CFL Announces New Policy To Protect Players
03/10/2008 05:02
Saying the league has a profound responsibility to protect their players from serious injury, CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon announced a new standard of discipline that includes suspensions.
Effective immediately, any penalty that causes a "substantial and unnecessary risk of injury" to another player will be met with a mandatory suspension.
"By setting this new standard, we are striving to give players clear, advance and fair warning of the penalties that they will face for acts that have no place in our game," Cohon said.
Last week, Edmonton Eskimos' linebacker Agustin Barrenechea was assessed a penalty when he injured Winnipeg Blue Bombers' quarterback Kevin Glenn in a helmet-to-helmet collision. A fight ensued on the field and six players, including Barrenechea, were subsequently fined but not suspended.
According to the Winnipeg Sun, the league admitted that it didn't suspend Barrenechea because, based on precedent, it felt a suspension would be overturned on appeal. The two teams meet again at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday.
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SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:
Wow, I don’t believe it – here’s the policy that I actually called for earlier this week. I thought I’d never see the day.