I was just thinking, the FWC has been to Europe 3 times, Asia once, and North America none. So it seems logical that the next World Championship will probably be coming home to the continent that created it.
Canada seems like the most logical choice for the 2015 WC.
if Canada is selected to host the 2015 IFAF FWC (Football World Championship) what do you think the CFL's reaction should be?
Ignore it, just as most fans probably will. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Canadian professional football other than both sports use the same basic ball and play on a similar field. Though the scouts for the CFL might show some interest in one or two of the games. I could be totally wrong, but I just can't see it being a very big deal.
I thought about it more last night and I guess that's at the crux of the whole question....is Canadian Football, football with just different rules or does the CFL view itself as a different sport altogether? Oh and try not to get tripped up in the wording of that question. Yes, I realize its "Football" but I mean will the CFL view it as Rugby league and Rugby Union, different sports, or will they view it as NBA -> international basketball. Same sport, different rules.
I noticed in the NFL preseason games that they now have USA Football logos on their fields. That shows me the NFL has embraced it, not surprisingly, but will the CFL do the same?
Agreed geo 100% as you beat me to the punch, our country our rules.
There is no reason with plenty of notice to the other countries that they cannot convert to our game.
I think we should embrace it. I do believe that we need to start hosting a world cup of Canadian football and build that up, but I don't believe we need to disengage from IFAF. I think a city like Quebec should host the IFAF world championship and use the "big event" concept to get government money to build a stadium. I mean I am always interested in how we (canada) compare to other countries on the international stage....american football is no exception.
It could be a really big deal if it was promoted well here. If we get some tv coverage for the 2011 championship in Austria and play well there the event could get some momentum here. Could it be as big as a world track and field championship? Or a Universiade games? Stadiums were built for those.
No one else plays Canadian rules... its a double edged sword having a unique game to your country. Its great because its your country's...but it can suck if you want some international competition.
But I agree with the sentiments that if it is handled well in Canada, it'd be good to persuade people to build another stadium for CFL expansion but I think they'd want to hold it in a city that already has a good stadium and large population -- like Vancouver, Toronto, or Montreal.
That being aside, they made a GREAT selection in sending it to Austria this year. Germany/Austria the game is really starting to grow. Germans just about beat the Japanese in the junior tournament and the Japanese team was REALLY good.
The Austrians DOMINATE the Germans at the pro-level and the Germans have probably the best (deepest) football league in Europe with the GFL.
If this is handled well, it could further spurn the growth of the sport over there.
And Austria is a country of only 8 or 9 million people, compared to 80 million for Germany.
I think maybe you meant “spurr”, but your point is well taken. It’s a good thing in general for gridiron football. I suspect that once the sport really takes off that we will begin to see rule changes, and that may be where the Canadian game comes in.
I dont see what type of team you would field?really who would play quarterback for the canadian team?Theres no canadian players who play in the cfl who are quarterbacks?I dont care who plays but to be honest under any rules if the usa brought its best players we would win.Just look at the world juniors and that by far wasnt even close too the best team the usa could have brought and we still won by a blowout
That’s your opinion.
An all Canadian team(with a CIS QB) could still beat any American version playing our game. The NFL has many stiffs at QB, save and except the top maybe 5 which are no better than the CFL best.
If this league had any foresight, and wanted to "grow" the game, there would have been an international sanctioning committee in place long ago. As an example, there is a huge waiting list for youth football in places like Louisiana, far more players than spots on existing youth teams. In the past, for a little money, the CFL could have set up Canadian football youth league all through the south, given players playing in them the for an extended period of time the designation of non-import, and really grew the game grass roots in the most fertile football region in the world. There was talk that the teams in Memphis, Birmingham, and Shreveport were going to pitch in and do just that (creating a three state youth football programme), but that fell apart when they could only draw flies in MEM and BIR (and not much better in SHV). I guess the question is where would funds come from? The CFL, as a gate driven league, doesn't have the capital to invest in projects like this in any meaningful way. I fear that as the world begins to consider American football as THE version of football from North America, the CFL will be considered as nothing more a regional oddity in the future (like Gaelic football or something). It doesn't even rate in the American consciousness beyond a brief word by Berman or some truly odd play on the ESPN SportsCenter top 10.
LTF
Why do we need international acceptance in order to validate ourselves or justify our existence? I don't care if people in Germany, France, Greece, England, or even the Almighty USA play, watch, or are even aware of our game. If they do, hey, that's great! Welcome to the fold; let's talk about the game. If they don't, it's not going to make me feel somehow inferior.
International exposure is great, but it does nothing to improve our game or our league. All that really matters is exposure within our country. If two thousand people in Belarus tune into the Grey Cup, and a Canadian-style football league started up in South Korea, that'd be terrific. But I'd much rather see every stadium sold out for every game all year, waiting lists in every city, with new teams being added and stadium expansion being considered across the country.