1950 NFL's international Game

On August twelfth, nineteen fifty, the National Football League plays its very first game internationally when the New York Giants make a trip up to Canada to play an exhibition game versus the Ottawa Roughriders playing at lanesome Down Park in front of over eleven thousand fans, starting something that continues to grow to this day as the National Football League wants to play more and more games internationally. Today, we dive into the history of their international play today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. And the trivia question to listen out for today is which country, Canada or the United States played the very first college football game. Now you've probably heard of the CFL, which is the Canadian Football League which is played up in Canada to the north, and the National Football League, which is mainly played in the United States, but there has been some overlap. Canada actually attempted to have teams play in America to not much success, and the NFL has attempted to play games in Canada and has expanded their international play overall, including exhibition and preseason games. The NFL has played games in Ireland, Spain, Germany, Canada, Japan, Mexico and Australia and they're going to add Brazil in the twenty twenty four season. But how did this all start? Well, it started with one of the closest neighbors we have, Canada, who actually started their own style of football, as there is Canadian football and American football. On the surface, they look very similar. If you start watching one of these games, you could easily get them confused for each other if you're not paying close attention, But there are subtle differences as the field is longer and wider in the Canadian league and they have one more player as they had twelve players on the field versus American football that have eleven, But both of them actually stem from the game of rugby and making their own style of rules. But despite the field differences in the player differences, there's also the difference of downs, as there's three downs in Canadian football in four in American football, and there is differences in kicking as well. But Canadian football actually was ahead of American football as their first college game was played on November ninth, eighteen sixty one, played at the University of Toronto, but the first American football college game didn't happen until Rutgers took on Princeton in eighteen sixty nine, so in some ways, maybe Canada was a little bit of ahead and in the line of scrimmage where the ball is placed and snapped from. In Canadian football, the defense has to be one yard away from that line, but American football the link to the ball and the reason why it's important to know these differences was because when the New York Giants played the Ottawa rough Rider in nineteen fifty in Ottawa, both teams had to know both rules, as the first half was played by Canadian rules and the second half was played by American rules. But this was not the first time a Canadian team had played versus an American team. In fact, the very first one happened nine years earlier in nineteen forty one, when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers faced off against the Columbus Bulls, and the Columbus Bulls were actually a part of the American Football League, but the league would fold and as wo the Columbus as with the Columbus Bulls the following year, so it was a blip on the radar, and it wasn't the NFL. It was a league that popped up and fizzled out really quickly, but the NFL saw merit in it as Canadian football was growing just as the national football was growing. The national football was growing faster and getting better, more quality play. But that didn't mean Canada didn't have quality play, and it showed when they actually met in Ottawa in front of eleven thousand fans, and the fans, even though this was an exhibition game, we're very excited to see this as they enjoyed American football just as much as they enjoyed Canadian football. But what really set this game apart was the rule difference. See, they played the first half under Canadian rule. While this changed some things for the American team as they probably weren't as equipped offensively, they were able to pass the ball really well, as Canadian football lend itself more to passing as you only have three downs instead of four to get to the first down of ten yards. And so the game started out and it was actually a relatively close game in the first half when they were playing by Canadian rules, where each team scored a touchdown. Although the rough Riders missed their field goal, so the Giants were up seven to six. Then just before the end of half, the Giants scored a second touchdown, giving them the lead thirteen to six going into half. And this is when they changed to American rules, which is a slower game and more run heavy than the Canadian game, and where the Giants really took control of the game as there's one more down to get to a first down, so you can run the ball even more and allow them to take control of the game. And that's exactly what they did as they kept running the ball, running the ball, scoring two touchdowns in the second half to give them the win in the first international game, the NFL had played twenty seven to six. And this wouldn't be the last time these teams would play, as they would play again the following year in Ottawa, being the second international game, where again the Giants would win with a score of forty one to eighteen. But this you might think maybe they were trying to incorporate the Canadian teams into the NFL or something like that. That really wasn't what this was. It was just two teams trying to play games together, testing their merit against each other, testing the Canadian game versus the American game and testing how much talent they had, and even though the NFL came out on top, it did show that the Canadian teams had some merit. And at the time these weren't actually CFL teams, they were just Canadian football teams, and in nineteen fifty six they actually started the CFL that we know today, and some of those teams had played had played American teams as well as In nineteen fifty nine, the Chicago Cardinals played the Toronto Argonauts in Toronto, and they did that for three more years again where they won fifty five to twenty six, and the nineteen sixty Pittsburgh Steelers would play the Argonauts the following year, winning as well, and the Saint Louis Cardinals would play in sixty one the Toronto Argonauts, and the Chicago Bears that same year would play the Montreal Alouettes, and the Hamilton Tiger Cats would played the Buffalo Bills in that same year as well. Now, all these games were exhibition, preseason type games, and they have not done so since the nineteen sixties as each league separated itself and focused on more of their league play in their own own growth as at this time, the NFL was dealing with another up and coming league in the AFL, and they would eventually merge with them, and the CFL was working on growing their own brand and their own league, where they actually tried to expand in America with a few teams as well, but were unsuccessful in their efforts. But both leagues are very strong now. Each each league represents its country very well, as Canada as a country is smaller in population and it's estimated that the CFL has a revenue between two hundred and two hundred and forty million dollars, which is a quality league, especially for the size and the amount of teams they have and the Great Cup that they play for, which is their championship, is one of the most popular sporting events in Canada. But vice versa. The NFL is generated over twenty billion dollars in revenue last season and it continues to grow and will continue to grow internationally. There's been to maybe a team in Canada. They are also honoring that the CFL has control over the Canadian area, so maybe they'll go to London or Mexico or another location, or maybe they will move a team, you know, into one of the major cities such as Vancouver or Toronto. We don't know, but it just goes to show you that at one point these two leagues we're facing off against each other when they were more similar. Now it probably wouldn't be the same and they would never do this as they wouldn't put their own leagues on risk to face off against each other. But it's a fun time in sports when different leagues would face off, something we don't see very much anymore. And if you had have fun time listening to this, please leave us a rate and review wherever you're listening. And if you want us to do a topic just for you, let us know the topic in your review and your name and we'll get that done just for you. And come back tomorrow for more daily sports history and the trivia question today is which country Canada or the United States play the very first college football game. Canadian football actually was ahead of American football, as their first college game was played on November ninth, eighteen sixty one, played at the University of Toronto,