Bombers weigh in as addiction to gambling sparks another CFL wildfire

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It seems it’s wildfire season in the CFL. One dies down and another pops up somewhere else.

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While training camps are supposed to be all about the fight for jobs and setting the stage for another season, this year it’s been all about problem players and suspensions.

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The Toronto Argonauts have thrown a temporary wet blanket on the Chad Kelly affair, keeping their star quarterback, accused of sexually harassing a strength coach, away from workouts the last few days.

Kelly had made an appearance at rookie camp last week, despite being suspended for the first half of the season.

The Argonauts’ brain trust finally realized that wasn’t a good look.

No sooner had that smoke cleared than another blaze burst out in Montreal, as D-lineman Shawn Lemon appeared at their training camp.

Yes, the same Shawn Lemon who abruptly retired last month, two weeks before the CFL suspended him indefinitely for gambling on games, including one he played in.

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The reason the 35-year-old Lemon rose from the ashes: the players union is grieving his suspension.

That breaking Tuesday tidbit caused CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie to drop his gloves and throw a virtual haymaker in the direction of the union.

“The CFL is disappointed that the Players’ Association would challenge a decision so fundamental to the integrity of our league,” read Ambrosie’s statement. “The league’s rules prohibiting CFL-related gambling in 2021 were made abundantly clear to all players at the time, yet Mr. Lemon knowingly ignored those rules. The prohibition of wagering on the CFL by CFL personnel, including players, is critical to the reputation and standing of the league.”

Needless to say, Ambrosie will get the league’s lawyers to “vigorously defend” its position at an upcoming arbitration hearing.

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With action like this, who needs actual games?

This is what happens when you get in bed with gambling.

The incessant ads may preach responsible wagering, but pro sports and the networks who broadcast them have quickly become addicted to it.

Addictions routinely break up families, and this one’s creating a strain on the relationship between the CFL and the players union.

Even here in Happy Valley, also known as Winnipeg.

On one side, Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea, the Hall of Fame player and future Hall of Fame coach who values integrity above pretty much everything else in a game that’s become his life’s work.

O’Shea says he echoes what Ambrosie laid out.

“I don’t see any place in this league for people who bet on our football games, bet on their own football games,” the coach said. “I really take a lot of pride in this league and the integrity this league has had … it’s an iconic Canadian organization. I don’t think it should be called into question with this new wave of gambling that’s going on.”

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Taking a different view is Jake Thomas, one of the Bombers’ player union reps, who stands behind Lemon’s right to grieve his suspension.

“Obviously it’s a touchy subject, especially in the world we’re in now,” Thomas said. “Shawn would had the right to grieve the indefinite suspension. I don’t know if it’s so much the act itself or the indefinite part.”

As for how well players know the rules, Thomas says last year was the first year there was an educational component to the league’s gambling policy.

The component involves a handful of instructional videos players must access on their own time and complete before the first game of the season.

That’s in sharp contrast to the league’s drug policy education, which involves a team presentation and a written test, with rules Thomas describes as “pretty cut and dried.”

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“As a PA rep, we still get a lot of questions,” Thomas said of the gambling policy.

He gave one example: “Are we allowed to gamble on other sports?”

His reply: “To the best of my knowledge, I believe you can.”

Thomas is happy to see the educational component, but doesn’t believe it was in place when Lemon was betting on games three years ago.

No doubt that’ll be part of the union’s grievance.

O’Shea makes a good point, though: Does that even matter?

“The majority of society doesn’t need education in rules to follow the rules,” O’Shea said.

No we don’t. It’s up to us to care enough to figure things out – before we get in trouble.

Given the public hoopla around sports gambling, and not just in the last year or two, claiming you don’t know the rules is akin to saying you didn’t see the posted speed limit.

It doesn’t wash.

Still, no less than 10 players have been suspended in the NFL this season alone for either betting on NFL games or placing bets while on league property.

Seems the temptation is just too great.

This is what happens when you throw a match into a forest of deadwood.

Anybody who didn’t see this fire coming was just ignoring the smoke.

pfriesen@postmedia.com
X: @friesensunmedia

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