Simpson rejects Blue return

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This article was published 17/09/2009 (5857 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers attempt to kiss and make up with Barrin Simpson has apparently been met with a cold shoulder and a slap in the mug.

The latest chapter in the bizarre tale that has become the Simpson Saga unfolded on Wednesday when head coach Mike Kelly informed the media at his daily scrum that the veteran linebacker was approached Tuesday night with an offer to return to the lineup this Sunday in Montreal against the Alouettes.

"We’ve asked him, ‘How do you feel? Do you think you can play, would you like to play?’ And he said, ‘No,’ " said Kelly. "So we just keep going along and hopefully at some point we’ll have some conclusion to this.

"I still think that Barrin has value. I don’t fully understand his stance, but I appreciate that that’s the decision that he’s made and we’ll just keep working and operating along as best we can to serve the other 52 players."

Just to recap, Simpson was asked prior to the Banjo Bowl if he would accept taking a reduced role — but while still suiting up — in an effort to take some of the strain off a turf-toe injury that has seen him take two pain-killing needles a game since the beginning of the season. When he asked if his play had declined and was told no, Simpson then asked for a trade.

He was apparently then moved to the one-game injured list but on the weekend he was placed on the nine-gamer instead. Simpson then filed a grievance with the CFL this week claiming he hadn’t signed a consent form that would allow the Bombers to move him there — and keep his salary from counting against the cap. The league initially ruled in the Bombers’ favour, saying the team did not need his consent as long as he was made aware of the decision. That ruling drew howls of protest from rival teams who insist they were not made aware of that ‘loophole.’

The CFL said Wednesday the Bombers’ application/interpretation of the rule will be handled by the league’s board of governors during meetings next Tuesday and Wednesday in Toronto. In the meantime, Simpson will remain on the nine-game injured list, although the team could remove him at any time and activate him or trade him.

The Bombers have contacted some CFL teams about Simpson — as well as giving his new agent Mark Maren the green light to do the same — but a deal seems unlikely until the veteran’s status can be clarified.

And in another twist, Simpson was at practice Wednesday watching but not participating.

Asked afterward if he could update the situation, he pretended to zip his lips shut and said: "I got nothing."

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Kelly did admit that the whole Simpson story is becoming a distraction and hurting a team that is now dealing with a couple of sideshows a week.

"I’ve always spoken that’s there’s no one individual that’s ahead of the team," he said. "And so, it does hurt us in the fact that he was out there with all of you (the media) the other day while 52 guys who were getting prepared to play the game get ignored. And here we are getting ready to play the best team in the Canadian Football League and our guys are fighting and scrapping and clawing and we’re talking about a guy who isn’t going to play in the game. So, yeah, that does hurt our team to some degree."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca