Under the definition of resident in Canada for 5 years prior to age 18, Ben Cahoon would probably STILL be 'Canadian'. So this still lets most of those loophole Americans in, but slams the door on Jamaicans, Aussies, Brits etc. That's too bad. What about a guy like Jan Carinci? Born in England, came to Canada at age 12 or 14, went to U of Maryland at age 18. If he came to Canada at age 14 he never would play in the CFL. Also, Dave Ridgway. If he came to Canada at age 14 he would never play and never be in the HoF.
Agreed. Guys like Pinball and AC have done so much for the communities that they reside in, they deserve to be recognized through a special status on rosters.
I frankly think that the "international" designation should revert to the old "import" terminology.
Calling Canadians "nationals" is probably an improvement over the negative "non-import" designation but we've been calling American player's "imports" since the 1930's, I believe. That's an accurate and very familiar term for an import...i.e. import receiver, import RB, ect...but International receiver? That just doesn't work for me.
Just like the painted-on football laces and the original poorly thought-out punt-out-of-bounds rule (which required revisions after one season) the CFL should instead use Nationals for Canadians and Imports for Americans and everyone else.
The problem with "Canadian" is a released American player in 1965, sued the league, saying he was discriminated against due to his nationality. The courts agreed. So the league went to the "import/non-import" terms, which has withstood several court challenges. Hopefully "National" will survive the scrutiny and not offend the judges who are ultra-conscious about being absolutely equal for everyone in every circumstance, even if that means trampling on another groups human rights to achieve it. So Canadian is definitely out.
I guess the International term could grow on us...like non-import, which at least was a new word. International does have kind of a soccer-flair, especially timely with the most incredibly-wonderful World Cup happening.
The problem with International is it's such a long word. I guess we could shorten it to "Int"...i.e. Int Receiver or Int RB? Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, I'd still prefer Imports. Incidentally, about 99.5% of CFL Internationals happen to be American (but don't let the judges hear about that.)
Pretty sure the case was heard in Canada, as that's where the rights violation occurred.
The new rule should withstand legal challenge, as it does not prevent non-Canadians from being classified as national players. That was the problem with the original rule limiting the number of non-Canadians on teams, which was overcome with the import rule.
Not necessarily.
For example Apple sued Samsung for copyright violations in a U.S. court and won( Quelle Surprise)
I would imagine that you would sue in the Country most likely to rule in your favour.
Then again its Canada, They would prob rule against Canadians in favour of foreigners any day of the week and I can name at least once
While you can sue in another country, would a ruling from a court outside Canada in this case have any impact? It would if there were teams in that other country, but with all teams being in Canada, I don't think it would. I could be wrong.
But the 1965 court case that triggered the change to the recent import rule was heard in Canada, by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
[One] player who was released due to this new quota went marching off to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which ruled that it was unlawful to discriminate employment based on citizenship, threatening all roster management.
If I remember correctly the problem arose when the League tried to put a limit of three naturalized "Canadians". Some teams like the Ticats and Argos had more then that number while other teams out West had trouble getting any. So when the 3 per team limit was imposed, some players got cut. It was one of those guys that cried discrimination if my memory is correct. They should have Grandfathered those players already "Canadianized" and there probably wouldn't have been a problem.
I'm still trying to get my head around the new "National" rule. But if I understand it correctly the League has dropped the 5 year thing for players born in Canada and now anyone born in Canada can be ruled a "National". If that is the case shouldn't the League hold a supplemental draft for these new eligible players. There are players in the NFL and others maybe out of Football who would now qualify to be a National because of their Canadian birth. There wouldn't be a lot of these guys out there, but probably a dozen or so.
Down the road it would be interesting to see if a player who had one parent as a Canadian could qualify if he used his right to take out Canadian citizenship. Back in the 60's Hamilton had several players who qualified this way. Billy Wayte, Ted Page, Bronco Nagurski and Bill Danychuk come to mind. With Ottawa coming in again and down the road Halifax, the League is going to need more Canadian starters and depth. Canadian players good enough to play in the CFL don't grow on trees.
National/International just sounds stupid to me,I'm sorry but official change or not I'll go with Canadian/Import on this one.As someone else posted in another thread it just sounds too soccerish for my liking and just a tad too much on the politically correct side if you ask me :roll: :thdn:
So we've had a significant change in the rules of what determines whether a player is Canadian or not from now on ... and for 3 pages all anyone can talk about is whether non-import, international or Canadian sounds better ... :roll:
Good to know that there's some stimulating conversation around here.
