After a clothesline hit on Calgary Stampeder Tim Brown, Saskatchewan Roughrider Randy Richards faced repercussions. And there were many.
Right before half time in Saturday’s football game between division rivals the Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders, Stamps returner Tim Brown was clotheslined by Richards. Brown was temporarily down on the field, but luckily returned to the game unharmed. But Richards was ejected from the game and will most likely be fined for the hit. Was it a good call by the officials? Should there be other consequences?
It happens often in the CFL and the NFL; players are being fined for illegal and dangerous hits. A couple weeks ago, Roughrider, Brendon LaBatte was fined for a chop block. BC’s Alex Bazzie was fined for lowering and leading the helmet on a hit; every single team in the CFL has at least one fined player so far this year for unnecessary roughness, or in Montreal’s case, critical comments on twitter about the officials. Every team has been fined, and we’re not even half through the season.
Usually the only consequence for such a penalty is a fine. But similar to last year when Montreal’s Kyries Hebert was fined and suspended for three games for a hit that took out Stampeder Jon Cornish, Richards was ejected from the game and will probably be fined. There’s a not-so-friendly discussion on social media between Stamps fans and Rider fans, each arguing whether he should have been ejected or not.
Stamps fans are saying he should also see a suspension and fine on top of having been ejected and Rider fans are saying he shouldn’t have been ejected at all. After all, hits similar to these happen almost every week and players have not been taken out of the game on top of a fine. Tim Brown himself, voiced his opinion, “He stuck his arm out — he saved a touchdown — but I don’t think it was a dirty play. I don’t think he should have been ejected.” It begs the question, was it the right call?
It comes down to the officials. Both the CFL and NFL are taking a stand in unsafe play. More calls are being made and there are more ramifications to unnecessary roughness. And the officials have to make the call as they see it.
Maybe the issue here is consistency. If a player is not injured as a result of the play, then maybe there should only be a fine. If there is an injury, then perhaps that warrants a suspension or ejection as well. The calls and the consequences are supposed to be stopping these types of hits to begin with, regardless of whether they result in an injury. My take is that the penalty has to be more severe than just a fine. I say this because the fine isn’t stopping the players from making unsafe tackles.
Of course, the biggest repercussion from the clothesline tackle is the 25-yard penalty that came along with it. It fueled Calgary’s momentum and they scored a touchdown on the very next play. This penalty caused the Riders to lose another game, keeping them winless.
The argument will go back and forth probably for the rest of the week, but whether you agree with the call or not, can we at least agree that the penalties have to be more severe than a fine if the goal is to stop them altogether? Regardless of the colour of your jersey, I think we’re all for safer football in our league.
