TORONTO — The CFL Board of Governors have unanimously approved a set of rule changes proposed by the league’s Rules Committee as teams continue preparations for the upcoming season.
I’m okay with nearly all the changes, but the modification of the “rouge” point is not what I had hoped to see. I could probably live well enough though with the kick-off modification, if they would simply eliminate the rewarding of a single point after a missed field goal attempt. If the kicker misses a field goal, the team should get nothing. Remember, this is coming from a Bomber fan who’s team has arguably the worst place kicker in the league. QB’s and receivers don’t get any points for “almost” catching the ball in the end zone…The kicker shouldn’t get any points for “almost” splitting the uprights.
The single point should be awarded if the ball lands in the endzone. Makes the returner play the ball. If the ball lands out of bounds, then no point allowed. The missed FG return and the punt it out of the endzone plays are exciting and strategic.
they went the wrong way on the single. Instead of making kickoff like the others, they should have made the rest like kick off
Correct…it makes the CFL kicking game the most exciting football in ever.
EDIT: Avoidable contact with an official is a gooder, too often half the coaches and players are on the field, no need to be there.
100%
I’d like to see the rouge gone entirely. But if that’s not possible, then make it only count on balls that are returnable.
The league went exactly backwards yet again.
The rule book does not describe any kick into the end zone as being an “almost” or a failure. In fact, quite the opposite, in many cases the rules reward a team with points for their kicking effort. Scoring plays are what makes the game interesting to watch. What do fans prefer; games when they sit on their hands for 2 hours and end 3 - 0 or games that get bums up often and end 39 - 37? Surely fans would get tired of hockey score games! So why remove scoring from the game!
Simply put, in the case of field goals a team is rewarded with a point just for kicking the ball into or through the end zone. They can also receive a reward of an additional 2 points should the kick from the field goal position travel through goal posts. THERE is no punishment for a stray field goal attempt, only a reward for the kick into the end zone completed.
Rather than lobby to remove point scoring, encourage ways to increase plays that score. Here’s one way that a rule change can serve two purposes… A field goal is scored 3 points anytime the kicked ball, from scrimmage, being it place kicked, drop kicked or PUNTED is kicked between the opps goal posts. Not only will this interesting change add scoring to our football, it will also add strategic thinking and encourage the keeping of more punt kicks in bounds, hence more football action.
The Rouge is part of what makes the CFL unique! If you want to watch American style football, the season starts in September! The only thing that needs to be removed is the single point for a missed FG!! Not just if it goes out of play, if the FG is missed you get nothing, the returner can still be permitted to return a missed FG if the ball stays in play. If it were put to a vote, I think the overwhelming majority of CFL fans would agree to remove the single point missed FG!
I don’t agree with that at all, don’t want it like the NFL where they all walk off the field as soon as the ball is kicked.
Taking the single away for the missed FG would do absolutely nothing to the return game!! So I don’t understand your reasoning, what about that makes you feel that it would make the players play less hard!? The return is still an option, but when the ball goes into the crowd or out of play on a missed FG a team should NOT be rewarded for failure!! It’s a part of our game that gets made fun of the most, and for good reason, it’s a stupid rule, and it’s been the deciding factor in way too many games that I’ve watched in the last 40 years!
These are good changes. Long live the rouge too.
/Hands mic to the next fan
If a team fails to defend their goal line, they give up a goal. We shouldn’t reward that failure by doing away with the rouge and just awarding them free yards for not protecting their goal.
One compromise I think the league could consider is allowing the defending team a choice on punts/FG attempts that go through the endzone without landing in play:
But either way, no free yards to reward their failure.
This logic doesn’t hold up. The team has already “failed” to defend their goal line by allowing a team to get within field-goal range. The actual failure is on the part of the kicking team: they have failed to score three points. So if their kicker fails to split the uprights, the defending team can and should be able to run the ball out or take a knee to start at the 20-yard line.
The rouge is utterly idiotic IMO. Rewarding a team for missing is sad.
I’m just talking specifically about the single point for a missed FG. I don’t have an issue with Rouge single point, it’s the single awarded for missing the FG that has to go! All other aspects of the FG game can remain the same, just remove the single point for the missed FG!
It’s quite the argument every year now and a CFL Forum tradition. I feel strangely proud too.
There’s quite the history of the single point, which dates back to the origins of modern football.
We can feel better now that the arguments here have passed the point of sun-white hot such that we are on the upswing, and it’s a bit fun too.
Now Australian Rules Football is the code of football that resembles most closely the origins of modern football and retains most of those elements, for if you miss the goal but hit the post or kick between two outer posts, you score a “behind,” which is the same scoring as the rouge and worth one point.
And of course Canadian football is even better because there is an opportunity for a return often on such misses.
Now I am not sure if this idea would work as a compromise to make most fans happy, but I would be all for something like virtual outer posts for a score of a rouge, with anything outside of them scoring zero, so long as we can get two of the referees in each game to dress like these recent vintage Aussie Rules umpires.
Then we change the gesture on kicks on goal from the touchdown signal to the brisk double points for a field goal, with a required determined scowl on the face with no smile allowed, and literally the brisk single point for the rouge as shown here.
Why? They’ve failed to keep the ball from entering their goal. Logically, that should result in a score. Why give them 20 free yards for that failure.
I mean, if a FG attempt misses short and is downed at the 1-yard line, the defending team then scrimmages from the 1 yard line, even though they have successfully kept the ball from crossing their goal. Why punish their success in comparison to a team that failed to protect that goal line who you want to give 20 free yards to?
There is no reward for missing a FG. There is a reward for crossing the goal line.
I’m still pushing for two points for a doink on a field goal attempt. Not good enough for three but much better than a shank for the rouge.
There is no single point for missing a FG. There is only the rouge, which is scored by kicking the ball over the opponent’s goal line and preventing it from being returned out.
Because the failure is on the kicking team.
But I don’t care nearly as much about that aspect of it. I just don’t want to see a team get a point for a missed FG that sails out of the end zone.