Canadian Hockey vs. American Football

A country’s sport can say a lot about their culture. A sport can bring people together. It is a celebration of skill and natural ability. What does the similarities of hockey and football say about their respective countries: the United States and Canada? This paper will explore the two countries’ dominant sports–their similarities and differences. Whether it’s the surface the sports are played on or the speed of gameplay, these sports have significant differences. Despite this, these sports are similar in the amount of violence involved in the game. There is a lot to compare between these two popular sports.

Canadians are obsessed with hockey. “In 1994, Canada’s parliament recognized hockey as the country’s official wintersport. Parliamentarian Nelson Reis declared that: “It is safe to say that hockey matters to all of us, in Quebec and the rest of Canada. It is part of our culture. It is key to the understanding of Canada.” (Jedwab & Holley, 2021, pg. 3) Jedwab and Holley make it clear that hockey is core to the Canadian identity. While the sports origins have been largely lost to legend, with some claiming that it goes back to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians (Holman, 2018, pg. 21), it is clear that this is a sport that people in Canada are passionate about. 49% of Canadian adults follow hockey compared to only 29% that follow football and 22% that follow soccer (Jedwab & Holley, 2021, pg. 6). Hockey is the most popular sport in Canada. One of the key parts about hockey is its violent nature. This has been true since its inception. Holman indicates that this is made worse by the fact that “the line between legitimate violence in hockey and unacceptable roughness was never very clear.” ,(Holman, 2018, pg. 21). This is made further difficult by the fact that violent brawls are commonplace in hockey games. While this behavior is awarded a penalty, this does not stop these fights from taking place. Hockey can be an aggressive and violent game. In hockey there is also a lot of innovation when it comes to skates, hockey sticks, and safety gear such as helmets. Modern hockey sticks are made of cutting-edge composites such as carbon fiber and Kevlar. Clearly this is a technologically advanced sport. Hockey has a special place in the hearts of many Canadians.

“Every week, in nearly every city in the United States, thousands of players and millions of viewers engage in the most quintessentially American of cultural rituals: football.” (Modiano, 2016, pg. 15) Football is an important sport to many Americans. Whether you’re watching it or playing it, football is an engaging experience for a lot of people. For those who play football in school, this sport can help increase their social status in a way that academic achievement struggles to do. (Falk, 2005, pg. 8) In football your skill matters, not your socioeconomic status or race. According to Modiano football originates from a book about a rugby player and a cultural shift towards the renewal of physical vigor which was becoming absent in Euro-American culture (Modiano, 2016, pg. 28). There is no doubt that football is violent. Falk says in his book “it can hardly be overlooked that football… [is] married to violence” (2016, pg. 12) Just like in hockey the line between legal violence and something worthy of a penalty is quite fuzzy. In football the point of the game is to tackle the person with the ball. There are better and worse ways of doing this. Football is a very concussion prone sport as players often use their heads as battering rams or get thrown to the ground. While there is a lot of violence in football which has made it controversial despite its popularity, there are other things that make it great. “When we watch football, we are at one level, of course, celebrating world-class athleticism, courage, and strategy” (Modiano, 2016, pg. 24). Football is a team sport where the teams must strategize and work together under a leader. What makes football so unique is the planning and strategy that goes into each play. In a similar way to chess boxing, one minute you’re fighting for your life the next you’re strategically planning your next move. Football’s flow of play is also unique. It’s very staggered, always stopping and starting. In football, in game minutes can last a long time. Football is a violent sport with a lot of strategy where players can achieve higher social status.

Football and hockey are similar in many ways. First, hockey and football are both very violent. While Hardy (2018) says, “No sport combines speed, skill, and violence quite like hockey does.” (pg. 14), one could argue that football actually does do this. Football is very violent. Just like Holman (2018) said, the line between violence worthy of a penalty and violence that is perfectly legal is often very slim in hockey. The same is true of football. While tackling is intentionally part of the game you can also get penalties for unnecessary roughness. The line between necessary roughness and unnecessary roughness is up to the referees to determine. Both American football and Canadian hockey are the most popular sports in their respective countries. Both sports are highly celebrated in their cultures. The way that they differ is in the way in which they are played. In hockey play is constant, they even hot swap teammates while they are playing so players can stay fresh. This is a sharp contrast to football where play is constantly stopping and starting. Hockey is played on ice with ice skates and hockey sticks. Football is played on grass running. According to Hardy (2018) Hockey involves speed, power, and hand eye coordination with the stick and the puck. Football, on the other hand, has more running, dodging, and throwing. Both sports involve different skills. Their scoring systems are completely different. While in hockey you can only score points one at a time, in football you can score up to six points at once. Both sports have a professional league. According to Modiano (2016) the NFL was founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association and was founded in order to bring down player’s high salaries. They later changed their name to the NFL in 1922. In contrast Hardy says that the NFL was founded in 1910 as the National Hockey Association. They later changed their name to the NHL. While hockey and football are similar, they have some differences.

Hockey and football are both culturally significant to the countries that play them. They are similar just as the countries in which they are played are similar. Despite this there are some differences between the two sports; differences in how the sports are played and the pacing of games as well as the types of natural ability involved in playing these sports. Even though they have their differences these sports share one thing, a propensity for violence. Canadian Hockey and American football have many parallels between them. Their similarities shed light on the connection between the two countries while still making it clear that they both countries and sports are highly unique.

References

Jedwab, J., & Holley, P. (2021). Who’s The North? The Challenge that Immigration and Diversity Present to the Dominance of Hockey in 21st Century Canada. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 53(3), 163–181. https://doi.org/10.1353/ces.2021.0024

Hardy, S., & Holman, A. C. (Andrew C. (2018). Hockey : a global history. University of Illinois Press.

Modiano, C. (2016). Football, culture and power (D. J. (David J. Leonard, K. (Kimberly) George, & W. Davis, Eds.). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315685014

Falk, G. (2005). Football and American identity. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315044125