Riders’ Jones fumbles the rules
GM under fire for ratio violations, then pleading ignorance
What a week it has been in Regina, where the Roughriders are under fire, feeling the heat and steamed all at the same time.
The CFL’s flagship franchise got pinched for ratio violations two weeks ago, but then last week they were found, according to a league statement, to be “in violation of policies which prohibit practicing with ineligible players, players participating in practice who are on the six-game injured list and having free agents practice with players who are under contact.”
The Riders were fined $60,000 and had their 2016 salary cap reduced by $26,000. Basically, they got caught doing what everyone has to do in the CFL, where rosters are small and injuries make them even smaller. They were just too cavalier about it and got caught.
So all they had to do was pay the fine, apologize and move on.
But no. Riders general manager and head coach Chris Jones decided to go with the ignorance defence, saying what his team did had been done at each of his CFL stops for the past 14 years. While that is likely true, it is no justification.
A GM’s job is to know the rules and use them accordingly. Pleading ignorance suggests Jones is a great coach and a lousy general manager. Then he didn’t answer any questions from the media about his significant indiscretions that, according to commissioner Jeffrey Orridge, “compromised the integrity” of the CFL.
Jones then doubled down during the post-game handshake to tell Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson, according to the Calgary Sun’s Scott Mitchell, to “win with some class.”
To what Jones was referring specifically is unknown, but it capped an impressive week of surprising indignation from a Riders organization heading toward a dead-last finish for the second straight season.
Opinions aplenty
The Saskatchewan situation led to some disparate, yet passionate reactions in the media.
Graham Kelly of the Medicine Hat News, who has been covering the league for 44 years and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame media wing in 2002, wrote Tuesday Jones should be fired
“I’ve done a lot of research over the years into the ingredients of championship teams,” Kelly wrote. “Whether it be Hugh Campbell’s Eskimos, Ken Preston’s Roughriders, the Rogers Lehew, Wally Buono, John Hufnagel Stampeders, the Buono/ Bob Ackles Lions, the Bud Grant/ Cal Murphy Blue Bombers or Ralph Sazio’s great teams in Hamilton and Toronto, the common threads are honesty and integrity on and off the field and in the front office. I’ve known all those men well and can vouch for their good character.
“The Roughriders do not possess such qualities. Hubris and Chris Jones have brought them to the sorry pass where, after a thorough investigation, the CFL has fined them $60,000, the most severe penalty in league history.”
On the other side of the coin, Riders radio play-by-play man Rod Pedersen went on a long and rambling rant on his blog, accusing the league and Orridge of having an “anti-Roughrider bias” and for being on a “witch hunt” against the organization. What really irked Pedersen was Orridge’s comment in the league’s press release about how the Riders had compromised the league’s integrity.
“The same 1-6 Saskatchewan Roughriders who are currently leading the league in attendance,” Pedersen wrote. “The Golden Goose. The CFL has a problem all right, but it definitely ain’t us.”
Feels right
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame game and induction ceremony will take place next month where it should always take place: Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field.
The league announced the news Tuesday it is headed back to the Hammer. The Hall of Fame has always been in Steeltown and next year it will become a permanent fixture at THF after it became unfeasible on its own in downtown Hamilton.
The league moved the game around the country over the last eight years, but it’s great to see it going back to where it belongs.
Doug Brown, Rodney Harding, Derrell (Mookie) Mitchell, James West and builder Don McDonald will be inducted Sept. 15 and then honoured the next day during Hamilton’s game against Montreal.
Nobody asked me, but ...
Here’s hoping Duron Carter gets to play this week against the Redblacks. He doesn’t deserve to be suspended for bumping into Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell more than a month ago ... The CFL whiffed once again in sending a message to defenders that you can’t try to maim quarterbacks. Redblacks middle linebacker Damaso Munoz received only a fine for delivering a hard hit to Mike Reilly’s head two weeks ago.
“Hubris and Chris Jones have brought them (Riders) to the sorry pass where ... the CFL has fined them $60,000 ...” — Graham Kelly