Were These 18 Things Really Created In Canada?

One Super Bowl commercial caught everyone’s attention when it credited Canada with the existence of football. 

Dave Grohl, the founder of Foo Fighters and former member of Nirvana, was the spokesperson for Crown Royal last night in their Super Bowl commercial. 

It was a little surprising that the musician from Ohio would talk about Canadian pride, but hey – he had a point: there are a lot of cool things that can be credited to Canada! 

Including the game of football that we know and love?

Dave Grohl Thanks Canada

Here are the 18 things that Dave Grohl thanked Canada for in the Crown Royal commercial on Sunday night. 

• Legends of music and heroes of comedy, including the band Rush, Joni Mitchell, Oscar Peterson, Celine, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Seth Rogen, 

• The creation of:

  • Peanut Butter: (Peanut butter was actually invented in Canada in the 1880s.)
  • Paint rollers (The paint roller was invented by Norman Breakey, who wanted to apply paint quicker while still having a smooth look. Up until his invention in the 1940s, the only painting was done with paint brushes.)
  • The replay (During a 1955 Hockey Night in Canada broadcast on CBC Television, producer George Retzlaff used a "wet-film" (kinescope) replay, which aired several minutes later.)
  • The battery
  • The egg carton (Egg cartons were invented in 1911 in British Columbia by Joseph Coyle after overhearing a dispute over broken eggs between a local farmer and hotel owner. Joseph Coyle was a newspaper man and part-time inventor.) 
  • The ironing board (A truly portable folding ironing board was first patented in Canada in 1875 by John B. Porter. The invention also included a removable press board used for sleeves.)
  • Electric wheelchair (The electric-powered wheelchair was invented by George Klein in 1953 who worked for the National Research Council of Canada, to assist injured veterans after World War II.)

• Sports like:

  • Hockey (The electric-powered wheelchair was invented by George Klein who worked for the National Research Council of Canada, to assist injured veterans after World War II.) 
  • Basketball (Invented by Canadian James Naismith in 1891, while he was teaching at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, basketball is now one of the most popular sports in the world.) 
  • Football

That’s right: football. 

After the Crown Royal commercial aired, people wanted to know if that was actually true: did Canada invent American football?

Yes, the NFL does appear to have some Canadian roots. According to HITC, Canadians and Americans were playing a game called “football,” but it wasn’t quite the same then as it is now. HITC detailed the differences: “The Americans had 25 players on a side, and played with a round ball; the Canadians’ ball was oblong, and they played with 11 players per side.”

Obviously, we don’t use a round ball anymore, nor do we have 25 players on a field, so you may wonder how we adopted this change. 

Two games is responsible for changing the course of football as we know it. It was May 14, 1874. The American Harvard University was slated to go up against McGill University, who were from Montreal. According to Wikipedia, the first game was played under Boston rules and was dominated by Harvard with a score of 3-0. This game featured a round ball instead of an oblong ball, and Canadian Radio professionals actually said that it was more comparable soccer.  

 The following day, those two teams played again – this time under "McGill" rugby rules to a scoreless tie. McGill used the oblong-looking ball, which was more difficult to kick. There were only about 500 attendees, but it was an important milestone for football as we know it. 

Apparently, Harvard preferred “the Canadian rules” after that game in 1874, and about a year later, Harvard and Tufts University in Massachusetts played, what is known as, the first game between two American universities where they played under the rules used in today’s version of American football.  

Dave Grohl said to “look it up,” so we did. I just didn’t expect he would be right!