The CFL continues to go global. That is because, as reported by American Football International, they have announced the upcoming global combine dates.
The 2022 Global Combine schedule includes combines in Europe, Brazil and Japan. Most notable of all of course for us the UK based combine to be held on March the 5th.
This will be the second CFL combine to be held in the UK. The last one saw David Izinyon, then of the Rostock Griffins begin his journey towards the Hamilton Tiger-Cats roster.
CFL 2.0 – all about going global
CFL 2.0 is well and truly up and running. When it was introduced, the main focus for UK based fans were the ‘plans for a greater ‘international presence’. The key point being “Building bridges with countries, outside of North America, that play American football.”
The hope was that ‘the best players from the world beyond the U.S. and Canada’ could be invited to vie to play in the CFL.
Well now players from the UK, around Europe and beyond are continuing to get their chance.
The Hansen Effect
Let’s call it the ‘Hansen Effect’ in honour of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Thiadric Hansen. Hansen has two Grey Cup rings from his time with the Blue Bombers and is the poster boy for the CFL global movement in Europe. Hansen has said in the past that he wants to be a standard bearer for the global player movement.
What would be great for UK based fans would be to see a UK name making the same impact. The talent is here too. Players like Efe Obada have made NFL rosters, so why not the CFL too?
The Global Combines
Candidates will undergo a series of tests including the standard 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle and three-cone drills as well as vertical jump and bench press. Various positional drills will also be conducted.
The international combines will be attended CFL representatives. The top players will then be invited to Toronto in late March for the 2022 CFL Combine.
We will be able to keep an eye on global combine results here when the time comes.
The CFL sets some dates
Alongside all of these dates the CFL has released some key dates for the upcoming season too.
Notably, after the final global combine, regional combines will take place in Canada between the 10th and 18th of March.
The CFL Draft will be on May the 3rd and the pre-season kicks off on May the 27th.
There is a lot for CFL fans to look forward to. Whether they are watching on from Canada or from a more global perspective.
Banner image from the Winnipeg Sun