STATISTICAL SCORING RULES

SECTION 1 — FIRST DOWNS

A first down shall be recorded whenever the yardsticks are ordered forward by the officials on a sequence of downs, whenever a touchdown is scored on an offensive play from scrimmage, and whenever a gain from scrimmage is made on the last play in a half that would have resulted in a first down being awarded had time not run out. However a first down shall not be awarded when a team first gains possession as a result of a kick, a fumble, a pass interception or a penalty.

First downs gained are subdivided to show the type of play responsible for the gain, as follows:

  1. By Rushing — means that the play that resulted in a new first down being awarded was a rushing play, even though a different type of play may have accounted for most of the yardage in that series of downs.
  2. By Passing — means that the play that resulted in a new first down being awarded was a passing play, even though a different type of play may have accounted for most of the yardage in that series of downs.
  3. By Penalty — means that the yardsticks were ordered forward as a result of the application of penalty.

THE OFFICIAL PLAYING RULES FOR THE CANADIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2016

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Content compiled and entered by Glen Johnson, Jeff Harbin and Andre Proulx

The CFL Official Rule Book is published annually by the Canadian Football League. Any inquiries regarding the CFL Official Playing Rules may be directed to Darren Hackwood, Director of Officiating at dhackwood@cfl.ca. Any inquiries regarding CFL Statistical Scoring Rules may be directed to Steve Daniel, Director of Game Information and Head Statistician at sdaniel@cfl.ca.