A comparison of Canadian football and rugby union is possible because of the games' shared origins, despite their dissimilarities.
Most significant differences The University of Alberta Golden Bears (yellow and white, offence) are first-and-ten at their line against the Calgary Dinos (red and black, defence) in a CIS football game at McMahon Stadium in 2006. The twelve players of each side and the umpire (one of seven officials) are shown. The Golden Bears are in a one-back offence with five receivers.Note: The labels are clickable. The most significant difference in play is the allowance of blocking for the ball carrier, which is to say preventing a defender from tackling the player with the ball. This rule in Canadian football allows top-flight teams to include hundreds of different plays in each and every match. It also slows the game down, causing frequent stoppages and less spontaneity in play. The laws against this in rugby union allow for each team to contest possession at all stages of a game. This determines the fluid and rapid nature of rugby where possession of the ball may change back and forth between teams without a break in play for long periods. This means that although rugby teams practice and execute a large number of pre-rehearsed plays the players at the top level especially must be quick thinking and tactically adept to cope with an unpredictable, fast moving game.
Composition of teams Professional and most scholastic Canadian football team play has evolved from a single team with all players except limited substitutions playing the entire game, to a specialized "platoon" system consisting of three separate units (offensive, defensive, and "special teams" used for kicking and punting) with only one of the three being on the field at a time. That is to say that in Professional Canadian football, the majority of players only play in one specialization (or "one side of the ball") -- however, every player is eligible to play in any specialization. In rugby the teams are divided into eight forwards and seven backs. Both groups of players partake on attacking and defensive plays and are on the pitch at the same time. The eight forwards however only take part in the "set pieces" which are ways to contest ball possession when there is a minor rule infringement or the ball passes out of bounds. These are the scrums, a test of strength, and the line outs. A person's build and skill level determines which group they can play in. All forwards must be heavy and strong to scrummage well but not so heavy that they are too slow to partake in attacking plays. The backs are lighter and faster and include the expert kickers. The forwards numbered 6 through 8 are the players that need to have good all round rugby skills as well as speed and strength. In professional rugby there are very few players who can play equally well in a variety of positions and most will play in the same position from youth. Every position in rugby has its own unique name (except for number 8) and associated skill base.
In the majority of club and schoolhouse Canadian Football the majority of players play both offence and defence only being substituted for injury. Substitutes in Canadian football can return to the game at any stoppage in play. In rugby union, any player substituted off for any reason except for minor bleeding is not allowed to return to the game (with the possible exception of front-row forwards). Rugby teams may make up to eight substitutions. There are fifteen players on the pitch at all times. Players who are verified as bleeding by an independent medical official are sent to the "blood bin," where they can receive medical treatment, and replaced until they have stopped bleeding. Ejected players in Canadian football can be replaced with a substitute, while in rugby union ejection means the team must play a man down the remainder of the game. This is known as being "red carded" and is punishment for especially dangerous play. Players who are red carded typically are banned for a number of games or even permanently.
Duration of game A rugby union game is divided into two halves of 40 minutes (or shorter for lower grade games) separated by a 10-minute half time period. Most notably, a rugby union game will continue after the scheduled end of a half (half-time or full-time) until the ball is kicked into touch, a team scores, or the losing side commits a penalty. Time may also be added onto each half at the referee's discretion to make up for time lost due to treatment of injuries, etc. (this usually amounts to less than 5 minutes). Most commonly, however, the clock will be stopped by the referee to allow for treatment of injured players during the game, removing the need for added injury time. In contrast Canadian football matches are made up of four quarters of 15 minutes each, but the clock stops and starts according to specific rules, so that the 15 minutes quarter lasts slightly longer. In the professional (televised) version of this sport the game is often paused for the airing of commercials and advertisements; this does not occur outside of the televised environment where breaks in play are comparable to those in rugby union. In addition to this, the half time break is typically 12- to 15-minutes; this intermission allows for resetting of strategy in both rugby and Canadian football and adjusting to the opponents schemes. During the period entertainment is played for the crowd, ranging from marching band performances in high school and college games to big-name entertainment (e.g. Black Eyed Peas and The Tragically Hip) for the Grey Cup. The entertainment in rugby varies from club to club but traditionally would involve a band performance. The typical game in a non-televised environment lasts for around 120 minutes.
Game play Rugby union matches are timed for 80 minutes, in two 40-minute halves. Canadian football games are timed for two 30-minute halves, each of which is further divided into 15-minute quarters.
In both sports, the primary objective of the game is to carry the ball over the opponents goal line. In both sports the ball may be passed backwards an unlimited number of times, but in Canadian football the ball may be passed forward and sideways as long as the passer is behind the line of scrimmage, as opposed to rugby union where the ball cannot be passed but only kicked forward. The secondary scoring objective is to kick the ball through the opponents goalposts and over its crossbar.
In Canadian football, "play" is stopped when a player is ruled down or out of bounds, whereas the play in rugby union continues until a player or the ball goes out of bounds, a player/team commits a foul or a player scores.
The forward pass and the stoppage when a player is grounded results in short plays and a generally staccato game play in Canadian football, as opposed to the longer and more fluid passages of play found in rugby union. If a player in rugby is tackled then the ball must be released and any player arriving at the scene may pick up the ball and run with it. If two or more opposing players arrive at the same time then a ruck is formed and the players push each other to get at the ball before play continues. Rugby therefore involves far more running and less scrimmaging than Canadian football.
In Canadian football, each team is allowed to stop the game clock one time per half (referred to as "timeouts"), and the officials will also stop the clock when there are three minutes to play in each half (referred to as the "Three minute warning"). There are no such stoppages in rugby. The game clock in Canadian football is also stopped at various times depending on how the previous play ended; for example if the ball carrier runs out of bounds, or if a forward pass is incomplete.
Origins
Various forms of football have been played in Britain for centuries with different villages and schools having their own traditional rules. Rugby-like games were first introduced into Canada by British soldiers and colonists in the mid-1800s. However at that time a standard set of rules did not exist and teams would negotiate the rules before playing a game.
The Football Association was formed in England in October 1863. Differences of opinion about the proposed laws led to the formation of the first governing body for rugby in 1871 the Rugby Football Union. Laws were drawn up for rugby football which was now distinct from Association football (soccer).
Rugby football proper in Canada dates back to the 1860s. Introduction of the game and its early growth is usually credited to settlers from Britain and the British army and navy in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Esquimalt, British Columbia.
In 1864 the first recorded game of rugby in Canada took place in Montreal amongst artillery men. It is most likely that rugby got its start in British Columbia in the late 1860s or early 1870s when brief mentions of "football" appeared in print.
F. Barlow Cumberland and Fred A. Bethune first codified rules for rugby football in Canada, in 1865 at Trinity College, Toronto, and the first proper Canadian game of rugby took place in 1865 when officers of an English regiment played local civilians, mainly from McGill University.The Canadian Encyclopedia (1999, ), p2050
Rugby is also an ancestor of Canadian football, currently its main competitor. A "running game", resembling rugby, was taken up by the Montreal Football Club in Canada in 1868.
Back in England, a schism developed 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 governing body, the Northern Union.
The Northern Union began to make changes to the laws of rugby in 1906, which resulted in the sport of rugby league. The Rugby Football Union's version of rugby became as known as rugby union after its governing body.
The field
Dimensions Although both codes are played on similar sized rectangular fields, the dimensions of rugby union fields can vary up to maximum size that is larger than the fixed size of Canadian football fields. Rugby union fields are limited to a maximum length of 144 m long (and 100 m between goal lines) and width of 70 m, while Canadian football fields have a fixed length of 150 yd (137 m) long and width of 160 ft (48.8 m). Both sets of measurements include scoring zones at each end. These are fixed to 20 yd and called the end zone in Canadian football, but of unspecified length in rugby union.
The Canadian football field is long and wide with end zones deep. At each goal line is a set of goalposts, 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.
Lines The border between the regular field of play and a scoring zone is called the goal line in Canadian football and the try line in rugby union. The outer perimeters of both fields are demarcated with sidelines (ends of rugby union field border the scoring zone being called dead ball lines and longitudinal sides touch lines). The central playing field of rugby is divided into halves by a halfway line; however, when the Canadian football field was marked, the centre line was marked as 55yards or C which stands for centre.