Brian Dobie says he and many others were left shocked on Monday, when the Canadian Football League announced dramatic changes to its field, and to its rule book.
“Other than the people in the top brass, it sounds like a lot of people were caught off-guard,” said Dobie, who spent 29 seasons as head coach of the University of Manitoba Bisons. “I mean, high school officials, university officials — nobody saw this coming.”
Dobie retired in 2024 after 50 seasons pacing the sidelines. He says in his decades involved in the game, he’s never seen the landscape change as much in one day as it did this week.
CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston on Monday introduced the league’s new plan, which will be phased in over the next two seasons.
It calls for several changes, including the field between the goal lines being reduced from 110 yards to 100 yards, the end zones being squeezed from 20 yards to 15 yards, and goalposts being moved from the front of the end zone to the back.
There will also be changes to how the single point known as the rouge is awarded, and changes to the play clock, as next season a new 35-second countdown will automatically begin as soon as the previous play is whistled dead.
“I didn’t know that this was in the works, and then suddenly these announcements were made about these rules changes, which are quite significant,” Dobie said.
Although Dobie is retired as a football coach, he said since the news broke he’s been fielding calls from people at all levels of amateur football in this province, asking what this means for high school and university football.
He said because he only found out Monday like most others, he hasn’t had a lot of answers to those questions.
Although he generally has no problem with the CFL’s pending rule changes, he wonders why so many in the amateur football world were left in the dark up until the announcement was made.
“I don’t know the background of these rule changes, but I’m hoping that at least part of the thinking process was in conference with amateur administrators, amateur coaches, amateur officials, just to get a broader perspective.
“Because it does affect the entirety of our game. It simply does.”
One of the questions Dobie has been hearing is whether high school and university football in Canada will adopt the new rules, and how long it would take for those changes to be made.
Someone else who was caught off-guard this week was Winnipeg High School Football League commissioner Jeffrey Bannon, who said he’s not opposed to the changes, but is concerned about how high school football will be forced to react.
Winnipeg High School Football League commissioner Jeffrey Bannon said he’s not opposed to rule changes the CFL announced on Monday, but is concerned about how high school football will be forced to react. (Football Manitoba)
“Our job is to grow the game and make it as safe as possible for our athletes, but to ask me where to start, I wouldn’t even know where to start right now,” he said.
“24 hours ago it wasn’t a concern, and now it’s a concern.”
Bannon said the cost and time needed to reconfigure fields and move goalposts would be substantial.
“You look at Fort Garry, they just got a brand-new field, brand-new measurements, and that cost millions of dollars, and now do they have to change it?
“So it’s all these things we’re just trying to grasp, and think of right now.”
He said the league will play out this season with the rules that are in place, but he also knows discussions will have to start about where the league goes after this season.
Bannon is also disappointed the CFL didn’t do more to reach out to amateur football officials, and to the players and coaches currently in the league.
“I would have thought that the CFL would have done a better job of promoting it to go forward, but you have a lot of players and coaches coming out and saying they don’t like it, and I think that’s a bad look for the league.”
Although they don’t play in the Canadian Football League, U Sports teams like the University of Manitoba Bisons may be forced to adopt the pro league’s rule changes because they play in CFL venues like Princess Auto Stadium. (Submitted by Winnipeg Football Club)
Although he expects it will take a number of years for the new rules to trickle down to the lower levels of Canadian football, Dobie says U Sports teams like the Bisons might face a more accelerated timeline because they play on CFL fields like Princess Auto Stadium.
“The Bisons are going to have to play in that stadium,” he said. “There might be simple solutions that I haven’t even thought about … I’m retired, so it’s not my problem anymore.”
In a statement released on Monday, U Sports said they will “begin engaging with our members and stakeholders over the following weeks and months to determine the ramifications for U Sports football, and the best course of action for U Sports.”
And in a media release on Monday, the Canadian Junior Football League said they will do a “thorough review.”
“This process will involve close collaboration with our board of directors, member teams, and coaches to carefully consider all the implications for our league,” the league said.