You’ve worked hard all your life to hone your skills at your area of work. A well paying job opportunity comes your way and you get an interview. Turns out you are more then qualified and would be a great asset in this new business and would actually greatly improve the company’s profile and profitability. But as the interview process moves on it turns out that you have been rejected in favour of a far less talented candidate only because that candidate lives on the opposite street from you.
Ahhh…the CFL Canadian Ratio.
I’m all for a good charity, but to me handing football players a job just because they are Canadian is insane. Coaches year after year are cutting American born players who have superior talent, in favour of lesser quality Canadian players. Teams are forced to employ a minimum of 21 Canadians on their 46 man roster. In addition to that, CFL teams must start 7 Canadians total in each game.
The quality of play in 2014 has been bad. New coaches, the expansion draft, young quarterbacks, are all likely playing a factor. But the biggest factor of all is that there just aren’t enough elite Canadians in the league. Elite, being the key word. I know there is good Canadian talent but as a fan I don’t want to settle for just good. I want to see the absolute best players available playing the CANADIAN GAME at a high level. Regardless of where they are from. There are a select few Canadian players who are elite players and would have jobs in the league even if the ratio rules did not exist. Jon Cornish, Andrew Harris, Andre Durie, Josh Bourke, Ricky Foley Andy Fantuz to name a few. But for every one Andy Fantuz there are multiple Canadians who are in the league only because of their passport.
Think of you’re favourite team, and chances are you can think of a few players who are only on the roster because they’re Canadian. The NFL cuts approximately 1100 players from training camp every year, mostly Americans. In the CFL there are only 225 jobs available for non Canadians. So that leaves CFL GMs with a huge amount of American talent to scout and possibly bring in and compete for jobs. Remember out of those 225 jobs most will be held down by incumbent players who are already in the CFL, so you see the surplus of American talent available.
On the Canadian side, talent is not so abundant. The CIS consists of 23 schools. In which a small percentage have the ability to take their talents to the next level. In addition to the CIS There are many Canadians now playing in the NCAA as well. But not near enough elite Canadian players available to be starters at the CFL level.
By the Numbers Almost completely across the league, out of the 7 mandated Canadian starters. 5 play on offense, 3 or 4 on the Offensive line and 1 or 2 at receiver, sometimes running back. So the offensive talent is overmatched by the defenses who usually consist of only 2 Canadians. This at the very least, is a partial explanation for why scoring is down in the CFL this season, especially when you consider the 9th team being added and the Canadian starters now spread even thinner.
Point is not to put a ban on Canadians playing in the CFL. But Canadians should only be given jobs if they are talented enough and deserve it. If the Canadian ratio is gone, quality of play in the CFL would go up considerably. Anybody that’s seen the CFL East this season must agree a quality boost is needed.
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