Sports in Canada
Living in a socio-economically developed country with both a unique sporting history and a liberal attitude toward conformity to national culture despite having a large immigrant population, Canadians as a whole are involved in one of the widest ranges of sports and sporting activities of people in any one country.
Ice hockey, referred to as simply hockey in the country, is Canada's official winter sport and continues to be the most popular sport and one in which teams representing the country have had the most international success. Conversely, soccer although widely played by school-aged Canadians and those in the immigrant community has never become popular enough as a spectator sport for a professional league to be maintained in the country.
Canada's northern proximation certainly affects which sports Canadians choose to play or watch. The country has always placed far better in the medal standings of the Winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics. Next to hockey, curling is quintessentially Canadian, especially in rural areas of the country. Canadian national teams win 40 to 60 per cent of international curling competitions.
The powerful cultural influence the United States has on Canada also not surprisingly affects sports preferences amongst Canadians. Baseball, basketball, and American football and their offshoots are very popular participation and spectator sports. Softball is a popular recreational sport, as is three-on-three and other forms of pick-up and street basketball. Canadian football, with a large domestic fan-base, is the country's own brand of football, which has evolved independantly of yet largely resembles American football.
Lacrosse, with First Nations origins, is Canada's oldest sport and official summer sport (see below), although relatively few Canadians play or follow the sport. Other popular sports in the country include both open-wheel and stock car auto racing, golf, tennis, swimming, both on and off-road cycling, skateboarding, snowboarding, alpine skiing, volleyball, rugby union, professional wrestling, horse racing, rodeo in western Canada, figure skating, boxing, triathlon, and track and field.
The Lou Marsh Trophy recognizes Canada's top athlete; a list of Canada's Athletes of the 20th Century was published in 1999.
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 solely ice hockey as Canada's national sport, arguing that it neglected and obliterated 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.
Prominent sports
Olympics
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. A number of athletes have competed for Canada over the years.
At the summer games, Canada has had very little success: in 2004 Canada only collected 12 medals (3 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze). This is especially astonishing when taken in comparison with countries that usually perform very well, such as Australia, which although it has 12 million less people, collected 49 Olympic medals (17 gold, 16 silver and 16 bronze). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Canada has fared much better at the winter games, where it is usually one of the top nations in terms of medals won. Canada is traditionally strong in the sports of ice hockey, figure skating, and speed skating (especially the short track variation), and every Canadian men's and women's teams have won curling medals since the sport was added to the Olympic program.
Ice hockey
The National Hockey League (NHL) is the world's premier professional ice hockey league. It includes the following Canadian franchises: Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks. Hockey Night in Canada is the longtime national Saturday night television broadcast of NHL games featuring Canadian teams. Hockey Canada is the sports official governing body in Canada and member of the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Junior hockey (under-19 age level) is hugely popular in the country. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, and Western Hockey League form the Canadian Hockey League for the top level ('Major Junior A Tier 1') under-19 players.
Lacrosse
The National Lacrosse League, a fledgling indoor lacrosse league, is the world's only professional lacrosse league, with franchises in Canada and the United States. The Canadian Lacrosse Association is the sports governing body in Canada.
Curling
The Canadian Curling Association is the sports's governing body in Canada. The Tim Hortons Brier is the national men's championship. The Scott Tournament of Hearts is the national women's championship.
Canadian football
The Canadian Football League is the longtime professional league for Canadian football. Teams compete for the Grey Cup. The Canadian Junior Football League is a Canadian football league for amateur players ages 18 to 22.
Baseball
The Toronto Blue Jays have been a Major League Baseball club since 1977. From 1969 to 2004 the Montreal Expos were also a Canadian based MLB club. A number of Canadians have played in the major leagues. Canadian Larry Walker was National League MVP for the 1997 season. Jason Bay was the first Canadian to win rookie of the year honors in 2004.
Basketball
Basketball has become a popular spectator sport in parts of Canada in recent years. 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. 2005 NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash is from British Columbia and has played in international competitions for Canada.
Also, a less well-known fact is that basketball was invented by a Canadian. James Naismith (born in Almonte, Ontario) was the Canadian physical education instructor who invented basketball in 1891. Although, the U.S. patent #1,718,305 was granted to G.L. Pierce on June 25, 1929 for the "basketball" used in the game.
Soccer
Soccer is one of the country's most played recreational sports, particularly as a school sport. The sport's official governing body in the country is the Canadian Soccer Association. Whereas the national women's team is competitive internationally, the national men's team struggles.
Auto racing
The Canadian Grand Prix is Canada's Formula One race. Champcar (which is similar to F1) races are also held in the Canadian cities of Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton in 2005.
CASCAR is the country's governing body for amateur and professional stock car racing. As there is also some interest in NASCAR, the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) formed NASCAR Canada in partnership with TSN. Canada is NASCAR's largest market outside the US.
Golf
Tennis
- The Canada Masters tennis tournament.
Australian Football
Canada is home to one of the largest Australian Rules Football leagues outside of Australia and holds the record for the largest attendance for an AFL/VFL match held outside of Australia (in 1987 32,789 people attended a VFL match held at Vancouver, Canada between Melbourne Demons and Sydney Swans). Subsequent Aussie Rules matches in both Vancouver and Toronto have drawn similarly large crowds.
Rugby Union
- The sport is governed by Rugby Canada. Canada is categorised as a 'Second Tier' nation in rugby by the International Rugby Board and the national team have qualified for all five Rugby World Cups. British Columbia is something of a stronghold as it does not have quite as a severe climate than the rest of the country.
Governance
Federal and provincial governments are both actively involved in sports; as 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 less interested, will often focus on student athletics, as it falls more clearly in an area of provincial jurisdiction (that being education).
See also
- National Sport School - The first Canadian high school designed exclusively for Olympic calibre athletes.