Observations on Canadian Football in 1931

The differences in rules between American and Canadian football are fascinating because the two nations played and still play highly similar games under somewhat different rules, with both sets being arbitrary. As Canadian Rugby evolved toward the American game, they adopted some American rules, while going their own way on others.

Canadian rugby or football first allowed the forward pass in 1929, though only the western provinces approved it. Western football led other forward-passing changes over the next decade as the Eastern traditionalists stuck to their old-school, rugby-oriented game, but the Easterners lost the battle and the war.

An interesting difference between the Canadian and American games was that pro football gained prominence in the U.S. earlier than in Canada. Canada’s top senior teams remained amateurish through WWII so university and senior teams faced one another for the Grey Cup through 1953, after which, only professional teams drank from the cup.

A short video of a 1931 Grey Cup playoff game between the University of Western Ontario and the Sarnia Imperials, a senior team, included a few elements that caught my eye.

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