CIS football

Twenty-six universities across Canada compete in football under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). The teams are divided into four conferences, drawing from the four regional associations of the CIS: Canada West Universities Athletic Association, Ontario University Athletics, Quebec Student Sports Federation, and Atlantic University Sport. At the end of every season, the champions of each conference advance to semifinal bowl games; the winners of these meet in the Vanier Cup national championship.

In 2010, Waterloo University suspended its CIS football team because they had a drug test failed by 5 out of 62 players. The CIS reorganized the calendar of the OUA with 9 teams instead of 10. The program has been reinstated for the 2011 season.

CIS football is the highest level of amateur play in Canadian football. The origins of North American football lie here. The first documented game was played at University College at the University of Toronto in 1861. A number of CIS programs have been in existence since the origins of the sport. It is from these Canadian universities that the game we now know as Canadian football, and its offshoot, American football, sprang. In 1874, McGill University (Montreal, Quebec) challenged Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts) to a series of games. American football traces its roots to this varsity play.

The Grey Cup, the championship trophy of the professional Canadian Football League since its founding in the 1950s, was originally contested by teams from the University of Toronto and Queen's University and other amateur teams in the early 1900s.

Many CIS players have gone on to professional careers in the Canadian Football League and elsewhere; a number are drafted annually in the Canadian College Draft. In 2007, there were a record 120 CIS alumni on Canadian Football League rosters.

Regular season
The regular season is eight weeks long and usually opens on the Labour Day weekend. Regular season games are in-conference with the exception of limited interlocking play between the Quebec and Atlantic conferences. There are featured homecoming and rivalry games in most regions. The Hec Crighton Trophy is awarded annually to the MVP of the CIS.

Playoffs
After the regular season, single elimination playoff games are held between the top teams in each conference to determine conference champions. In the Canada West and Quebec conferences, the top four teams qualify for the playoffs, while in the Atlantic conference the top three teams qualify, and in Ontario the top six teams qualify. Each conference has its own championship trophy; the Hardy Trophy in the West, the Yates Cup in Ontario, the Dunsmore Cup in Quebec and the Jewett Trophy in the Atlantic conference. The conference champions proceed to national semifinal bowl games: the Mitchell Bowl and the Uteck Bowl. The participant conferences of each bowl are determined several years in advance on a rotating basis.

Vanier Cup
The winners of each bowl game meet in the Vanier Cup national championship, first established in 1965 and named in honour of Governor General Georges Vanier. The game was held in Toronto every year through 2003 when host conference bids were first accepted, yielding a move to Hamilton for 2004 and 2005, followed by Saskatoon in 2006. In 2007, the game returned to Toronto, along with the Grey Cup, which was hosted there for the first time since 1992. The Vanier Cup game moved back to Hamilton in 2008 before heading to Quebec City for the 2009 and 2010 games. The 2011 Vanier Cup will be played in the newly renovated BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The next few years
There have recently been efforts at establishing new varsity football programs at institutions that currently do not have teams. A group of alumni from Carleton University in Ottawa have successfully revived that school's program that is now scheduled to return in 2013. The team will be a member of the Ontario University Athletics conference of Canadian Interuniversity Sport, returning football to Carleton University after a 15-year absence.

Because the AUS is the smallest conference in the CIS, there has been talk of adding more teams there, as well. There has been interest expressed in starting a team at the Université de Moncton, due to the recent construction of Moncton stadium. As of May of 2011, the athletics department has submitted a feasibility report to the school's president and are going to base a large part of their decision upon how the Uteck Bowl in 2011 is received by the fans in Moncton. Additionally, a club team league, the Atlantic Football League, features five universities in what some hope will lead to varsity teams featured at some of these schools.

Awards and the annual All-Canadian Team
There are post-season awards for on-the-field excellence. The players deemed to be the best at each position are named to the annual All-Canadian Football Team as first or second team players.

Additionally there are a number of individual awards for categories like "best defensive player".

CIS football players in the professional leagues
As of 2009, there were 111 CIS football players on the rosters of Canadian Football League teams. 

As of 2010, the CIS had produced 25 players who have earned a spot on an NFL roster (including three who did not play a regular season game; players listed in chronological order by entry year in NFL):

1945 Joe Krol, Western Ontario, K/RB.

1947 Les Lear, Manitoba, OG/OT.

1960 Bill Crawford, UBC, OG.

1965 Jim Young, Queen's, RB/R.

1976 Brian Fryer, Alberta, R.

1979 Ken Clark, Saint Mary's, P.

1986 Mike Schad, Queen's, OG.

1987 Brian Belway, Calgary, DE.

1987 Dave Sparenberg, Western Ontario, OG.

1987 Brant Bengen, UBC and Idaho, WR.

1988 Dean Dorsey, Toronto, K.

1992 Tyrone Williams, Western Ontario, WR.

1995 Tim Tindale, Western Ontario, RB.

1995 Mark Montreuil, Concordia, CB.

1995 Mark Hatfield, Bishop's, OL.

1996 Grayson Shillingford, UBC, SB.

1998 Jerome Pathon, Acadia & U. of Washington, R.

2001 Randy Chevrier, McGill, LS/DE.

2000 J. P. Darche, McGill, LS/LB.

2003 Israel Idonije, Manitoba, DL.

2004 Steve Morley, Saint Mary's, OG/OT.

2006 Daniel Federkeil, Calgary, DE.

2006 Jon Ryan, Regina, K.

2009 Vaughn Martin, Western Ontario, DL.

2010 Cory Greenwood, Concordia, LB.

NFL Draft
In the 2009 NFL draft, the San Diego Chargers selected defensive lineman Vaughn Martin from Western Ontario in the fourth round. Martin became the first CIS underclassmen to be selected in the NFL draft.