In Canadian football, the point scoring is the same as in American football: touchdown (6), convert (1 or 2), field goal (3), and safety (2).
In addition to the above, there is one more way to score. A single point is awarded to the kicking or punting team if the receiving team is unable to run a kickoff, punt or missed field goal attempt out of its end zone.
Neither a "fair catch" nor a "touchback" exist in Canadian football. A punting team is not permitted to "down" the ball. No member of the punting team may touch the ball, or even be within 5 yards of the punt receiver when the receiver first touches the ball. Otherwise, the punting team is penalized for "no yards."
(The "no yards" penalty does not apply to the punter himself, or any other player who is "onside" at the time of the punt.)
The "no yards" rule can result in some wild plays on a very windy day, both for the kicking team (kicking into the wind and trying to recover an onside kick) and for the receiving team (trying to draw the kicking team into the 5 yard restraining zone for a "no yards" penalty).
There is one way unique to Canadian football that a receiving team can avoid giving up a single point. It is a "desperation" measure and usually happens only during the dying seconds of a game, either when the score is tied, or the team in possession of the ball is behind by a single point.
The team in possession would have to be in a position on the field where it is reasonable to attempt to punt the ball into (or beyond) the end zone (which in Canada is 20 yards deep) for a single point. (If the punt goes beyond the end zone, the punting team would be awarded a single point.)
The punt receiving team has the option of trying to run the ball out of its end zone or punting it out. The receiving team is allowed to punt the ball back out of its end zone, thus preventing the punting team from being awarded the single point. By punting the ball back out of the end zone, however, the receiving team gives up posession of the ball.
The receiving team places its 2 or 3 best punters in its own end zone as the punt receivers. The team in possession punts the ball into the opponent's end zone. This is when things start to get crazy.
If time has now expired, the receiving team, if unlikely to be able to run the ball out of its own end zone, would try to angle a punt out of bounds in the field of play. Doing so runs out the clock. It also prevents the original punting team from receiving the return punt and being able to punt the ball once more, back into the original receiving team's end zone.
If more than just a few seconds are remaining on the clock, however, there might be enough time left for the original punting team to line up for one more punt, or even a field goal attempt. Therefore, with time remaining, the receiving team, if unlikely to be able to run the ball out of its own end zone, will try to punt it as far as possible back upfield.
This is where it gets really crazy. The original punting team has also placed its 2 or 3 best punters on the field. It knows that the original receiving team's strategy is to punt the ball out of its own end zone. The original punting team wants to field the ball and punt it back into the opposing end zone for the single point.
Of course, the original receiving team knows the original punting team's strategy too. There's no secrecy about the play. It all boils down to a matter of execution.
The original receiving team (now punting team) wants to obstruct the original punting team's now punt receiver (and soon to be punter) so he can't get off another punt, or else they want to block the punt or tackle the punt receiver so he can't run the ball into the end zone for a touchdown.
By now, there are members of each team all over the field and the operative words are "total chaos."
This situation once resulted in four punts on one play, and has many times been an exciting (and often controversial) finish to a close game.
In one playoff game back in the sixties, after a ball had been punted into the end zone, out of the end zone, and then back into the end zone, the punt receiver ran the length of the field from deep in his own end zone for a touchdown.
No, but sometimes you get a lot of cheers from the crowd
The CFL is the Canadian Football League. The CFL is Canada's professional football league.
In the CFL, a rouge is worth 1 point and is the equivalent of a touchback in the NFL. No points are awarded for an NFL touchback.
Lui Passaglia, placekicker/punter for The BC Lions from 1976-2000. He scored a total of 3,991 points, which is the record for most points by a player in any professional football league.
NFL stands for "National Football League," which is the professional football league in the USA. CFL stands for "Canadian Football League," which is the professional football league in Canada.
The CFL (Canadian Football League) was founded on January 17, 1958.
The CFL
Canadian Football League.
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