‘We can’t blame the refs’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/09/2010 (5525 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The teeth gnashing and grumbling about officials will continue for days, perhaps weeks. But so will this storyline for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers:

Until this outfit learns to finish when it matters, there will be more pain and heartbreak in its future.

Some Bomber players and coaches huddled at their offices briefly on Saturday, hours after their crushing 44-40 loss to the Montreal Alouettes, a loss that left them 3-9 and pointing accusatory fingers at the referees.

And their focus, not surprisingly, was not only on how a 40-31 fourth-quarter lead evaporated, but how to deal with the lingering anger about the work of referee Murray Clarke and his crew with a crucial home-and-home series with the B.C. Lions up next.

Several Bombers lashed out at the officials in the immediate aftermath of the loss — as did head coach Paul LaPolice — and likely face fines.

“The thing I’m frustrated with is it’s my responsibility to make sure they don’t speak out,” said LaPolice in his scrum with the media Saturday. “No one in this organization believes the referees had it in for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Nobody believes they wanted Montreal to win. That’s not this organization’s statement. But the players are frustrated with the consistency of the calls.

“I understand that things happen fast for them but that’s not their place to (harshly criticize).

“Through all that, we still need to execute better to win the football game. We can be frustrated because there were some crucial (reffing) mistakes made, but there were just as many mistakes made offensively, defensively and on special teams.”

That’s the politically correct line, given time for reflection. But that will be a tough sell for LaPolice to pitch to his squad this week.

It’s an even tougher sell to a faithful but frustrated fan base, many of who are lashing out on two Bomber-based chat rooms and on the Bomber Facebook page. Among the thread titles on OurBombers.com and The Extra Point, the chat room on the Bombers own website, in the wake of the loss were:

‘Whaddya think? Is the fix really in?’

‘Jake Ireland getting fired over this???’

‘Officials on the take?’

‘How to contact the cfl…’

‘Officials cost us the game…’

All of this will matter little when the Bombers return to work Tuesday in advance of Saturday’s game in Vancouver against the Lions.

“That’s the tough thing for them, to keep bouncing back,” said LaPolice. “They did a tremendous job in this game. They were down 10-0 to one of the best teams, one of the best franchises in the CFL and they just said, ‘No, we’ll just keep making plays.’ Those are all great things to build on, but it’s easier to build on two points.

“There’s plenty of blame to go around the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. We have to play through it.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca