through the disruption of being without a team for several years and then starting up again with a new franchise.

Anyway, I'll be down there this weekend and it will be interesting to see what it looks like now.

The super-scientific esquire Twin Cities sports delegation has completed its survey, and here are the results:

The Twins dominated with the most visible presence in the MSP area, which isn't particularly surprising given that they're in season. Saw lots of people wearing Twins gear, many mentions in the media, store displays, you name it.

After that the Vikings and Wild were somewhat even with a fair amount of presence. The Wild seem to have more of a profile than they did 6 or 7 years ago. After that, the Gophers. I hardly saw any sign of the Timberwolves. I did not see any sign of their new MLS team except for store merchandise (which is really well designed, I might add), but I did not see anyone wearing it. I did not see any sign of the defending WNBA champion Lynx at all other than a couple of mentions in the paper and on the news.

This concludes the esquire Twin Cities sports study. Thanks to SSHRC for the funding that made it possible.