From late June until early November each year in Canada, there's a truly Canadian tradition that visitors, especially sports fans, should take-in…A Canadian Football League (CLF) game!

Each CFL season ends with annual Grey Cup Game. A cup that has been played for both rugby and CFL footbal championships, since the early 1900s. The 99th Annual Grey Cup Game will be played Sunday, November 27, 2011, in Vancouver, British Coumbia.

As Canada, is bilingual, there is a French website, for the LCF.

On the official CFL website, there ia a history of Grey Cup Games.

Although football in Canada and the United States are very similar and have their origins in rugby. History tells us that during the 1860's Canadian rugby teams were changing the game.

The CFL game is specifically Canadian, as the rules (see below) are much different than NFL football played in the United States.

Have you never seen a CFL Game? You can find out more about the game by going to the TSN CFL Football site. You can also listen online to TSN Radio and watch CFL Clips From CFLTV on YouTube.

• TSN.ca presents live streaming of Friday night games. Go to www.tsn.ca/cfl at game-time and follow the live streaming links.
• View CFL games on demand on TSN

The two North American games have their origins from a rugby type game played in the 1860's. According to the CFL website, they describe the origins of the game are as follows:

"The rules of a hybrid game of English rugby devised by the University of McGill (sic. Montreal) were first used in the United States in a game at Boston between McGill and Harvard. On May 14, Harvard won 3-0 using Harvard rules. The next day, the teams tied 0-0 while playing Canadian rules. Harvard liked the new game so much they introduced it into the Ivy League. Both U.S. and Canadian football evolved from these games".

Rules changed, during the later part of the 19th century and in 1909 Lord Earl Grey, the Governor General of Canada, donated a trophy to be awarded for the Rugby Football Championship of Canada. This became our cherished Grey Cup, now almost 100 years old! Two of the Eastern Conference teams, Hamilton Tiger Cats and the Toronto Argonauts, trace their origins directly back to 1868.

The post WWII period was when the CFL, as we know it now, began to develop. The league has teams in Vancouver (BC Lions), Calgary (Stampeders), Edmonton (Eskimos)*, Regina ( (Saskatchewan Roughriders)), Winnipeg ( (Blue Bombers), Toronto (Argonauts), Hamilton (Tiger Cats) and Montreal (Alouettes).

Since 1954 only CFL teams compete in the annual play-off, Grey Cup game that occurs in late November. Many of the games are played in league's outdoor stadiums at Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Hamilton and Montreal. If you take-in an outdoor Grey Cup, be sure to dress warm!

* Furthest north professional football team

For NFL fans, you will notice several distinct differences:

1. The are 12 players on a CFL team
2. CFL is 3 down football (e.g. 3 chances to make 10 yards)
3. Our time clock is only 20 seconds
4. Unlimited backfield motion of offensive and defensive players
5. Field goal or convert attempt kicks that are missed can be returned for touchdowns
6. Opposing teams line-up further apart on the line of scrimmage
7. No fair catch after a kick (i.e. If you catch it...you must run it and if you don't receive it, the ball's live, with 5 yards and can recovered by the other team)
8. A ball that goes out of bounds, during a scrimmage, is the possession of the last team that touched
9. The Canadian Football field is longer (110 yd.) and wider (65 yd.) with deep end zones (20 yd.), with goal posts lined-up on the goal line
10. The centre line, of the field, is the 55 yard line

When you come to Canada be sure to take in a CFL game, which Ya'Gotta (being Canadian) feels is the most exciting game of football in North America!

If you would like more information about attending a CFL game visit the league's website.

The University/College equivallent football league, to to CFL, is CIS Football, with their final goal being the Vanier Cup. It's now played on the same weekend, in the same city as the CFL Grey Cup, in late November. 2011 will be the 50th anniversary of CIS Football.

Canadian CIS Football players, are playing for the first time, in 2001, in the World Championship of American Football. This year in Austria.

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