Canadian University And Canadian JR Football

I remember watching Canadian JR on tv in the 70 's 80 's.

today , I do not know why it does not get the media attention like the University football does.
TSN and other media really promotes and showcases the Uni while JR is ignored.

Not even the Canadian JR Bowl is televised. CBC Sports is just a shell and SN360 likes to think card games is a sport.
You think one of them would like to slot it in.

Does anyone know that the Saskatoon Hilltops are a dynasty and the best football team JR football has ever seen?.
They are on par with that Laval team that is so dominant.

Point is that JR football is just as important to the CFL as University football.
Take BC Lion Andrew Harris of the JR Richmond Raiders for example.

Why is it not treated as such ?

Theories , opinions, and speculation is invited and welcome please.

RDS shows Jr and Cejep football... English broadcasters in this country are simply too lazy to put the effort in to promote Canadian sports... Rogers took successful properties like CIS football and the CIS basketball final 8 from TSN and completely destroyed them by being lazy and cheap. It is much easier for companies like Rogers to buy American programing and lie and say there is no market for Canadian content.. Countries like NewZealand only have 5 million people and yet they are able to make money off of their own sports , so English Canada is clearly large enough to support its own amature sports. I swear that Rogers is purposely trying to not make its CIS deal work.. The ratings they got this past weekend were pathetic. TSN got literally 10 times the ratings for the basketball final.. TSN also got three times the ratings for the Vanier.
It is just a complete condemnation of Canada as a country and its corporations that it is easier to access NCAA sports than our own... The sad part is that the ratings for NCAa sports are terrible, and its just sheer laziness that this is a reality... TSN has 5 channels and Sportsnet has 3 and yet we are subjected to poker and BoB mCkown instead of Junior hockey and football and CiS sports...

Blast from the past re college football

There is probably only one decent account of this on the web, it has become so obscure. The Can-Am Bowl was played at a time when American college programs could hardly get bigger and Canadian programs were nowhere near what they are now. I would hasten to say it would be very interesting to see this replayed with the vast improvement and professionalizing of Canadian university football programs.

The game was played with Canadian rules as the Americans had home field advantage plus the fact that everybody thought Canada would get killed otherwise.

I recall watching this and was amazed how competitive the Canadian team was when everyone thought they would get smoked. The Americans didn't score an offensive touchdown, our defense was very good. IIRC LB John Priestner (Western) was drafted by the Colts (Baltimore) and went to camp on the strength of his performance at this game. With that I give you...

Can-Am Bowl I, 1/8/78
Tampa Sports History, January 14, 2008

On Jan. 8, 1978, Tampa Stadium played host to an event unprecedented in the history of football. The Can-Am Bowl, an All-Star game pitting collegians from the United States and Canada against each other, was especially unique since the game was played by Canadian football rules. For one afternoon, top seniors from major American universities would play football against the top seniors and underclassmen from Canada. The city of Tampa, of all places, served as the battleground to finally settle the age-old debate of football superiority between these two border nations.

Actually, the disparity in football talent between Canada and the United States could not have been greater at the time. Team Canada just hoped to field a competitive team, while the American athletes hoped to avoid the humiliation of an upset loss to the Canadians. Jack Zilly, coach of Team USA, cautioned against underestimating the team from Canada, but added, “It would be embarrassing to go back to Tennessee, Alabama, Stanford, or where the players are from, if you have been beaten."

Increasing the angst of the Americans were the quirky Canadian rules. For example, teams would have only three downs to gain 10 yards, meaning "every offensive play in Canada is designed to go 10," according to Sam Bailey, the Can-Am Bowl’s executive director and former University of Tampa head coach.

Additionally, the field would be lengthened from 100 to 110 yards and widened from 53 to 60 feet. Larger fields meant larger teams as well, with the addition of one offensive and defensive player to each side of the line of scrimmage. It wasn't uncommon for a Canadian offense to feature four -- yes, four -- running backs on a given play. Throw in unlimited motion in the backfield, and one can imagine the headaches experienced by American coaches readying a game plan for their team of collegians, -- who had played football their entire lives by completely different rules.

"With the rules as we have them set up," Bailey said, "it should make for a good, competitive game, the kind fans like to see. After all, football is football."

In a surprise to no one, the United States prevailed over the Canadians by a score of 22-7. Rather than being a wide-open shootout, however, the game was a defensive struggle. In fact, Team Canada, not the U.S., was be responsible for the only offensive touchdown of the game, a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter to avoid a shutout and cap the game's scoring.

The U.S. put up the majority of its points on a pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns. In the second quarter, Vanderbilt cornerback Bernard Wilson picked off a pass by Acadia University’s Bob Cameron and returned it 44 yards for the game's first touchdown. Wilson’s score followed a U.S. field goal and two "rouges," one-point bonuses awarded to the kicking team for tackling a returner in his own end zone on a kickoff or punt. Colorado State punter Mike Deutsch recorded two rouges in a span of two minutes and two seconds for the Americans.

"On the first rouge, I didn't know at first I had scored a point," he said. "I knew something had happened and then they flashed the point on the scoreboard. All I could say was wow.?

Georgia linebacker Ben Zambiasi added to the Americans’ lead with a 10-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter. The extra point put the U.S. ahead 22-0. Coincidentally, Zambiasi went on to have a successful 11-year career in the professional Canadian Football League. An eight-time CFL All-Star who played in four Grey Cup championship games and won one, he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2004. And Cameron, Canada’s beleaguered quarterback that day, eventually won three Grey Cups and still holds the CFL record for most career punting yards.

Another interesting tidbit about the game was not apparent at the time, but the American squad featured two athletes who became well-known to Tampa football fans: Missouri’s Jim Leavitt and Bruce Allen from the University of Richmond. Leavitt, now head coach at the University of South Florida, made his mark in college as a linebacker. Allen, son of Hall of Fame Redskins and Rams coach George Allen, shared punting duties for the U.S. squad and connected on field goals of 23 and 25 yards.

Twenty-five years later, however, the game is more likely to be remembered for the steady downpour of rain than for any on-field performance. An 11,000-strong crowd attended the game, but by the end the rain had driven away all but a few thousand -- mostly Canadian -- diehards.

"What do I remember most about the game? The rain was the biggest problem," Sam Bailey recently recalled. "It wasn't totally unsuccessful, but it didn't do as well as we thought we could."

The game continued in various incarnations for three years after the first Can-Am Bowl, eventually turning into an exhibition between two Canadian squads.

In 1986, however, Tampa Stadium became a big-time bowl destination as host of the Hall of Fame Bowl, the first major college bowl game to be played in Tampa.

I suppose it must be a self-feeding monster. Probably TV got away from it because the networks sensed that interest was fading and not televising it does nothing to create interest.

Personally I like it quite a bit but I know trying to get most of my Renegades fan friends out to those games while we were 'between teams" was like pulling teeth. There's a perception that it's an inferior product, and many of the people who claim to be "football fans" aren't fans of the sport itself, but of some of the bells and whistles that come with the pro game.

[url=http://vipmedia.globalnews.ca/2014/09/hilltoops-field-lb.jpg?w=720]http://vipmedia.globalnews.ca/2014/09/h ... .jpg?w=720[/url]

This image is the season opener at SMF field (Gordie Howe Bowl) in Saskatoon last year. About 2500 people in attendance. The best junior teams in the country could not beat the best CIS teams in the country. However teams like Saskatoon, Langley and Regina would be very competitive with many CIS teams.

I loved junior football growing up in Edmonton in the 60s.

With the last two Vanier Cups really not being a feasible proposition to hold along with the GC. One in Regina '13 and then another back in Vancouver '14 whrpowers bought that BS.
OUA football game of the week was dropped completely off of SN 360. TSN or TSN2 CIS football and Basketball playoff and finals to SN360
Though they did make a last minut switch, I think, to upgrade on a high sports net channel when found that Montreal Caribans would be playing in Vanier cup vs Southern Ontario power Mac

Exactly very good point. Hear is what has been bugging me the last few years. I love Jr hockey and football. Same with
varsity sports. Playing for nothing just to be part of a team and competing.

Along comes Mr TSN and jams March madness on us. All over the sites and papers. Why!! Average played basketball at best.
And really who cares its American stuff, I can do without. It’s filler sports. Does the average Canadian know one player
in tournament. NO So TSN CBC cuts back on Canadian coverage. Yes march madness is very well produced. Slick production.
At the bar Saturday, we have about 25 TV’s. Most people were watching either tennis at Indian wells or golf. Was busy bar.
know one was watching or near TV showing basketball. Sure its trendy to say Kentucky, Virgina but really who cares.
Who cares!!! Oh! I forgot, sorry, our TSN and Rogers friends hitting our pockets again.

A lot of the Junior players are football players who either aren't good enough for University or can't get in due to ineligible education requirements.

Jr football is nowhere near the class of CIS

Not always true.

Many top notch high school players go to Uni or College that does not have a football program.

Here in Calgary we have Sait and Mount Royal University. They do not have football programs so players going to those schools will play JR for the Calgary Colts.

Same age and skill level as the UC Dinos.

OK , let me clarify.
UC Dinos are a top notch CIS West team. Colts struggle.
My point was that CIS is not always better than JR Football.
Saskatoon Hilltops are one of the best teams in Canada . CIS or Junior
Maybe not against Laval, but compared to most Uni teams.

As a former CJFL player ('88 and '89 Oshawa Hawkeyes), I'd love to see some CJFL ball on tv. Unfortunately the costs would lilely be higher than what the suits at the networks feel worthy, as I don't see much in terms of advertising revenue covering those costs.

Yet, they will put card games, darts , bowling and billiards on tv as though they are real sports.

Thank you for bringing it back ot.
I am guilty of my own sin getting into a debate on CIS vs JR.

The point of my thread was JR football is not on tv.

JR hockey is on tv while Uni hockey is ignored. ( which I watch neither anyway ) In football it is the opposite.

To find out who wins the Canadian Bowl, you need to hit the web.

The difference being is that the production costs for live sporting events are WWWAAAAYYYYY hire then what they pay for programming produced by others.

CIS football was even nowhere to be seen in 2014 until the final 4 teams. If they networks were even breaking even on this, I believe you would see a lot more on TV.

there’s a reason there’s the CJFL.

any CJFL team would lose in the CIS.

CIS would crush cjfl.

Players often use cjfl as a stepping stone to cis. Or play cjfl if their marks dont allow them to play cis

For example asher hastings was a standout in cjfl in saskatchewan and came to mac last yr to back up macs qb. Now this yr he gets the chance to start.

Mike dicroce played for the hamilton hurricanes before his mvp years at mac.

Also western has a partnership where their players who dont dress at western play for the london beefeaters cjfl team. Cjfl is like the prep league for cis.

I have to agree that any CIS team would likely destroy most CJFL teams. Having said that, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any CJFL players that aren’t better than many CIS players. There is a lot of talent in the CJFL, but in Ontario anyway, the issue is the practice time. OFC teams don’t get to practice nearly as much as CIS teams do, and because of that, the schemes are pretty basic.

Coaching is another major diference. You won’t see any CJFL coaches bringing home 6 figure salaries.

Andrew Harris was out of Canadian JR ball, never played CIS. One of the leading RB's now.

I don't know much about it I've been curious about it ever since I heard about Andrew Harris coming from there.

I think a lot of us really got it backwards in Canada because of the big networks. Our main broadcasters would rather air the Super Bowl and March Madness than even Juniour Hockey with Connor McDavid. I'm sorry but if McDavid is the future why the hell aren't we watching it and watching American basketball futures instead? Makes no sense to me, and the same with CIS and Canadian Juniour Ball. We even have SFU going NCAA Div II like come on.

I want to see CIS, we get actually a good amount of UBC on SHAW only tho and now i'm with Telus so goodbye that now, dammit! I didn't even realize that till I started typing that. Well that officially sucks, no Giants games and no UBC games now. Stupid telus.

Anyways,
We need more Canadian ball. I don't care what anybody says we are awesome we should be all over the place, we are as good as americans at anything. Go Canada!

Well looks like I am out voted.

AngV played JR and even he concedes to CIS power.

Yet the statement " any CIS team would destroy any JR team. I will not buy into.
The worst CIS team would destroy the powerful Sask Hurricanes ?????????

Regardless, I just think JR should be on TV. Give the CFL some game films.
My original focus was not team vs team , but the equal importance of JR football to the CFL as CIS.

I never suggested inter league games.

That is normal though. I have noticed all threads get away from the point of issue anyway.

Me neither. I can not visualise York “destroying” anyone.