Sport in Canada

A wide variety of sports are practiced in Canada. Ice hockey, referred to as simply "hockey" in the country, is Canada's official winter sport,cite web | url= http://lois.justice.gc.ca/en/N-16.7/251603.html | title= National Sports of Canada Act (1994) | work = Consolidated Statutes and Regulations| accessdate= 2006-07-20 | publisher= Department of Justice] its most popular spectator sport, and its most successful sport in international competition. Lacrosse, a sport with Aboriginal origins, is Canada's oldest sport and official summer sport. A unique code of football known as Canadian football is Canada's second most popular spectator sport,cite web | author = Canadian Press| authorlink = Canadian Press | date = 2006-06-08 | url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060608.wsurvey8/BNStory/Sports/home | title = Survey: Canadian interest in pro football is on the rise | publisher = Globe and Mail | accessdate = 2006-06-08] and the Canadian Football League's annual championship, the Grey Cup, is the country's largest annual sports event.Cite web|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061220.wsptcfl20/GSStory/GlobeSportsFootball/GlobeSports/?query=|title=Grey Cup moves to TSN in new deal|accessdate=2006-12-23|publisher=The Globe And Mail|year=2006-12-20|author=William Houston] Association football, known in Canada as "soccer" in both English and French, has the most registered players of any sport in Canada, but has never enjoyed sustained popularity as a major professional spectator sport even though the last few years have showed an improvement in terms of popularity and media coverage.

Other popular team sports include baseball, basketball, curling, street hockey, cricket, rugby, Association football and softball. Cricket is the fastest growing sport in Canada currently [http://www.canadiancricket.org/images/CCA%20Heritage%20Fund.pdf] [http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/cc/bgrd/mm21.6.pdf] .Popular individual sports include auto racing, boxing, cycling, golf, hiking, horse racing, ice skating, rodeo, skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding, swimming, tennis, triathlon, track and field, water sports, and wrestling. As a country with a generally cool climate, Canada has enjoyed greater success at the Winter Olympics than at the Summer Olympics, although significant regional variations in climate allow for a wide variety of both team and individual sports. Major upcoming multi-sport events in Canada include the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Great achievements in Canadian sport are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists.

Official sports

Canada is a nation with two official sports. Since its founding, and until 1994, the official sport was lacrosse, a sport invented by Aboriginal peoples. In 1994, First Nations groups objected to a government bill that proposed establishing ice hockey as Canada's national sport, arguing that it neglected recognition of the game of lacrosse, a uniquely Native contribution. In response, the House of Commons amended the bill "to recognize hockey as Canada's National Winter Sport and lacrosse as Canada's National Summer Sport." On May 12, 1994, in Bill C-212, ice hockey joined lacrosse as official sports of Canada.

Ice hockey

The modern form of ice hockey began in Canada in the late 1800s, and is widely considered Canada's national pastime, with high levels of participation by children, men and women at various levels of competition. The most popular leagues are the amateur Canadian Hockey League, and the professional National Hockey League, which has six teams in Canada: the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks. The Canadian NHL presence peaked with eight teams in the mid-1990s, before the Quebec Nordiques relocated to Denver, Colorado in 1995 and the Winnipeg Jets relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in 1996. "Hockey Night in Canada" is a longtime national Saturday night television broadcast featuring Canadian NHL teams. Hockey Canada is the sport's official governing body in Canada and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse was named Canada's National Game by Parliament in 1859, and since 1994 has been the official summer sport of Canada. The Canadian Lacrosse Association, founded in 1925, is the governing body of lacrosse in Canada. It conducts national junior and senior championship tournaments for men and women in both field and box lacrosse. It also participated in the inaugural World Indoor Lacrosse Championship in 2003. The National Lacrosse League is a professional box lacrosse league, with franchises in Canada and the United States. The 2006 World Lacrosse Championship was held in London, Ontario. Canada beat the United States 15-10 in the final to break a 28-year U.S. winning streak. One of the best lacrosse players of all time, Gary Gait was born in Victoria, British Columbia and has won every possible major lacrosse championship. Great achievements in Canadian Lacrosse are recognized by the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Team sports

Baseball

The Toronto Blue Jays are Canada's only Major League Baseball team, founded in 1977. The Montreal Expos club played in Montreal from 1969 until 2004 when they moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals. The Blue Jays were the first non-American team to host a World Series Game (in 1992) and the only non-American team to win the World Series (back to back in 1992 and 1993). The Blue Jays had the highest attendance in Major League Baseball during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Professional baseball has a long history in Canada, beginning with teams such as the London Tecumsehs, Montreal Royals, and Toronto Maple Leafs in the late 1800s and early 1900s. All three were included on the National Baseball Association's top 100 minor league teams.

A number of Canadians have played in the major leagues, and several have won the highest honors in baseball. Ferguson Jenkins won the National League Cy Young Award in 1971 as the best pitcher in the league, and in 1991 became the first Canadian inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Larry Walker was National League MVP for the 1997 season and was the league's Batting Champion 3 times. Éric Gagné won the National League Cy Young Award in 2003. Jason Bay was the first Canadian to win rookie of the year honors in 2004, and Justin Morneau was the American League MVP for the 2006 season.

Canada participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, in which it upset Team USA in first-round play, [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?page=260310901_WBC_06 ESPN - U.S. rallies, but can't overcome 8-0 hole vs. Canada - MLB ] ] which some people in Canada call the "Miracle on Dirt" (a play on the phrase "Miracle on Ice" for the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team). There are a number of minor league, semi-professional and collegiate baseball teams in Canada (see List of baseball teams in Canada). Great achievements in Canadian baseball are recognized by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Basketball

Basketball is a popular spectator sport in parts of Canada, especially in Southern Ontario. The National Basketball Association expanded into Canada in 1995 with the addition of the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 2001, but the Raptors continue to draw healthy crowds at the Air Canada Centre. The 2005 and 2006 NBA MVP Steve Nash is from British Columbia and has played in international competitions for Canada's national team. The Carleton Ravens have dominated the Canadian University championship in recent years. Basketball's inventor, James Naismith, was Canadian; born in Almonte, Ontario, he was working as a physical education instructor in Massachusetts when he created the game in 1891.

Football

Rugby football in Canada had its origins in the early 1860s,Cite web|url=http://www.footballcanada.com/history_timeline.asp|title=Canadian Football Timelines (1860 – present)|accessdate=2006-12-23|publisher=Football Canada] and over time, a unique sport known as Canadian football developed. Canadian football is similar to American football, and many professional Canadian football players are "imports" from the United States. Both the Canadian Football League (CFL), the sport's only fully professional league, and Football Canada, the governing body for amateur play, trace their roots to 1884 and the founding of the Canadian Rugby Football Union. Currently active teams such as the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats have similar longevity. The CFL's championship game, the Grey Cup, is the country's single largest sporting event and is watched by nearly one third of Canadian television households. The eight Canadian football teams are B.C. Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger Cats, and Montreal Alouettes. Canadian football is also played at the high school, junior, collegiate, and semi-professional levels: the Canadian Junior Football League and Quebec Junior Football League are for players aged 18-22, many post-secondary institutions compete in Canadian Interuniversity Sport for the Vanier Cup, and senior leagues such as the Alberta Football League have grown in popularity in recent years. Great achievements in Canadian football are recognized by the Canadian Football Hall of Fame which is located in Hamilton, Ontario.

Although the National Football League of the United States has no teams in Canada, American football is quite popular in Canada as a televised spectator sport.

Cricket

Cricket was once the most popular sport in Canada until the early 20th Century before it was overtaken by hockey. Cricket was so popular it was declared the national sport by John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada. Cricket, today, is a popular minority sport in Canada, although it is growing. Cricket is the fastest growing sport in Canada [http://www.daikynguyen.com/eet/print_archive/united_states/boston/2006/04-APR/24/A6.pdf] [http://www.canadiancricket.org/images/CCA%20Heritage%20Fund.pdf] [http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/cc/bgrd/mm21.6.pdf] . Canada has well over 40,000 cricketers across Canada [http://www.dawn.com/2008/06/22/spt18.htm] [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080621.wcricket21/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080621.wcricket21] .While Canada is not sanctioned to play Test matches, the team does take part in One Day International (ODI) matches and also in first-class games (in the ICC Intercontinental Cup) against other non-Test-playing opposition, with the rivalry against the United States being as strong in cricket as it is in other team sports. The match between these two nations is in fact the oldest international fixture in cricket, having first been played in 1844. This international fixture even outdates the Olympics by over 50 years. There are a few grounds in Canada that are sanctioned by the ICC to host official ODI's. The most famous Canadian cricketer is John Davison, who was born in Canada and participated in the Cricket World Cup in both 2003 and 2007. At the 2003 World Cup, Davison hit the fastest century in tournament history against the West Indies in what was ultimately a losing cause. In that World Cup he also smashed a half century at a strike rate of almost 200 against New Zealand. One year later, in the ICC Intercontinental Cup against the USA, he proved the difference between the two sides taking 17 wickets for 137 runs as well as scoring 84 runs of his own. In the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, John Davison scored the second-fastest half-century against New Zealand. Canada has participated in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 Cricket World Cups. Canada has traditionally had a strong Women's team. Also The Canadian Under 19 team have competed in the Under 19 World Cup on two occasions. In 2002, they were eliminated in the first round, meaning they competed in the plate competition, in which they did not win a game. They repeated this performance in the 2004 competition.

Curling

It is estimated that there are about 1.3 million curlers in Canada, which makes up about 94% of the curlers in the world. Curling is most popular in the prairie provinces with the most competitive teams in recent years coming from the province of Alberta. However, curling has a degree of popularity across the country. For example, a team from Quebec, which is not a traditional hotbed of curling, won the Tim Hortons Brier (national men's championship) in 2006. The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is the national women's championship. The Canadian Curling Association is the sport's national governing body; great achievements are recognized by the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.

Rugby Union

Canada has around 13,000 seniors and twice as many junior players spread across the country many of these come from Canada's rugby stronghold of British Columbia.Fact|date=August 2007 It is also strong in Newfoundland and Ontario. The leading domestic competition is the Rugby Canada Super League organised by Rugby Canada, the sports governing body. The Canadian national side have competed in every Rugby World Cup to date yet have only won one match each tournament with the exception of the 1991 tournament where they reached the quarter finals and the 2007 tournament when their best result was a draw against Japan in the group stage.

occer

Soccer's governing body in Canada is the Canadian Soccer Association, which traces its roots to the 1880s. While the national women's team is competitive internationally (finishing fourth place at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, and 2nd place at the 2002 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship), the national men's team struggles (appeared at one World Cup in 1986 and did not score a goal). At the professional level, the sport has never had major sustained success, with teams coming and going in leagues such as the North American Soccer League in the 1970s and 1980s. As of 2007, there are a number of teams in minor leagues such as the CSL and USL. As well, Toronto FC is growing in popularity as a team in Major League Soccer. In the USL, there are 2 canadian teams. It includes Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact. Also, the Vancouver Whitecaps have scheduled 2 games playing the L.A. Galaxy. One of them in November at B.C. Place coming to a 0-0 draw. the other on May 14 2008 at Commonwealth Statium in Edmonton a 2-1 victory.

Canada hosted the FIFA U-16 World Championship 1987 and 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship (the predecessor to today's FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup), and the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was played in the cities of Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Victoria and Vancouver. It was the largest FIFA event ever hosted by Canada. Great achievements in Canadian Soccer are recognized by the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame.

Individual sports

Auto racing

The Canadian Grand Prix Formula One auto race had been conducted every year since 1967, and since 1978 had been held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, although it has been dropped from the Formula One calendar for 2009 [cite web|url=http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/10/8483.html|title=FIA issue revised 2009 calendar|accessdate=2008-10-07] . The track was named for Canada's first Grand Prix driver, the late Gilles Villeneuve, whose son, Jacques, won the Formula One World championship in 1997.

During its existence, Champ Car, another major open-wheel racing series, held races in the Canadian cities of Toronto, Mont-Tremblant, and Edmonton, and also held events in Vancouver (until 2005) and Montreal (until 2007). Several Canadians have starred in Champ Car racing, most notably Jacques Villeneuve (who won the 1995 series championship before moving to Formula One) and Paul Tracy, who captured the series title in 2003. In 2008, Champ Car merged with its long-time rival, the Indy Racing League (IRL) under the banner of the latter, with the Edmonton race transferring over to the new series.

CASCAR (the Canadian Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) was the country's governing body for amateur and professional stock car racing, and the CASCAR Super Series was the highest-level stock car racing series in the country. In 2006, NASCAR purchased CASCAR and rebranded the Super Series as the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series; nevertheless, the series remains Canada's top-level stock car racing circuit.

Because Canada is NASCAR's largest market outside the United States, NASCAR brought a Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) race to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2007, [ [http://www.nascar.com/races/bg/2007/data/schedule.html Nascar.Com ] ] and that race is on the 2008 schedule.

Canadians have combined to win 50 races in CART/Champ Car (Including 1 Indianapolis 500), 17 races in Formula 1, 3 races in the IRL IndyCar series, and 7 races in NASCAR's top 3 divisions (1 in Sprint Cup).

Bowling

The sport of bowling takes several forms in Canada, including ten-pin and lawn bowling, but most notably Canada has its own version: Five-pin bowling, which was invented in Toronto. Five-pin is played in all parts of Canada, but not played in any other country.

Golf

Golf is a widely-enjoyed recreational sport in Canada, and the country boasts several highly-rated courses. The Royal Canadian Golf Association is the governing organization, and has over 1,600 associated member clubs and over 300,000 individual members. [ [http://www.rcga.org/english/About/purpose.asp Royal Canadian Golf Association ] ] The RCGA also conducts the only PGA Tour and LPGA tour events in Canada, and it also manages the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. The Canadian Professional Golf Tour, once known as the "Peter Jackson Tour" is an organization that runs a series of tournaments for professional players, some of which are conducted outside Canada. Ontario's Mike Weir won the 2003 Master's, becoming the first Canadian to win one of golf's majors.

Cycling

Biking has increased its participation in the past few years. Several new genres of the sport have become popular in Canada, including slopestyle competition, four cross, downhill racing, dirt jumping, and free-ride. With the sport increasing bikes also increased in quality and durability.

Multi-sport events

Major multi-sport events with Canadian participation, or that have taken place in Canada, are the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Canada Games, Word Championships in Athletics, Pan American Games, and the Universiade. Others include the North American Indigenous Games, the World Police and Fire Games, and the Gay Games.

Canada Games

The Canada Games is a high-level multi-sport event with held every two years in Canada, alternating between the Canada Winter Games and the Canada Summer Games. Athletes are strictly amateur only, and represent their province or territory. Since their inception, the Canada Games have played a prominent role in developing some of Canada's premier athletes, including Lennox Lewis, Catriona LeMay Doan, Hayley Wickenheiser, Sidney Crosby, Martin Brodeur , Steve Nash, Suzanne Gaudet and David Ling. The Games were first held in 1967 in Quebec City as part of Canada's Centennial celebrations. Similar events are held on the provincial level, such as the annual BC Games.

Commonwealth Games

Canada is one of only six nations to have attended every Commonwealth Games, and hosted the first ever British Empire Games in 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario. Canada also hosted the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta, and the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia. Canada ranks third in the all-time medal tally of Commonwealth Games. Halifax, Nova Scotia had been nominated as Canada's selection to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games before it withdrew its bid due to unacceptably high cost projections.

Olympic Games

Canada has competed at every Olympic Games, except for the first games in 1896 and the boycotted games in 1980. Canada has previously hosted the games twice, at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, and Vancouver is scheduled to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

At the summer games, the majority of Canada's medals come from the sports of athletics, aquatics (swimming, synchronized swimming and diving), rowing and canoeing/kayaking. In the post-boycott era (since 1988), Canada's medal total ranks 19th in the world, with the highest rank of 11th in 1992 and the lowest of 24th in 2000.

At the winter games, Canada is usually one of the top nations in terms of medals won. Canada is traditionally strong in the sports of ice hockey, speed skating (especially the short track variation), figure skating and every Canadian men's and women's curling teams have won medals since the sport was added to the Olympic program.

After Canada failed to win any gold medals at both Olympics it previously hosted—the 1976 Summer and 1988 Winter games—various organizations including Sport Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee collaborated to launch "Own the Podium - 2010", a development program to help Canada earn the most medals of any country at the 2010 Games.

The National Sport School in Calgary, founded 1994, is the first Canadian high school designed exclusively for Olympic-calibre athletes.

Governance

Federal and provincial governments are both actively involved in sports each has areas of jurisdiction which overlap sports. Sport Canada generally directs (or at least co-ordinates) federal activity in sports. While the federal government generally tries to take a leadership role in areas of international competition (where its jurisdiction is clearest) some provinces, especially Quebec, are actively involved in sports at all levels, even with elite international athletes. Provinces will often focus on student athletics, as it falls more clearly in an area of provincial jurisdiction (that being education).

Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) is the national governing body for university sports, while the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association governs college sports. A factor which affects athletic participation levels in CIS member institutions is the CIS restriction that scholarships cover tuition only, drawing many of Canada's best student athletes to the United States where organizations such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) allow "full ride" scholarships which include tuition, books, housing, and travel. Another is the popular Canadian Hockey League (for male hockey players aged 15 to 20), which effectively serves as the primary development league for the professional National Hockey League, although CHL teams offer financial support for players who choose to play CIS hockey after leaving the CHL.

Media

Major television broadcasters of sports in Canada include the CBC Television, Télévision de Radio-Canada, The Sports Network (TSN), Réseau des sports (RDS), Rogers Sportsnet, and The Score. A consortium led by CTVglobemedia recently outbid CBC for the broadcast rights to the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. Major national weekly sports broadcasts include Hockey Night In Canada and Friday Night Football. There are sports radio stations in most major Canadian cities as well as on satellite radio.

References