Jamie Nye: CFL’s fake Canadian rule is already a dud

Opinion

Nice to see the CFL start the season with a fumble.

Its new designated nationalized American rule has already been shown to be a dud.

Remember the good old days when you looked at a Canadian Football League depth chart and it was just non-import and import?

It was simple and easy to understand and fans for the most part could wrap their heads around the need for teams to field a certain number of non-imports (a.k.a. Canadians). The number has been whittled down to seven, if you’re keeping track.

Now, a CFL depth chart is more confusing than someone trying to explain to you why there are all these new designations.

When you read the Saskatchewan Roughriders depth chart this weekend, you’ll see several designations: Canadian, American, global, designated nationalized American, designated American and designated nationals.

What do they all mean?

What it means is the CFL, in its vision to be the most fan-friendly league, has gone an extra mile to make understanding the roster less fan friendly.

And to make matters worse, the coaches have quickly found a loophole in the rule that was supposed to help in roster retention.

Instead, with the debut of these new roster rules that already are hard to explain to the average fan, we have the added fun of trying to explain why two of the best players in the league are listed as backups for the Calgary Stampeders (running back Ka’Deem Carey) and the B.C. Lions (receiver Dominique Rhymes).

The reason is Dave Dickenson and Rick Campbell are clearly smarter than those who came up with a rule that was supposed to help veteran Americans keep their jobs and keep players on the same team for longer than one or two seasons.

The heart of the rule was to see players kept around who the fans have got to know and love and see them as a backup who can rotate in for a Canadian player for up to 23 plays a game.

Instead, teams have already found a way to keep the status quo alive and now have younger Americans be the ones to replace the Canadians — errr, designated Canadians — for up to 23 plays a game.

I would argue it’s a loophole that needs to be closed as quickly as it took coaches to find it, but I’d be much more in favour of getting rid of this rule all together.

Change is good, if it actually benefits the league and the players.

This new rule has done anything but.