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Growing up in Halifax I knew very few kids that played Hockey. On the Peninsula Basketball was king. In surrounding areas like Dartmouthh, Sackville and Cole Harbour (Where Sydney Crosby is from) Hockey was possibly more popular but not on the Peninsula. Can't stay it is still that way but certainly was when I was growing up.
Halifax is also a boxing city. I knew kids in junior high and high school that boxed.
I suppose there are supporters as well as detractors of this initiative. Without a doubt, American 4-down football is popular in some parts of Canada - the continued promotion of the NFL and NCAA over the CFL and U-Sports might have something to do with it - but to have a public secondary school actually promote the American style is shocking to me. The headmistress in her interview even wants to see this movement expand. So, is this the beginning of the demise of 3-down football as we know it and with that possibly a part of Canadian identity? Will Canadian youth not want to play with Canadian rules in the future? Will an increasing number of Canadian high school football fields shrink to 100 yards long with 10 yard endzones and goalposts in the rear? Or would such a program as this be geographically limited and Canadian football here to stay? What do others think?
I don't think so.
In all honesty, I made it about two minutes through that video before I shut it off. The production was so bad that I couldn't hear the principal's remarks over the background music.
But as one who has played Canadian rules football, I cannot see American rules taking hold among Canadian football players: pickup, high school, university, or pro.
To be honest, we always looked down our noses at American rules. "What, you need four downs to make ten? You need a fair catch rule? You have a shorter field? Pffft, real men get a first down in three, we clobber the kick receiver even if we give him yards, and we run farther to score." That sort of thing. We were proud to play Canadian rules.
If Clarkson High wants to play American rules, it can; but I don't know who it will play against. It's just one high school in a country of hundreds of such schools with football teams, all of which play by Canadian rules.
Canada has a quaint idea.... that schools are for education, not to provide a stepping stone to a pro sports career, even in hockey. As a result, Canadian Universities do NOT offer sports scholarships..... but they do offer Academic scholarships, to those students who are intelligent and capable of higher learning.
Yes , Canadian Universities have sports teams, in just about any sport that you can think of, but they aren't designed for "future pros " . A FEW Canadian kids have been recruited by US colleges, such as the guy from Brampton, Ontario, who was just selected as the over all number one pick in the NBA draft, this spring.
You won't find any 80,000 seat football stadiums on Canadian University campuses, but you will find a excellent educational system, that has resulted in Canada having the most University grads, per capita, with a minimum of a 4 year degree, in the world. Just about 50 percent of our adult population has a degree, or more than one, in many cases. In the USA the number of adults with a 4 year degree, is a lot lower, below 30 percent.
In my opinion, our system is a better way to educate our youth. How many times have you cringed when listening to some US college athletes try to construct a complete sentence , during a interview ?
Jim B
Toronto.
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