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Originally Posted by Canfootball52
I look forward participating in many discussions, and learning the differences and similarities between the 3 Down game, and the 4 Down game.
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Besides the "advertised" differences, there've long been little "gotchas" distinguishing the USAn from the Canadian codes. I'm not up to date on either, but here are a few little differences that were still in effect last I heard:
The Canadian snap has to be between the snapper's ("centre's") legs, the USAn doesn't have to be. Canadian rules also specify "toe to heel" for the direction of the snap while the USAn rules don't use that language, but considering the requirements of stance, I don't see that making a difference.
Awards of possession of a loose ball that becomes dead out of bounds are different. In USAn football, last touching is never relevant, which makes some calls at the sideline much harder because player possession must be determined. But not having to see touching makes some calls easier too.
You probably know about the fair catch, but there are also associated "opportunity" provisions applied to team R even on free kicks, and the terms differ between different USAn codes. On free kicks, team K has a greater choice of kicks they can use; IIRC the Canadian codes now allow them to kick from their choice of points between the hashes, but it was decades later that they got that choice than in USAn football.
Lots of different provisions re handling of scrimmage kicks, and the differences have even been growing a little lately, as NCAA & NFL have recently banned some versions of what you'd call "open field kicks" that were legal for a long time in those codes. Paradoxically, at the same time running punts have become popular, increasing the chance of your having to make such a call!
USAn football uses a few fewer enforcement spots and distances for penalties. You'll never have to do a 3 way comparison to determine the enforcement of a 25 yard penalty at various distances close to the penalized team's goal line.
The USAn wing officials have it easier in not having to watch defensive linemen for "illegal procedure" -- except in the NFL where rules have recently been adopted re moves close to (as opposed to in) the neutral zone by team B to draw A's charge. But instead of "putting up the gates", there are a lot more things to watch for re substitution procedures.
In general, the differences between the 3 major codes in USAn football are many compared to the few between amateur and pro in Canadian football. Not only that, but various circuits in the USA playing rules based on one of those codes will add their own differences. And the coaches often honestly are confused by those differences. There's a fair number of inadvertent whistles caused by an official's working a game under one code and the next day a different one.
Robert