DCHP-2

rouge ((n.)) [ru:ʒ] DCHP-2 (July 2016)

• n. — Canadian Football

  the scoring of a single point on a missed field goal, or when the receiving team fails to run a kicked ball out of its end zone.

  Type: 1. Origin — The origin is considered "obscure" in DCHP-1, but is almost certainly inherited from the English rugby term of that name. A rouge is sometimes also called single or single point. American football, with the exception of some minor leagues, does not recognize single points of this type. As of late (see the 2006 quotation), the rouge, after coming close to being abolished by the CFL in 2005, has become entrenched as a Canadian feature. Even if not Canadian by origin, the term has lately become culturally significant. As Chart 1 shows, the term is -- in the phrase to score a rouge to cancel out noise -- overwhelmingly used in Canada.
  See also Gage-1, s.v. "rouge (3)", which defines the meaning as "in Canadian football", ITP Nelson, s.v. "rouge (3)", which is marked "Cdn. Football", COD-2, s.v. "rouge (3)", which is labelled "Cdn Football".

  See also: Canadian football  safety touch (def. 1)  single (point)  touch-in-goal  rouge ((v.))  

  • 1895  A "rouge" occurs when a man . . . touches the ball down behind his own goal. . . .
  • 1925  Ross downs Henderson for rouge. 
  • 1943  The forecast is "fair and cold" which means a dry, firm field and a chance for the Crusaders to again exploit their forward-passing which gave Kelvin trouble Friday. A long pass, Fred Miller to Kev Madden, set up St. Paul's lone point before the Katles stormed up the field in the last minute to score an equalizing rouge. The kick-off tonight is at 8 o'clock. 
  • 1954  Other Canadian features which aroused interest were the rouge and the fact that kicks must be run back. . . .
  • 1964  The above article [1895] mentions the only peculiarly Canadian feature of football which endures namely the single point, either the "rouge" or the "touch in goal."
  • 1966  If only our rouge were added to the American game, football . . . wouldn't leave a thing to be desired as a game.
  • 1976  In ye olden days when the kickoff was made at the centre field stripe the ball was frequently propelled beyond the goal line and a single point -- then called a rouge -- was forced.
  • 2000  Dump the rouge: Albrecht wants CFL to kill point for missed field goals; [DAILY Edition] 
  • 2006  But that's not the way it is here. There are many things that make the Canadian Football League unique: Three downs, the big field, the frequent ritual hiring and purging of commissioners. The latter has become as much a part of the game as the rouge. Even taking Keith Davey's short six months on the job in 1966-67 out of the mix, it's quite a remarkable list when you look it. 
  • 2009  Ed Tait, the fine football writer for the Winnipeg Free Press, who is also a past president of the Football Reporters of Canada, joked that the downtrodden rouge actually needs a profile boost and this is the perfect opportunity. "All overtime games must be determined by who can score a rouge first, to set up the unique punt-it-in, hoof-it-out scenario unique to the Canadian game," Tait wrote in an e-mail. "Oh, and get all 42 players on the field for the final attempt. Home team can throw their band out there to get the finish like the Stanford-Cal contest." 
  • 2016  The Athletics Department is offering DailyNews readers a chance to win gold seat tickets to watch the no. 10 Lancer football team take on the no. 8 McMaster Marauders on Alumni Field, Saturday, September 17, at 7 p.m.
    [...]
    1. The Lancers scored a rouge as time ran out to defeat Laurier 41-40 last week. How many times did Windsor kicker Dan Cerino punt in the course of that final play?