Finals 2009-Present

Report

Canada have won three IFAF American Football Junior World Championships to USA’s two. First played in 2009, and biannual since 2012, the Tournament is played by the top Under 19 American Football National teams in the World. USa won the first Championship in 2009, defeating Canada 41-3 in the Final, and then Canada got revenge in 2012, defeating USA 23-17. The pattern was repeated in 2014 and 2016, with first USA winning 40-17, and then Canada triumphing 24-6. In 2018 the sequence was broken with Canada becoming the first Country to repeat as Champions, triumphing 13-7 over Mexico in the Final.

About American Football

American Football, and its close cousin, Canadian Football are two variations of Gridiron Footbal, the dominant codes of the game in both countries. Both codes evolved side by side from Rugby fron the 1850s onwards, with Canadian Football currently employing 12-player squads as opposed to American Football which plays 11v11. Unlike in Rugby forward passes are allowed by the Quarterback (each position in Gridiron Football is highly specialised). Scoring is similar to Rugby except a Touchdown (Try) is worth 6 points, and a conversion kick one point. teams have the option of passing or running the conversion into the endzone (where one must score the touchdown) for two points. The main object of the sports are to get the ball into the other teams endzone (endzones are at either end of the pitch). Teams do not have unlimited attempts to do so, however, and if they do not make 10 yards in four downs (attempts) the ball is turned over (3 downs in Canadian Football). Teams have the option of kicking a Field Goal, worth 3 points, if they think they won’t make the 10 yards. In Canadian Football there is also a ‘Rouge’, whereby one point is scored if the ball is kicked through the other teams endzone. Another popular version of the game in Mexico and USA is Arena or Indoor Football, which is played on a 50 yard field with two 8 yard endzones, with teams having 5 downs in which to score, three of which must be passing plays. It is played on converted Ice Hockey Rinks. A Canadian Football field is 110 yards long with two 20 yard endzones and an American Football field is 100 yards long with two 10 yard endzones.

References

Logos

[1] Inside the Games (2020) IFAF [Internet] Available from: https://www.insidethegames.biz/media/image/102274/o/IFAF.jpeg [Accessed 24 November 2020]

[2] Football Canada (2020) Junior National Team [Internet] Available from: http://footballcanada.com/junior-national-team/ [Accessed 24 November 2020]

Images

[3] American Football International (2018) IFAF-2018-July-22-U19-mexico-vs-canada-Canada-celebrating [Internet] Available from: https://i0.wp.com/www.americanfootballinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IFAF-2018-July-22-U19-mexico-vs-canada-Canada-celebrating.jpg?resize=620%2C400&ssl=1 [Accessed 24 November 2020]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Steve Hearn.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 24 November 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.