However, there is one team Kiwis might relate especially well to for its similarity in spirit and presence.
While New Zealand was recently referred to as the spiritual centre of rugby, my team was dubbed by a visiting sportswriter as the spiritual centre of the CFL.
This team is my Saskatchewan Roughriders.
I say my Roughriders because being born in Regina, Saskatchewan (the capital city of the province and official head office of the Riders), means I am genetically made up to be a fan.
Saskatchewan is geographically the size of the North and South Islands of New Zealand put together, but with a population of only about 1 million.
It is not a particularly sexy province, lacking Alberta's oil, British Colombia's mountains, or the financial power of the east.
Rather, it is an agricultural, prairie province that suffers long, snowy, harsh winters.
It is a province without the big budgets attached to many of the other CFL centres, which means it is hard to attract marquee players to the Riders.
Perhaps that accounts for Saskatchewanites' rabid support of their only professional sports team - knowing that those who come to play here aren't doing it just for the money.
With loyal fans that cheer madly win or lose (and there have been many long losing stretches), the Roughrider personnel are all about community in return.
It is well understood coaches and players are in Saskatchewan for more than just the sport of football.
They quickly learn that to be a Rider means involvement in the community throughout the province and most embrace that wholeheartedly.
Many players and coaching staff even stay on in Saskatchewan long after their official football part is done.
New players to the team sometimes don't get the depth of the Rider Nation spirit until they play their first away game.
One such rookie last year confessed he had been nervous about the team's first road trip to a much larger city than Regina.
He was puzzled by his veteran team-mates' looks of amusement and lack of comment.
Only on game day in the foreign stadium did he understand: the seats were awash with so much green and white, it was as if the team had never left Mosaic Stadium, in Regina.
It's not surprising that, as the CFL celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010, the Canadian Mint issued a one-dollar commemorative coin of only one team.
The Riders' flying "S" was now real money. And the green and white does sell.
The makers of sports regalia recently listed their top selling merchandise of all professional sports teams in Canada.
The first on the list was the Montreal Canadiens (hockey), followed by the Toronto Blue Jays (baseball) and then the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
This much-loved underdog team has only won the national prize - the Grey Cup - three times.
Being all of 5 years old at the time of the first win in 1966, my memory is a little vague.
However, I vividly recall the next victory in 1989.
Six of us female fans crammed into my living room to watch the Grey Cup broadcast, terrorising my cat with our passionate shrieks and nervous pacing.
When at last Dave Ridgeway kicked the field goal to win the game with seconds left on the clock, we knew what had to be done: hop in the car and drive!Up and down the centre street of Regina we joined the mayhem.
No alcohol was needed to produce the ridiculously happy, giddy looks on everyone's faces.
Cheering, laughing, smiling, breathless pride oozed among the crowds of green-blooded people.
In addition to me (a frequent but, alas, temporary visitor to New Zealand), another member of that original euphoric posse now lives full-time in Wellington.
I suspect there are even more Rider Priders lurking in the southern hemisphere.
The most recent Grey Cup victory occurred in 2007.
In stark contrast to the last celebration, my mind was on fans further afield this time.
I had buried my mom just three days before the big game.
She was about to turn 82 when she died instantly of a heart malfunction and did not suffer.
So it wasn't without a little poignancy that I watched our green and white make an interception in the final minutes of the game to secure their win.
Instead of the need to make loud whoops of triumph, I smiled quietly instead, imagining Mom and Dad together again (Dad had died 10 years earlier), cheering on their team.
How could our boys possibly have lost when "Go, Riders, go" was surely echoing around in heaven?
Susan Young
Canadian Kiwi
Team: Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Sport: Canadian football.
Fan since: Birth.
Favourite player: Every single one of them, past and present.
Greatest moment: Making it to the Grey Cup final in 2009 and, despite everyone expecting them to be thrashed by powerhouse Montreal, holding their own and winning the game (although a misguided referee's call changed that outcome with no time showing on the clock).
