He’s no scientist
Randy Ambrosie still not sure of his position on CTE
WINNIPEG — Randy Ambrosie is still not ready to acknowledge the connection between football-related head injuries and CTE and says it’s not necessarily his job to do so.
“I’m not sure it’s important what position Randy Ambrosie has because at the end of the day, I’m not a scientist and I’m not a medical practitioner,” the Canadian Football League commissioner said during a 1-on-1 interview with Postmedia on Tuesday ahead of CFL Week in Winnipeg.
“Mistakenly, I’ve allowed myself to be characterized as having an opinion on this and what I should basically be saying is, ‘I’m being completely guided by science.’”
Ambrosie said in his stateof-the-league address at the Grey Cup last November that the science linking football to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) remains inconclusive.
“The cause and effect is unclear, it just simply is,” he said at the time.
This, despite the fact that officials in the NFL have conceded there is a link.
There is also plenty of strong scientific opinion that the repeated blows to the head suffered by football players can lead to the progressive brain disease, which has been found in athletes who died at relatively young ages.
Ambrosie, 55, knows there are football players who were discovered to have had CTE after they died. There’s no disputing that.
He took heat in November for refusing to acknowledge the link between the game and the disease, despite that understanding. One Toronto newspaper editorial called it “willful blindness” or a “desire (by the league) to defend itself from two lawsuits.”
The Supreme Court of Canada recently ruled it will not hear the case of former CFL star Arland Bruce, who wanted to sue the league over concussion trauma, but the league has also been named in a $200-million class-action lawsuit.
On Tuesday, Ambrosie went to a common sports mantra in his explanation of his current thoughts on the situation: Control what you can control.
“I’m going to work on the things that I, as commissioner of the league, can do,” Ambrosie said. “I can work really hard on the safety of the game — we’re looking at rule changes for this year. That’s what a football guy and a business guy can control, in this case, me.
“What we have to do is let science guide us on this. I really believe that and that’s why what I have to do is I have to be willing to go anywhere, anyplace and any time and meet with scientists who are doing the work to understand what’s happening in this area.”
To that end, Ambrosie attended a medical conference with all the doctors from around the CFL earlier this year.
“I was not only in the room but I was a fully activated participant in the discussions around player safety issues,” he said. “I don’t want them to think of me as a passenger as they are charged with the safety of our players. I want them to see me as someone who is actively involved.”
It seems Ambrosie’s approach is forward thinking, looking to protect present and future players from brain injury, while skirting around the issue of why we know that’s important.
That’s, at least, halfway right.
The commissioner spearheaded a move last year, along with the CFL Players Association, to eliminate full-contact, padded practices and add in an extra bye week in the 2018 season to give players a little extra recovery time.
“On the first day that I was announced into this role last year, I said I’m not a doctor, I’m not a scientist but I’m going to be somebody who cares a lot about this,” Ambrosie said. “That’s the one thing that’s unequivocal to me: I have to care about the players as much or more than any other human being on the planet. Some of the things that we’ve done, like the non-contact practice change we made in co-operation with the players association, are in line with that.
“I can do as much as I can to focus on the safety of the game and then I’m going to let the scientists be experts in their field and pay really close attention to what they’re telling me. I meet with them regularly and I read every report that I can get my hands on. I’ve tried very hard to stay current on this.”
Those intentions are to be commended.
But some would say until the day he acknowledges the link between football and CTE, he won’t be current at all.