By Rod Pedersen,
CFL.ca
Numbers.
In the Canadian Football League, we’re surrounded by them. Yards, receptions, carries, attempts, completions, sacks, picks, field goal percentages, punting averages — the list goes on and on.
Aside from players and fans, statistics are the most important component of football, and even those first two principles would be lost without them.
Player contracts are based on numbers, and at the end of the season generally all the Most Outstanding Player trophies are awarded to those players with the best statistics. In the CFL, stats are big business.
Since 1974, Regina’s Steve Stirr has set the standard for tallying stats and tracking play-by-play. A retired accountant, Stirr oversees a six-man crew that has worked like a well-oiled machine for years.
“Basically I chart everything that happens during the game,” Stirr told CFL.ca. “All the offence like rushing, passing, receiving, punting, kickoffs, field goals, penalties, first downs, everything. Part of our crew does the defence of course but the format I’m using I modified in the ’90s because the CFL went to a more pass-oriented game.”
Stirr was mentored by legendary stats-man Bill Hawrylak, a somewhat mythical figure in these parts whose system he instituted for the 1954 Grey Cup game remains the Bible over 50 years later. So hallowed in these football circles is Hawrylak that an elementary school was named after him.
With so much emphasis placed on statistics, Stirr has at times found himself embroiled in controversy. He may see a certain play one way, but the players in question may see it another. It’s similar to baseball where a scorekeeper may score an error and take away a batter’s hit, or preserve a no-hitter. Players are very protective of their “numbers”.
“I recall in 1980, it was (Winnipeg punter) Bob Cameron’s first year and I was the head stats-man and it was a windy day as usual here,” recalled Stirr. “He punted the ball into the wind and it actually landed behind the line of scrimmage and nobody touched it. The Riders recovered the ball and I recorded it as a minus-5 yard punt. We phoned it into Toronto back then and league statistician Gord Walker said no, that’s a fumble. That was the first problem I’d encountered. One time here a few years ago the Riders lined up for a field goal on about their own 25-yard line instead of punting, trying to take battle the wind. I considered it a punt, but the league said no it was a missed field goal. It can be a very difficult thing.”
If a player has a beef with the way any particular play was scored across the CFL, he can take it up with the league by launching a complaint through their own team’s P.R. staff.
In today’s computerized age, the play-by-play of games is sent online to CFL headquarters in Toronto. However, Stirr is old school and tracks each play on a chart in pencil in case of computer failure.
Stirr isn’t sure how many CFL teams use his system, however, he has had requests from most western teams for his sacred forms.
One would think you’d have to be a hardcore football fan to never miss a game over 33 years but Stirr rarely gets caught up in the Riders’ fortunes.
“I like working with numbers. Many times, nine times out ten, after the game is over I have to look at the scoresheet to see what happened. You have to concentrate so much on what you’re doing you don’t get to watch.”
Stirr performs his craft for love of the game, and his highlights include working the 1995 and 2003 Grey Cups in Regina.
“I’m like a grandpa to the boys on the crew so if you enjoy doing it, it’s part of the job.”
Rod Pedersen is the Voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Regina correspondent on The Score. Check out his daily blog at www.rodpedersen.com.
(The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the Canadian Football League)
