The injured elephant in the room

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/03/2018 (2225 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dozens of the best players in the Canadian Football League filter in and out of the background of a busy hotel boardroom Friday, painting what has been a familiar scene at CFL Week in Winnipeg, as I sit with commissioner Randy Ambrosie.

If you’ve ever met Ambrosie, who took over as commissioner last June, you know he has a genuine passion for the league and that he cares about where it’s headed. He played in the CFL, winning a Grey Cup with the Edmonton Eskimos in 1993, so when he says he loves every player, a statement that would seem odd for those who have never been on the field, comes across as authentic.

“Fans love them and when you watch them with the fans you know that they love the fans back,” he tells me. “There’s a joy in these players that I think is second to none in pro sports.”

In a way, Ambrosie is correct in his observation. For days I have watched players engage fondly with the hundreds of people that have taken part in the events over the past few days, and there certainly is a mutual admiration. In speaking with more than 20 players, not a single one will argue against fans being the lifeblood of the game.

But the second half of Ambrosie’s statement, that players share a unique joy and pride for their league like no other, doesn’t ring as true. In fact, Ambrosie finds himself at somewhat of a crossroads with his players, all of whom are appreciative of the opportunity they have to play professional football in a league where they’re admired, but say they don’t always feel the love their commissioner professes to have for them.

For instance, earlier this week, the CFL’s Player’s Association (CFLPA) filed a grievance against the league and its nine member clubs for how it has handled player safety. While the CFLPA points to different elements in the claim — including failing to protect players from injuries and failing to warn them of their risks and dangers — it’s the part where the CFL has failed to compensate players who sustain long-term injuries that remains the elephant in the room. It has players questioning not only the league’s intentions but its integrity.

“When you have someone who gets injured in our league, who loses the use of their limbs in a devastating, life-altering injury and isn’t being cared for, you can’t grandstand as a league and say how great CFL Week is,” says Bear Woods, a middle linebacker for the Toronto Argonauts.

“We have a commissioner going across the country doing town halls, praising our social-media projects and claiming how professional a league we are when there is a guy down in South Carolina that can’t use one of his arms because our collective bargaining agreement says that after 12 months there’s nothing they can do. That’s not a professional league.”

What Woods is referring to is the injury sustained by former Montreal Alouettes defensive back Jonathan Hefney. You’d think Woods was on the field with the emotion he exhibits when talking about Hefney, a former teammate who suffered a severe neck injury, including permanent nerve damage, following a helmet-to-helmet collision in a game against the Ottawa Redblacks in 2015.

Hefney needed three surgeries, only one of which fit within the 12-month window.

The first procedure cost $88,000, with 90 per cent covered by insurance and 10 per cent paid by the Alouettes as an insurance deductible. By the time his post-surgery rehab ended, it was beyond one year and no longer the responsibility of the Alouettes.

Almost three years later, he still can’t use his left arm and tasks that were simple before, like brushing his teeth, are now a daily struggle. Woods fears the impact reaches beyond his friend’s health and is not only hurting the perception of the game here but south of the border.

“When Hefney goes back home and people ask him how he injured himself he has to tell them he played six years in the CFL and he lost the use of his arm and they don’t cover his surgery,” Woods says. “In the U.S., we’re not looked at as a professional league.”

John Bowman is about to enter his 13th season in the CFL, all with the Alouettes. He played one year with Hefney but admired him from afar as a fierce opponent. The two still stay in touch weekly. Like Woods, Bowman says he loves the CFL but can’t wrap his head around why it would turn its back on a man who dedicated his life to the game.

“It’s guys like him that are the reason I still play,” Bowman says. “He was going to hit a guy 50 pounds heavier than him and never hesitated. He would run through a wall for his team. You tell me we can’t do something for that guy? I think CFL Week is great but how much does this cost?”

Bowman and Woods are not unique in their views.

Other players that have no connection to Hefney also told me they feel the league is in a difficult spot when it comes to image.

What complicates issues further is the collective bargaining agreement expires prior to the 2019 season, making what would seem like a difficult situation between the league and its players even tougher to navigate.

Ambrosie doesn’t see it that way. He says the ongoing CBA negotiations have been cordial and progress has been made. Perhaps what’s most telling from our conversation is when he’s told of the players’ displeasure over long-term disability coverage, he readily admits there is a lot of work the CFL has to do to improve.

“For me it’s a reminder that the work isn’t done,” the commissioner says. “I think we need to raise the bar. I just believe we do. I think we need to be serious about acknowledging areas where we need improvement.

“I don’t want anyone to think that I think that we’ve got it all figured out, that somehow that we’re hiding behind the idea that we’ve got a panacea here that is perfect. I think we should accept and acknowledge there are things that we have to work on, that if we got those things right it would make our game better.

“That’s the way I want people to think about the Canadian Football League and, at a level, think about me. I want them to actually feel that I’m willing to do this, to sit eyeball to eyeball and listen to them, to be empathetic to the things that are concerns to them. I’m not trivializing it at all — I’m serious about it. But it has to start with this idea that you’re willing to listen and acknowledge your imperfections and then work towards finding solutions.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jeffkhamilton