American football fans rip CFL over ‘ridiculous’ rouge rule: ‘Imagine being rewarded for missing’

American football fans recently got a taste of the CFL and one of its quirky rules. And it’s safe to assume they’re not impressed, after social media got riled up over a clip from a recent game.

The drama ensued following the Toronto Argonauts win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Thursday night. The Argos won after missing a last-second field goal.

If you’re not familiar with the “single” rule in Canadian football — also known as a single point, or a rouge — a team is awarded one point if a punt or a missed field-goal attempt is kicked into the other team’s end zone and the opposing team does not catch the ball and run it out of its own end zone. The opposing team also has the option to catch the punt or missed field goal attempt and kick the ball out of its end zone to avoid awarding the kicking team with a point.

During Thursday night’s CFL matchup, the Argos and Roughriders were tied 19-19 late in the game when Toronto got a shot to go for the win with a field goal attempt. With no time left on the clock, the Argos had a chance to kick for the win, but they didn’t need three points from a successful field goal in order to get the W.

Argos kicker Lirim Hajrullhau likely knew that if he hammered his kick, hard enough to go right through Saskatchewan’s end zone, the Roughriders wouldn’t be able to catch the ball and run or kick it out of their end zone. That, essentially, would give the Argos one point, which would be all they needed to beat the Roughriders at the last second.

So Hajrullhau crushed his kick, and despite missing the uprights wide to the left, it didn’t matter. The ball had sailed straight through the end zone and out of play, which meant the Roughriders weren’t able to return the football out of their own end zone.

The referee immediately held up his right arm and index finger, which signals a successful rouge, and one point awarded to the Argos. And with that, the Argos got the win with what they call a “walk-off rouge.”

For many football fans north of the border, this was just another close game that was decided by one of the CFL’s unique rules. But for our friends to the south, Thursday night’s result was downright blasphemous against the sport of football.

The CFL took the brunt of the heat on social media, but some just couldn’t help but share their gripes with the entire country of Canada while they were at it.

And that’s just what you can find from the American armchair football experts on social media. A quick “Argonauts rouge” search on Google will bring up some colourful headlines, including my personal favourite, “Canadian Football Might Have The Dumbest Rule In Sports And It Decided A Game Last Night.”

While some football fans were really struggling to wrap their minds around this quirky rouge rule, others (notably Canadians) were quick to defend the CFL and its “socialist” rulebook.

As @GetzyNSports noted in his post on X, the rouge rule is more than 100 years old, and the CFL won’t be changing it any time soon. So, the next time a walk-off rouge decides another close game in the CFL, we can surely depend on some more dubious reactions from our friendly American football fans.