First and goal

CFL needs to fix its officiating or the whole league is tarnished

By: Ed Tait Posted: 1:00 AM CDT Tuesday, Sep. 28, 2010

Five storylines that jumped out while observing the past week of Canadian Football League action:

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Five storylines that jumped out while observing the past week of Canadian Football League action:

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/09/2010 (5523 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five storylines that jumped out while observing the past week of Canadian Football League action:

1 Nobody asked me, but we’re going to tee off anyway with one more thought on CFL officiating after another weekend of explanations and interpretations from the boss of referees, Tom Higgins.

COLLEEN DE NEVE / POSTMEDIA NEWS ARCHIVES
The CFL takes another blow to its credibility every time Tom Higgins, the league’s director of officials, is forced to explain the questionable calls of the men in stripes. — COLLEEN DE NEVE / POSTMEDIA NEWS ARCHIVES The CFL takes another blow to its credibility every time Tom Higgins, the league’s director of officials, is forced to explain the questionable calls of the men in stripes.

It seems that when Higgins is getting as much ink/air time as commissioner Mark Cohon — who was front and centre in Moncton at Touchdown Atlantic — then the league has a problem. And when we get email after email questioning the competence of the officials and the inconsistency in calls from one quarter to another — let alone one game to another — then the league’s credibility is taking a size-large hit.

There is no quick fix here, however. The CFL needs to throw more dough at recruiting officials and educating everyone — from the men in striped shirts to the officials and players to the guys at video command centre — on every nuance of every rule.

And it says here the league’s referees should be full-time employees — not part-timers — who are paid to be constantly working at improving their craft.

2. The juiciest subplot this week will have a direct impact on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — which quarterback will B.C. Lions head coach Wally Buono turn to for the critical home-and-home series with The Bomb Squad

Casey Printers has been the clear-cut starter for most of the season, but he was yanked in last weekend’s win over Calgary in favour of Travis Lulay because of his inability to protect the pigskin.

Printers fumbled twice in the Lions’ win after spitting up two in the loss to Hamilton a week earlier. Lulay, meanwhile, steadied the ship in relief of Printers, but completed only five of his 12 passes.

“What I’m declaring today is, because of what’s occurred, and because of how ball security has hurt this club, I’d better consider the options,” Buono told Vancouver reporters. “If I can’t make the hard decision… how can I be critical of anyone in that room if I’m not doing my job? Honestly, I don’t care if someone is mad at me. I’m not here to make them happy. I’m here to win, and at the end of the day, everyone in that locker-room wants to win.”

3 A movie we’ve seen before was replayed in Hamilton on the weekend following the Ticats loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders: QB Kevin Glenn, who was intercepted on the game’s final play, opted not to do interviews because he was so distraught with the loss.

Hey, it’s his choice to duck the media. But if Glenn is to mature as a QB and a leader, he has to learn to take the good with the bad. His teammate DeAndra’ Cobb, for example, was there to speak to the press about his two critical errors in the loss.

ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Referees like Andrew Proulx (right) ought to be full-time league employees. — ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES Referees like Andrew Proulx (right) ought to be full-time league employees.

“A couple plays out there I think we shot ourselves in the foot and I was the one holding the gun,” said Cobb afterward. “The disappointing thing is it wasn’t forced fumbles, it was just me not clutching down, it was just me letting the ball get away.

“My teammates count on me to make the plays I’m supposed to make and I feel like I let them down.”

4 Kudos to the CFL and the good folks of Moncton for making Touchdown Atlantic an unqualified success. Now it sounds like the commish wants to turn this into an annual event, although asking any team out of Toronto to give up a home game might be a tough sell.

Again, the stadium in Moncton had a capacity of 20,000 with thousands of temporary seats. And while the mayor of the fair city was hinting at possible investors, until somebody steps up this will remain simply an annual feel-good story.

How long, we wonder, before the novelty wears off if no owner(s) steps forward to make it happen?

5 And, finally, this completely-honest-and-frank quote from Buono, which could be applied to any of the three teams in the turtle derby for the last playoff spot, the Lions, Eskimos and Bombers: “How do you get measured, by stats or by wins? I’d rather get measured by wins. So we lose pretty, what does that mean? I’d rather win ugly.”