Canada
Canada has a rich international history
About the Team
Canada sets the international standard
Canada qualified for the 2009 IFAF Junior World Championship as the recognized force of junior American Football at the international level.The Canadian roster will be selected from a series of nationwide training camps organized by Football Canada and Football Quebec and the traditionally fast, powerful and fiercely competitive Canadians are sure to be a contender in Canton.
Since first competing in the NFL Global Junior Championship, a 19-and-under tournament played annually in the Super Bowl host city from 1997 to 2007, the Canadians have dominated, winning the event four times, while also finishing as runners up four times.
Canada first won the NFL GJC in the event’s very own Ice Bowl when an ice storm descended upon Atlanta, but the determined juniors prevailed to edge Team Europe 7-6. Two narrow championship game defeats by two points and a third in overtime to the United States established a fierce rivalry between the neighboring nations.
Having lost to the US for a fourth time in 2004, Canada finally gained the upper hand, winning the NFL GJC in Jacksonville, with a thrilling 38-35 victory over a US team led by future Wake Forest starting quarterback Riley Skinner. A year later Canada defended its title in Detroit and added a third straight championship in Miami in 2007.
The United States is the only country that has ever defeated Canada at junior international level and in total Canada has compiled a record of seven wins and five losses against its great rival.
Football Canada is the National Governing Body of Canadian Amateur Football, with an estimated participation of 400,000, which represents the tackle, touch and flag components, including players, coaches, officials, administrators, men, women, girls and boys.
Through the guidance of a volunteer Board of Directors and a full time office staff of five people, Football Canada's mission is 'to initiate, sustain, and encourage programs, services and activities targeted at all levels, from the novice to the elite, which foster safe and ethical participation in amateur football.'
Canada can arguably claim to be a founder of the game of football played in North America and now around the world. The first documented football game was played at the University of Toronto on the present site of University College on November 9, 1861.
Football Canada was initially established in 1884 and was known as the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU) with the specific purpose of organizing play-off games between various union champions. From this modest beginning, the role and associated objectives of the CRFU grew and changed significantly as it developed into the National Governing Body of all Canadian amateur football.
In 1909, Lord Earl Grey, then Governor-General of Canada, entrusted a trophy to be awarded for the Rugby Football Championships of Canada – The Grey Cup. In 1966, the trusteeship of the Grey Cup was turned over by the CRU to the CFL.
In 1967 the Canadian Amateur Football Association (CAFA) became the successor to the CRU and in 1986 adopted the marketing name Football Canada and in 2004 became a full member of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF).
The first Canadian junior football team was established in 1999 by the Canadian excellence program, with the goal of competing in the NFL Global Junior Championship). From 2000 to 2007, Team Canada had the opportunity to play against national teams from Japan, Russia, France, Mexico, Panama, Germany and the United States.
Team Canada has been coached by Danny Maciocia, the head coach and GM of the CFL Edmonton Eskimos, who succeeded three-year coach Ian Breck in 2004, and by Glen Constantin who was named the third head coach of the Canadian national team in 2007. Previously, under his supervision as defensive coordinator, the Canadian defense gave up only 4.2 points per games (55 points in 13 games). In Canada from 2003 to 2006, Constantin won three national titles in four years as head coach of Laval University.
One of the excellence program objectives has always been to help Canadian players reach the university level, and 164 members of Team Canada have since played either the NCAA or Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) football. Twelve players are currently active in the CFL and many have attended NFL training camps.
Canada - www.footballcanada.com