Which player is Canadian on the team?

Answer 1

Originally, Canadian football was played by amateurs for the love of competition and pride in their team and community. There was a major controversy, in or around the 1920s, as to whether professionalism in sport should even be declared illegal. By the mid-1930s, several star players were being "rewarded" with "gifts" or "part-time jobs" for their athletic abilities. Soon, outright payments of money were being paid directly to many players. Because of the disparity in population, and significant distances between population centres, teams in Western Canada often found it difficult to field teams that were competitive against the teams in Ontario. (The Regina Roughriders once lost a Grey Cup Game by a score of 54-0, and that's back in the days when a touchdown was only worth five points.) Western teams, and soon Eastern teams too, began to attract players from "south of the border." This was originally referred to, in a disparaging way, as "importing." Soon, those players became known as "American Imports" to distinguish them from Canadian players. Now, the two types of players are "imports" and "non-imports." The latter term refers to the Canadian players. Why the Canadian Football League can't just use the words "Canadian" and "American" to distinguish between them is not known.