’ are from the U.S.A.?

~

‘cident at this. season’s opening

Make U.S. imports learn our style

Famous referee demands
return to Canuck game

What’s happened to Camadian football? More and more Canadians are asking

that question every Saturday

afternoon.

The latest questioner is Hec Crighton, for 20 years, No. 1 football referee in
Canada. Until he retired Crighton was a top football player and two years ago revised
the Canadian Rugby Union rule book. He is obviously well qualified to assess the

character, quality and direction of the game.

In the current Maclean’s, Crigh-;
ton clearly exposes the extent to
which the “Americanization” of
Canadian football has progressed.
To emphasize the “lateness of the
hour,” Crighton tells about an in-

fame at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium.
When Ted Toogood, an Argo, ran
43 yards for'a touchdown through
the whole Ottawa team, one of the
fans excitedly said, “Hey, he’s a
Canadian. It was a Canadian who
Scored the touchdown.”
The personality (and quality) of
Canadian football has changed
Over the past-20 years, an obvious
improvement. It’s not so good
when vou find that its nationality
has changed as well. ‘The Cana-
dian football fan has been sold a
bill of goods. He pays greatly in-
creased prices to watch U.S. foot-
ball played under “Canadian”
rules. ' :
How has this come about? Is it
because. more and more imports
are brought in every year? Is it
because in professional and college
football, all but two of the coaches

U.S. football players have played
in Canada since 1929 and have con-
tributed to the development and
improvement of our game. (The
forward pass, a U.S. invention,
when used in moderation, can help
rather than hinder the enjoyment
of the game). They have seldom
found it difficult to adapt ihem-
selves to the different rules and
Potentialities of our game — a
Canadian-invented game. Stars like
Ormend Beach (Sarnia), Johnny
Ferrara (Montreal), Bob Fritz (Win-
nipeg), Warren Stevens (Montreal),
to name but a handful, came here
to play Canadian football — and
did just that.

Their approach has been — how
best to apply their greater football
experience to the unique character-
istics of our game. :

To a lesser degree, a few coaches
from south of the border have
found their place in Canadian foot-
ball. In fact, three of the top
coaches of the last ten years, War-
ren Stevns, Lou Hayman and
Johnny Metras (still coaching at
London) came originally. from the
United States. They, too, have
adapted themselves to the Cana-
dian game and produced some of
the greatest teams of the last de-
cade.

However, in the last four or five
years, thestrend has been reversed.
All-star teams rarely have more

ARNIE WEINMEISTER

Vancouver Lions were bank- »
ing on Arne Weinmeister this
season, but the big U.S. import
was injured several times and
only managed to play in four
regular games. °

American TV viewers like
faster than the U.S. brand, vet
the rules are not too different.

Canadian football because it is
not hard for them to follow, as
Canadians feel that U.S. coaches

and’ imports’ are trying to Americanize the game more and more
each year, and demand that imported stars learn Canuck rules.
Picture above shows Hamilton Tiger-Cats rolling to a 30-9 victory
over Ottawa Rough Riders in a Big Four game during the regular

.

-season.

than one or two Canadians on their
list. . Coaches, recently arrived
from the U.S.A., no longer adapt
themselves to our game. Imports,
by the dozens, no longer play the
Canadian brand of football.

What are the differences ‘be-
tween the Canadian and US.
games? '

In Canada’s three downs as com-
pared to four; five points for a
touchdown instead of six; no run-
ning interference more than 10
yards past the scrimmage line ex-
cept on kickoffs. There are other
differences between the two games.
However, the most important one
has been forgotten by the public
and ‘deliberately ignored by the
coaches.

This is the “backfield-in-motion”

rule.
In the U.S., only one backfielder
may move around freely before the
ball is put into play. With only
four men in the backfield, it was
necessary to develop a method that
used as much deception as possible
— the so-called “T-Formation”
its variations.
= ‘Cannda) with five backfielders
allowed to move in different direc-
tions (if necessary) before the bail
is snapped, a similar situation did
not exist. If this feature of our
game is exploited to: the fullest.
there would be almost unlimited
possibilities for deceptive -and
thrilling football. ;
_ The majority of our imported
coaches today have not taken ad-
vantage of the flexibility of our
rules. They have constantly ai-

.|tempted to fit their U.S. game to

our rules (with the consequent de-
mand that our rules be changed.)
This, of course, has led to an in-
creasing number of imported play-
ers who have squeezed Canadians
out of their own game. .

This refusal by most of the U.S.
coaches to apply their technical
knowledge to the tremendous pot-
ential of our rules has dulled and
stereotyped our Canadian game.
Johnny Metras, University of West-
ern Ontario coach, who originally

came to Canada from the U.S., puts
it this way:

“They play lousy football in the
Big Four, because nobody can run
wide with the ball. The reason is
that all the imported ends are pass-
catchers. Few of them can block,
and how are you going to run wide
if your ends can’t block? They
bring in tough defensive ta:kles
(middle wings—ed.), so the only
place you can run is inside the
tackles. Or you can throw it. And,
man, how those Big Four teams
throw it and throw it, and throw
tee

To add insult to injury, the U.S.
coaches now want to change our
rules, too. Let Ted Reeve, one of
our outstanding sport writers, an-
swer that one:

“Our game ... . is so much bet-
ter than the cramped-up, time-in,
time-out, four-down grind in the
U.S. and A. that there is no com-
parison. All the coaches have. te
do is avail themselves of all the
leeway instead of moaning about
changing the pastime to the way
they used to play it in Pokofonokee
. . . Let’s leave the jolly old recrea-
tion as it is for a while.”

ANNIS STUKUS

Coach Annis Stukus, one of
the two. Canadian coaches in big
league™football, is sure of his
job with the Lions next years,
even fhough his team finished

last.

Gert Whyte's

SPORTLIGHT

READER writes: “I was listen-

ing November 1 to the radio
broadcast of the Regina-Winni-
peg football game. As it finished
the announcer said, ‘Ladies and
gentlement, the national anthem.’
Then, just as the first bars were
played, the commercial broke in.
Wonder what American listeners
think of us?”

* * x

National Federation of Labor
Youth has entered a team in a
local “B” basketball league. Man-
aged by Ray Andrus and coached
by Bruce Yorke, the squad will
be known as the N-Flyers.

Only headache is money. Right
away the team needs $90 to buy
equipment, without which they
can’t operate.

Readers of this column who
can spare a few bucks for this

worthwhile project are asked to™

send their aces, deuces and fins
to me, and I'll pass the cash over
to the N-Flyers, pronto.

: * * *

New communist aggression on
the sports front, according to the
Sydney Sun. The Australian paper
reports that Russia “is able to
pour public funds into the build-
ing of huge athletic stadiums and
Olympic swimming pools, and
provide ‘expert medical care and
trainers.”

“As a result of this wicked-
ness,” comments the Tribune,
progressive Aussie newspaper,
“the Russians are likely to win
the Olympic Games in Melbourne
in 1956. The cads! Everyone
knows the Americans are suppos-
ed to win.”

The Trib adds that if it is
“wicked” for the Russian and
Czech and Hungarian govern-
ments to give adequate cash for
sports, then let the Australian
government have a spot of this
same “wickedness.”

We badly need a spot of this’

“wickedness” in Canada, too.
Ford Local 200 presented a reso-
lution to the recent CCL conven-
tion which called for a “dominion-
Provincial-municipal sports pro-
gram of $100 million for the set-
ting up of new stadiums, swim-
ming pools and other facilities
which are urgently needed in our
country.”

Hundreds of similar resolu-
tions from trade union, fraternal,
sports and youth organizations
across Canada might stir Ottawa
to act on the matter.

x * *

At the beginning of the foot-
ball season I thought that Winni-
peg would take the WIFU title
and Montreal Alouettes the East-
ern championship, with East tho-
roughly whipping West in the
Grey Cup final.

Edmonton shook me a bit by
winning the first clash against
the Bombers, and by the time you
read this it is possible that ihe
Winnipeg team has been knocked
out of the running. If the Eski-
mos lost Thursday, however, ’'m
still picking Bombers to win the
series.

* x *

Our football controversy has
set tongues wagging. All week-
end I listened to pro and con
arguments on Canadian-American
football, touched off by my orig-
inal comments and made hotter
by. Bill Stewart’s remarks in last
week’s issue.

Adjoining columns feature an-
other article on the subject by
George Barr, which was written
for the Canadian Tribune.

How about taking quill in hand
and letting the PT know how you

stand on the question of USS.
football imports?
* * x

Jim Peters, the great English
marathon runner, has turned
down an invitation to appear at
Empire Stadium and jog a lap
or two on November 27 when
East meets West in college foot-
ball.

Johnny Johnston, the former
runner’s coach, said last week:
“Much as Jim regrets it, he will
not be able to make the trip be-
cause of his business committ-
ments as a dispensing optician.
He is opening a new shop shortly
and will be hard at work.” :

Hope he doesn’t work himself
into, a state of collapse!
* * *

Flo Chadwick would like to
meet Marilyn Bell next summer
in another Lake Ontario swim—
for a nice, juicy purse, of course.

SHIRLEY CAMPBELL

How things have changed! Only
a few months ago Miss Chadwick,
set to make a solo attempt to
swim the lake for $10,000, said
she wasn’t interested in chal-
lenges from Marilyn Bell and
Winnie Roach Leuzler.

It is extremely unlikely that
Marilyn Bell will try to repeat
her Lake Ontario triumph. It is
just possible that she might com-
pete against other Canadian girls
in some special event sponsored
by the CNE next year.

Many fans would like to see
Shirley’ Campbell, twice winner
of the women’s amateur swim at
the Canadian National Exhibition,
compete against Marilyn in a
battle of the teen-agers.

~ x oe

When the great Russian Revo-
lution took place 37 years ago,
Russia was a backward nation in
sports; today the Soviet Union
leads the world in development
of athletics.

“Last year Soviet sportsmen
broke 57 world records and 373
Soviet records,” writes Eric But-
ler in the London Daily Worker.

“In 1953 the Soviet Union pos-
sessed 2,600 stadiums, 21,948
basketball courts, 143,345 volley-
ball courts, 37,678 gymnastic
srounds, 4,655 gymnasiums, 1,480
ice rinks, 3,728 ‘ski depots.

“More than 40,000 future ex-
perts in physieal culture are at
this moment receiving training
at 13 colleges and 37 physical
culture secondary schools. There
are over 1,000 sports schools for

the youngsters, taking in 150,000

boys and girls a year.

“Why are these facilities pro-
vided? Because the Soviet gov-
ernment exists for the purpose
of making life, better, fuller and
happier.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 12, 1954 — PAGE 11

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