A Passing Game: A History of the CFL

Raymond B. Blake is director of the Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount
Allison University and the author of Canadians at Last: Canada
Integrates Newfoundland as a Province.

In what could have been a very exciting book, Frank Cosentino reviews
the history of the Canadian Football League. Canada’s beleaguered
professional football league reflects such major public issues as the
east–west split, the politics of bilingualism, the struggle of
professional sports in small markets, the role of government
intervention, and, of course, the Americanization of Canada. Instead of
weaving these into a fascinating story about the CFL, Cosentino merely
presents a summary of CFL highlights covering the years 1969 through
1994. Not surprisingly, the result is a tedious and detailed book that
may fatigue even the most devoted fans.

If the book has a central theme, it is the increasing Americanization
of the CFL, best demonstrated by the league’s expansion into three
U.S. cities. But Cosentino also sees within the CFL and among many
Canadians who are involved with football a bias toward American players,
often at the expense of players who have excelled in Canadian
universities. Particularly enlightening is the story of Bill Robinson, a
star quarterback with St. Mary’s University who was passed over by
Ottawa for two Americans hot-shots who had failed to make the NFL.

Drawbacks aside, A Passing Game provides much useful information on the
recent CFL, and it will become an important source for those interested
in further study.