THE release of the CFL player's association all-star team was met with relatively little fanfare and/or publicity when it was announced last week by the player's union. This may have been because of the timing of the list -- the season has been over for many months now and the other all-star team comes out at the start of the post-season -- or a perceived lack of prominence when compared to the CFL, Football Reporters of Canada (FRC) and fan all-star compilation.
But it's an interesting and important selection to look at for several reasons: 1) to see what the differences are in the voting opinions of both groups; 2) to compare the number of Canadians on the lists that are considered in the upper echelon of the league; 3) because many players have these all-star selections as incentives in their contracts that can benefit them as much as $5,000 per recognition.
B.C.’s Jason Clermont was not a CFLPA all-star in 2007.
The FRC or CFL all-star team is voted on by the Football Reporters of Canada as well as -- for the first time this year -- a 25 per cent input by fans who were able to vote online. The CFLPA all-star team selection format has not changed much for some time. It is a compilation of votes from players (players on the same team cannot vote for each other) and coaches from across the CFL.
While the CFLPA list is probably more revered by the players since it is decided upon by their peers and opposing coaches -- judging from the response I got as a player rep for our team who distributes the ballots, only about half the team actually takes the time to vote, so it is most likely not entirely representative of the thoughts and feelings of all the players and coaches in the CFL.
Accordingly, while disgruntled players left off the FRC/CFL team complain that the media doesn't always know what they are talking about, many of the FRC members actually take the time to interview a large sample of players to accurately estimate their opinions and cast their vote.
The wild card this year, of course, is the fact that a quarter of the FRC/CFL vote was impacted by the fan base in a league-wide promotion to get the fans involved in identifying the league's best players -- and thereby both systems have their proponents and detractors.
But after comparing both all-star teams for 2007, there are many things to be learned in addition to the fact that both lists appear to be reasonably close representations of last year's top performers in the CFL.
The FRC/CFL all-star team seems to favour the American players marginally more, as only six of their 24 all-stars were Canadian, whereas eight of the CFLPA's 24 are classified as non-imports.
Offensive selections between the two groups appear to be the most contentious, as no less than seven starters are different.
The two candidates for MVP of the CFL were split as Kevin Glenn was a CFLPA all-star and Kerry Joseph -- the inevitable award winner -- a FRC/CFL all-star. Jason Clermont, the winner of the Most Outstanding Canadian award in 2007 and Geroy Simon, another highly-regarded, prolific receiver, were not CFLPA all-stars, replaced respectively by Milt Stegall and Kamau Peterson, according to the players and coaches of the CFLPA. The offensive line positions proved to have the most differences in opinion as no less than three starters on the CFLPA team -- Patrick Kabongo, Andrew Greene, and Marwan Hage -- were represented with different choices for the FRC/CFL team with Rob Murphy, Kelly Bates and Jeremy O'Day taking their places.
On defence, the selections of the FRC/CFL and CFLPA were very close to being identical. Only four players on the CFLPA team -- Adriano Belli, Jojuan Armour, Korey Banks and Barron Miles were not both represented on the FRC/CFL team as Tyrone Williams, Kevin Eiben, Kenny Wheaton, and Orlando Steinauer were thought of as higher-calibre or more deserving from this year's unique voter pool.
Overall, with widely differing methods of tabulation and accounting in these votes, it was surprising yet encouraging that more than half of the recipients on both all-star teams were identical.
Whether the limited number of players and coaches who participate in the CFLPA poll or the masses of fans and media members that decide the FRC all-stars are reflective of who the true all-stars for 2007 really were can surely be debated by fans, players and coaches alike until the process begins all over again in just a few months.
Doug Brown, always a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.
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